Daily Meditation for January 6, 2025

Strangely, only the Gospel of Matthew (the former tax collector) holds the story of the visit of the magi to the holy family in Bethlehem. This is our feast of the Epiphany. It took until 1951 with the delightful opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors” by Gian Carlo Menotti to have the magi named (Gasper, Melchior and Balthasar). Their address is given only as “from the east.” That there were three magi is deduced only by the mention of three gifts to the child king! Scripture scholars tell us that Matthew’s intent is to convey early in his gospel that Jesus is a king (Matthew 2:2) and he completes his gospel (Matthew 27:1) when Jesus admits to Pilate that he was indeed born to be a king! The kingdom of Jesus is yet to be realized and we wonder if we are any closer to the peace that was promised to those “of good will” by the angelic heralds. But act we MUST—to follow our King and struggle to bring peace to our world.

By Judy Kramer, OSB