The Joy of Finding Jesus

By Francis Fernandez-Carvajal

Behold, the Lord, the Mighty One, has come; and kingship is in his grasp, and power and dominion.[675] The Church celebrates Jesus being made known to the whole world. Epiphany means ‘manifestation’, and in the Kings are represented all peoples of every language and nation who set out, called by God, to adore Jesus. Gifts shall flow in from the lands of Tharsis and the islanders, tribute from the kings of Arabia and of Saba; all kings must needs bring their homage, all nations serve Him.[676]

They obeyed the king and went on their journey; and all at once the star which they had seen in the East was there going before them, till at last it stood still over the place where the Child was. They, when they saw the star were glad beyond measure.[677] They were not surprised because they were led to a village, nor because the star stopped over a simple little house. They rejoiced. They rejoiced with an uncontainable joy. How great is the joy of these wise men who have come from so far away to see a King and are led to a little house in a village! How much is there for us to learn here! In the first place we will learn that every rediscovery of the way that leads us to Jesus is filled with joy.

We are perhaps in danger of not realising fully how close Our Lord is to our lives because God presents himself to us under the insignificant appearance of a piece of bread, because he does not reveal himself in his glory, because he does not impose himself irresistibly, because he slips into our life like a shadow, instead of making his power resound at the summit of all things ... How many souls are troubled by doubt because God does not show himself in the way they expected![678]

Many of the people who lived in Bethlehem saw in Jesus a child like any other. The Kings knew how to see Him as the Child, who, from then on, would be adored forever. Their faith gave them a unique privilege: to be the first among the gentiles to adore him when the world did not know him. How immensely happy must these men have been, having come from so far, when they were able to contemplate the Messiah soon after he came into the world! We have to be attentive, because Our lord also shows himself in the normal events of every day. May we know how to recover this interior light, which for us breaks through the monotony of days which are all the same, and find Jesus in our ordinary life!

And going into the dwelling, they found the Child there, with His Mother, Mary, and fell down to worship Him.[679]

We also kneel down before Jesus, God hidden in humanity. We tell him once more that we do not want to turn our backs on his divine call, that we shall never separate ourselves from him, that we shall remove from our path all that may be an obstacle to our fidelity and that we sincerely wish to be docile to his inspirations.[680]

They adored him. They knew that he was the Messiah, God made Man. The Council of Trent expressly quotes this passage of the adoration of the Kings to teach us the cult which is due to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus present in the tabernacle is the same Jesus the wise men found in Mary’s arms. Perhaps we should examine ourselves to see how we adore him when he is exposed in the monstrance or hidden in the tabernacle. With what devotion and reverence do we kneel in the moments indicated in the Holy Mass, or each time we pass by those places where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved?