Again, continuing several thoughts about journeying, the event we celebrate today ties in well. Let us focus upon the new born child and the kings or magi who are so prominent.

First – there is a stirring, a movement, a calling in the hearts and minds of the three men. For an unknown reason the three felt called to follow a star. No directive was sent to them: "For you own well-being follow such-and-such a star." Surely the professional colleagues, friends and family must have questioned their sanity. What was the sense in following a star? These men had achieved status and were, most likely, establish and comfortable in their communities. Perhaps they could only answer the interrogations with very simple answers. Nonetheless there was a definite hunger in their hearts for the journey to discover the star and all that they suspected it held for them and their people. That the journey would be a challenge was clear. Safety was not a guarantee on such a journey. Traveling by camel was not an easy mode of transportation. It beat walking, however. Even when they thought they had reached the final place, Jerusalem, the local king lied to them and the star seemed to move on to a more distant location, away from the king. He, as we know now, feared a child whose future had been prophesied. It was easy to lie to save his royal skin! Finally the trio arrived in a little town, a country village by an standards where poverty and want seemed to be the primary traffic. But the star led them just a short distance outside poor Bethlehem.

The three must have been devastated. The star had brought them to a small farm and its animal shelter. They see a young girl holding her new baby and a father standing or walking around in the shelter. What a disappointment. This could not be what they made so many sacrifices to find. Imagine what their colleagues would say. There would be great laughter about their faux pas.

As they looked upon the child at some time during their visit, they must have asked what had happened to them. Surely the star brought them to this location. Then at some point a great epiphany began to happen. They realized, as do many who opt to follow a unique and different calling from what they were accustomed to, that what they saw before them was the opening of a door upon a new experience. They realized that they would never again be the same. In genuine humility they presented this little newborn a gift they had carried to give to a king, an adult potentate. Little did they imagine it would be given to a baby. Little did they ever imagine that their calling, their journey would lead them to a child who would be the savior of humankind.

Imagine the wonder these bright men must have been experiencing in the few days they were with Mary and Joseph and Jesus before they set out to return to their homes by a different route, as we know. But, a thought: did the three ever come back to Nazareth to visit the family?

Everyone is on a journey. At different moments during the traveling, there are epiphanies – revelations that teach us about ourselves. What the Epiphany we celebrate can teach us is that our great discoveries about ourselves can often come to us in moments of great simplicity. The visit of the three kings to a shelter can show us how God can reveal so much about what he wants of us when we are free enough to allow ourselves to be guided by God’s call, his purpose for us.

As you make your 2008 journey, there is a star that beckons you to trust where God leads you. What happiness you will experience when you have that sense of awareness that tells you "this is, without doubt, what God wants of me at this time."