If you grew up protestant (or not in Mexico) like me, you may hear of January 6th being “Three Kings Day” and respond with, “What the heck is that?” (in a southern accent for best effect) It’s also referred to as “Epiphany”,  or “The Feast of the Epiphany”, and is a celebration of the manifestation of God the Son as human in Jesus Christ. For a manifestation of God is an epiphany. It commemorates the visit of the Magi (or Wise Men) to the Christ child and thus Jesus’ physical manifestation to the Gentiles. So if you married someone from Mexico, where Three Kings Day is commonly known and celebrated, and were wondering why you were putting out gifts by your child’s bedside the night of January 5th every year, now you know.

Last night, as I ran out to get a couple of little gifts for our daughter’s bedside, I turned on the CD player in my car, and the start of a sermon entitled “The Journey of the Magi”  just happened to be where I left off last time I listened. How appropriate.

**Rabbit trail alert** Read parenthetical paragraph only if you have extra time
(I picked up this CD on our way out of St. Meinrad Monastery last month because it said “FREE” and was accompanied with a hand-written Post-It note, presumably by one of the monks, stating “Please take only if you will actually listen. Thank you.” HA! I had to take one. Plus I couldn’t help but crack up that the sermons on the disc are given by the “Very Rev Robert E. Barron”. Oh well, since he’s VERY reverend, I guess I’ll take one. Regular ole reverend just won’t do for me anymore. What does Very Reverend mean? Well, sure enough, wouldn’t you know, I fell in love with this CD and these five 15 minute meditations on the Glory of the Incarnation. I’ve listened to it three times so far…My apologies for judging, V.R. Barron!)

So I thought I would share the five points I found so poignant in this meditation on the lessons from The Journey of the Magi that correspond to our spiritual journey:

1)  Be Attentive

• They studied the sky, looking for signs of God’s presence and will, for lessons on the spiritual journey all around them.
• Why do some of our spiritual journeys never get off the ground? Because we don’t take the time to be attentive to the signs of God or to look at our lives deeply.
• They took the time to look for God.

2)  Move, Act

• They acted on what they heard by going to find Jesus.
• They moved.
• When you see a sign of Christ, move! Act on it! Don’t delay, don’t be complacent.

3) Expect Opposition

• This was a very difficult trip for them back then. Don’t be afraid of it, meet it as clever as a serpent as Scripture advocates.
• Herod tried to manipulate them
• We will be blocked on the journey of following Jesus. Expect it.

4) Give God Your Best

• They prostrate themselves. To worship Him.
• They gave gifts, the best, finest gifts they could find–Gold, Frankincense, Myrrh. Give God your best when you meet Him, not just mediocre.
• What’s a great danger in the spiritual life? You meet Christ and give Him just a little bit of your time, a little bit of your energy…Where do we spend most of our time, energy, lives? If we’re honest, probably on ourselves.
• To whom do you give your best?

5) Expect to be Changed

• After seeing Christ, they returned by a different route.
• “Of course they go back by a different route! You never come to Christ and go back the same way you came.” -Fulton J. Sheen
• You never open up your heart to Christ and give Him your whole life and expect to remain unchanged..anyone who makes Jesus the center of their life is a different person afterward.
• The way you were walking before, you will walk differently, the way you were thinking before, you will think differently, the way you were choosing before, you will choose differently.
• After contact with Christ, after meeting Christ, YOU WILL BE DIFFERENT!

In the Name of Jesus, 

Soli Deo Gloria