There is a lot going on today with First Saturday Devotions and the Feast of the Epiphany, so I am presenting a few additional posts to honor our Lord and His Blessed Mother.
Below is a short meditation on the meaning of the Epiphany — why three foreign kings would come to adore this Jewish Child in a manger in Bethlehem. It also connects the Epiphany with our lives and concerns for those who do not worship the True God in the Catholic Faith.
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
From the book The Inner Life of the Soul: Short Spiritual Messages for the Ecclesiastical Year by S. L. Emery (Longman’s, Green, and Company, 1905, pages 32-35).
The Wise Kings — The Feast of the Epiphany
Twelve days flew by in Bethlehem as though on angels’ wings. Cold, darkness, poverty, were borne in meek and patient gladness. It was the wish of the Infant Savior to suffer, and His Mother’s will was so one with His will, her heart so completely in sympathy with His heart, that she would not have had their lot a different one, even if she could. Each sting of cold, each moment of darkness, each pang of poverty, was to her a spiritual communion, a sacrament of the will of God; and she was more than contented, her cup of unearthly and spiritual gladness filled to the brim.
In that dark cave she had with her the Babe of Bethlehem, her God and her all, her heart’s delight, the fulfilment of her pure life’s hope; the truest, strongest friendships and loves of earth are but dim types and shadows of her unutterably blessed union and rest with Him. We talk of sympathy, but it is impossible for us to imagine the perfect sympathy which bound this Divine Child to His Virgin Mother, or the heavenly love that shone from His eyes into her eyes, and was reflected thence again. The pathetic and wonderful resemblance of their two faces mirrored clearly the more perfect resemblance of soul to soul. Could we taste her cup of gladness, we would renounce worldly delights gladly; we would resign all joys of the intellect, if we might share her unequalled knowledge of the deep things of God.
On the twelfth day, a change came over the story, for riches, pomp, learning, found their way into it; three kings. Wise Men from the East, entered the cave of Bethlehem, seeking another King, and seeking Him to adore Him.
When we meditate upon this incident, it seems one of the strangest events in the life of our Divine Lord. In the far East these men had seen a star, and were strangely moved to follow it; and, when they were led by it to a stable, and to an Infant cradled on straw, with lowly and wonderful faith they fell in homage at His feet. They had brought gifts, and they gave them; then, returning to their country, they preached Christ, and laid down their lives in martyrdom, and went to their Master’s kingdom in the realms beyond the sun.
This is one side of the story. We have heard of it from childhood. We have seen in fancy the camels and the servants, and the royal gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; we have stood amazed at the seeming folly of these wise kings who could leave their kingdoms at sight of a star in the heavens, and adore at the feet of a Babe new-born in poverty and cold. We forget that such a story must have another side. What may it have been?
As we meditate, it dawns upon us that their traditions, handed down from their fathers, had told them a certain sign would surely, one night, be seen in the heavens; and such a sign did shine out plainly, a wonderful portent called a star, which led them unwavering, unerring, to Jerusalem, “Vision of Peace,” where, in that holy city, the sacred books of the Jewish wise men confirmed the ancient Eastern traditions. The Babe they beheld in Bethlehem recalled to them other words foretelling Him, hitherto not understood, or misunderstood, but now plainly fulfilled before them.
But there is a profounder explanation of the strange story of the kings. There is that part in it, which is borne by no other or less than God, the Ruler of all.
He Who measureth times and seasons, and in Whose hand are the hearts of men, had spoken long before to Jerusalem by His prophet Isaias, declaring that darkness should cover the earth, and a mist the people; but that the Lord should arise, and His glory should be seen, upon Jerusalem.
“And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and showing forth praise to the Lord.” Isaias 60:3, 6
The Ancient of Days, and King of kings, He Who is from everlasting, and with Whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one brief day, knew that His own appointed time had come for the fulfilment of His own decrees.
To these men, who were wise men. He gave far more moving evidence — believe it — than the shining of a star. He gave them that faith which is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things that appear not. He fired those royal hearts with the flame of a more than royal strength, the sevenfold flame of His own Holy Spirit, making their wills one with His. Thenceforth their eyes, ears, hands, feet, were God’s only.
These kings, wise with true wisdom, sought God alone, and seeking Him found Him; and when they found Him, they knew Him, however strange His guise. The blessing to be pronounced by that Babe, later, upon the clean-hearted, was given to these hearts, purged and made clean by the Spirit’s fire; and they saw and knew their God. The prophecies were accomplished, the word of God was triumphant, the will of God was done. “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
Nineteen centuries have gone by since then, and still in many places the darkness covers the earth, and a mist the people; and even in our own dear land, we Catholics go heavy-hearted, because many whom we love do not see the faith as we see it, or have not courage to embrace it when it is seen. Let us turn the heavy-heartedness into fervent prayer.
They cannot see, while their eyes are dim, or their hearts are full of earthly love; they cannot follow, till their wills are one with the will of God. Beg Him with tireless prayers to send His Spirit to enlighten and purify them, till they shall see by faith the Babe of Bethlehem in the tabernacle, and falling down at His feet with us adore Him.