How beautiful the months in Bethlehem after meeting Simeon and Anna in the temple. How beautiful those family moments with Elizabeth and Zechariah, in our home. When the magi arrived, Jesus was already standing on his legs, although he was willingly in my arms. Especially in front of strangers.
I was surprised to see those foreign and cultured characters bowing as if in front of a king. I would have wanted Jose to stay by my side, but he was behind, checking the door, observing the situation from afar. I wanted them to focus on the child and me.
When Jesus awoke in the morning, he sang to him, remembering his birth, the words of Isaiah: "Arise, shine, for your light is coming, and the glory of the Lord dawns upon you. Behold, darkness covers the earth, a thick fog envelops the peoples; but the Lord rises upon you, his glory appears upon you".
After the encounter with the Magi, in times of peace, I learned to add those words of the prophet: "Lift up your eyes and look around: they all gather, they come to you. Your Sons come from afar, your daughters are brought in your arms. Then you will see this radiant with joy, your heart will rejoice and be enlarged, when the treasures of the sea are poured out upon you, and the riches of the peoples are brought to you. A multitude of camels and dromedaries shall come to you from Midian and Ephah. All those of Sheba will come, laden with gold and incense and proclaiming the praises of the Lord.
But that night, after his passing, was eventful. With Joseph we felt that the time of peace in Bethlehem was about to end. It had been an immense gift, an opportunity to rest, to build our family's day-to-day life away from the misunderstandings and gossip of Nazareth, although there was no lack of it even in Bethlehem.
An oasis of peace for the first months of Jesus' life. As Qoelet teaches: "Everything has its time and there is a time for everything under heaven. There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted". And I wondered: what time will now begin for us? "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." We talked about it with Jose that night. We both had a hard time falling asleep.
We also remembered that phrase: "And a time to love and a time to hate" and we said to ourselves that Jesus had come to complete those words, to establish the time of love forever, in good times and bad. This thought reassured us: we had found the solution. We looked at Jesus in his crib. He was sleeping happily. This also gave us hope, and we were able to fall asleep.
The homily on the readings of the Epiphany of the Lord
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaa small one-minute reflection for these readings.
