One always benefits by reading anything by Sandra Miesel, and thus I was delighted that Catholic World Report ran an older piece by the medieval historian on the what we know about the visit of the magi, recounted in the Gospel of Saint Matthew’s (Mt 2:1-12). As a mother, I’m always gratified to read that Our Lady had found proper lodging by the time of their arrival, and lo, I engaged in an interesting conversation with one son this year on how, actually, one could navigate with precision by such a means. (So glad he’s thinking!)

Dr Miesel writes:

The Christ Child’s adoration by the Magi is known as his Epiphany (“Manifestation”) because it announces his mission to redeem the world. Ancient Christendom spoke of multiple manifestations (initially including the Nativity) by linking the revelation of the newborn Christ with his later baptism in the Jordan and his first miracle at Cana. These key points in his mission, which were imagined to have occurred on the same calendar date, also used to be celebrated in the pre-Vatican II Roman breviary. As an Epiphany antiphon at Vespers proclaims, “We honor the holy day adorned with three miracles: today the star led the Magi to the crib: today wine was made from water for a wedding: today Christ willed to be baptized by John in the Jordan.” In medieval Europe, Epiphany was often connected with the miracle of the loaves and fishes and with the raising of Lazarus.

Perhaps you have a special day in your own life where extraordinary things keep happening. One friend noted that important events consistently took place on the feast of Saint John the Baptist (the one on 28 June), and she realised that she and her husband had a particular gift for being a bridge of sorts, bringing other people along to where they ought to be, ultimately in the bosom of Holy Mother Church, of course. Theirs was a hidden sort of ministry–quiet, hidden, humble–with the connection prone to evaporating after the key task was done, with others increasing as they decreased. Lovely.

That we may all have the eyes to see such subtlety in how God arranges things in our own lives.

[Credit: “The Adoration of the Magi” by Gentile da Fabriano]