The day after the Epiphany

Today is Monday the day after we celebrated the arrival of the Magi at the scene.  The story of the nativity is like a great suspense nor mystery novel.  There are many twists and turns and stops and pushes along the way.  There is also always present an element of surprise.

This element of surprise is important.  Just like every good book keeps suspense with that anticipation of surprise, so does God working in and around our lives.

There is always an element surprise when it comes to God.

As a priest friends describes those events, "is it odd or is it God."


Nonetheless, corny as it may seem, God is the element of surprise in our life.


I wonder as we turn the corner from the Epiphany and head toward the Baptism of the Lord and the beginning of Ordinary time, what the journey for the Magi was like on the way home.

In a dream they get a message not to Go to Herod but to head east by another way.

I wonder if they all had the same dream?  I wonder what there conversation was like that early morning as they bit farewell to Joseph and Mary and the child?

I wonder what kind of hospitality they received from the Holy Family, that had so little to offer considering the circumstances.

I imagine them getting dressed in their eastern persian garb, head dress and flowing gowns, mounting their camels and slowly fading out of sight.  It must have seemed like a mirage for the Holy Family as they watched those camels slowly disappear over the horizon in the cool of the morning.

What kind of effect did the Magi have as they brought back to the east their experience and encounter with the child lying in a manger?

How soon did the Magi stop telling the tale of their adventure or did they tell it often and relive each day?  I wonder if like us they caught up with living that they lost sight of the purpose of life they encountered in the manger?

So they journey back to the east like missionaries with a message and a purpose carrying the encounter with them.

So it is with us.  We too carry the encounter with us.  We too have a decision to make.  Do we just get on with our lives and forget the encounter or do we keep it at the center so way somehow?

All I know is, as we go through life, be sure to be on the look out for that element of surprise, that appearance of God in our midst.  The epiphany is always just around the corner, over the bend, just beyond the horizon, as close as the next child we meet, the next face we encounter, the next step we take.