In heaven the Bethlehem is made

San Francisquito de Asís is today like crazy finalizing the details of the Living Bethlehem that, as every year, he organizes in heaven on the night of Epiphany:

-Let's go children, children, we are late! Teresita, Juanito, what are you doing? Get to your places, quick!

Therese is Lisieux and Juanito is Don Bosco, although there in heaven nobody calls him Don anymore. They call each other with the diminutive because there they are all like children, do not forget that to become like them is one of the requirements to enter. This year it was their turn to play Mary and Joseph, and they are delighted. Teresita had always stood out for her humility, like the one from Nazareth; and Juanito, as much as he loves children, could not have been given a better placement than next to the divine infant.

-Do you think I kneel down well, Paquito? -asks Antoñito to the person in charge of the work while he prostrates himself with a gesture full of humility and devotion.

-Perfetto, this is how I like Antonino: with reverence, parsimony and joy, all in one go. Go on, shake hands with Tommasino and each to his place.

Antoñito is the one from Padua (although he was born in Portugal), who plays the role of a mule this year. The role was given to him because of his knowledge of the animal. You may already know about that episode of his life on earth in which one who did not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist challenged him to make a mule adore the Blessed Sacrament and, at the order of the saint, the mule bowed down and adored. Tomasito is the one from Aquino, and he plays the ox because that was the nickname given to him at the university by his classmates: "mute ox", because of his corpulence and his silent and good-natured character.

-Look at me, look at me flying, how beautiful everything looks from up here!

-Come on, Lolín, go down to the cave and let's get started.

The one who flutters is the Andalusian Blessed Manuel Lozano Garrido, who was already known in his homeland by the diminutive of Lolo. The role of heralding angel in the shepherds' cave suits him perfectly, because he dedicated his earthly life to journalism; but the wings are a problem because, as he suffered from a paralyzing disease during almost all his life, now he can't stay still on the ground. Those who ask him to come down are Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the visionary brothers of Fatima, who repeat every year as shepherds because they nail the role, although this time St. Pascual Bailon and St. Margaret, who also knew well the job of taking care of sheep, have been added.

The Three Wise Men, who traditionally represent the three continents then known, will be this time: for Europe, St. Ferdinand, who is used to wearing a crown as he was king of Castile and Leon; for Asia, St. Paul Miki, who, although he was not a king, does have bearing because he belonged to a very rich family in Japan; and, for Africa, St. Charles Lwanga, who knows the protocol well, as he was a page in the royal court.

Everything is ready for the Epiphany performance to begin. Well, not everything, the child is missing...

-What do you mean, "What do you mean, manca il bambino? -Francisquito asks with the typical Italian gesture with his fingers together and upwards.

Strangely, no one seems to hear the Assisi man's question.

-I'm talking to you, il narratore," insists the little inventor of the Nativity Scene in his funny Italian.

...

Gee, I've never had the protagonists of one of the stories I tell address me before. I'll answer and see what happens...

-Is it me you are talking to, Francisco?

-Of course, narratore. The role of a child is your role today. You have to become a child, like Jesus, like us. Christmas and tenderness, and fragility. This crib is prepared for tea.

-Well, but I'm of an age now, I don't know if I would fit in the crib....

-Today is Epiphany, isn't it? Today everything is magical, and here in the sky even more so. Per favore, come up. Presto, il Signore wants to see you.

-All right, but let me say goodbye to the readers, because I won't be able to tell them any more.

-I'll walk, I'll walk...

Well you know dear, I'm going to the portal, that this year I had to stop narrating and live it as a protagonist. Maybe next year it will be your turn, or maybe every year it will be everyone's turn, but we are so absent-minded that we don't even realize it.

Today is not a day of nerves and illusion only for the little ones of the house. Today is the day for all of us to become children, to contemplate from below the greatest mystery, to let ourselves be gifted by the Kings, to open our eyes wide and be surprised by all that God does in us, to thank the child for becoming man and to ask men to become children, as all the saints, the little beloved children of God, knew how to do and continue to do in heaven.

Happy Epiphany!