The prophet Isaiah imagines Jerusalem invaded by a host of camels. The apostle Paul inspires the most suitable sentiments to pause once again before the child of Bethlehem who, like a star, rises in our hearts and opens us to the awareness of the gift of salvation for all as they are called to share the same inheritance, to form the same body and to partake of the same promise through the Gospel. The magi, a term that can indicate Persian priests and that the biblical Greek uses only in Dn 2, 2.10, are those who first, in the Gospel according to Matthew, worship – in the newborn child – the King and the Lord. The wise men are the first to feel joy for Jesus rejoicing for the star from which they were led: pure men because on the way they saw God just where Herod with the chief priests and the scribes of the people felt a terrible threat. The first great announcement of this day is this: the Lord is the Creator of the universe and the Savior of every man and of all men. But the ad generates a question: “How is this possible?”. The Magi are given to us to try to answer this question. They are men who come from far away – from the East – and have only one idea in their hearts that guides their long journey: «We saw his star rise and we came to worship him» (Mt 2: 2). From a distance these men have noticed what no one has noticed up close and they come to wake the sleepers like the angels the shepherds: “Did you not realize that the sun has risen?”. Will we be able to merit the word of the Lord Jesus: «Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God»?

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey