Today's feast speaks of the manifestation or revelation of the Lord to the Gentiles which is what the overwhelming majority of Catholics are. This, technically speaking, is our Christmas moment whereas the messianic Jews, who adhere to the Mosaic law while recognising Jesus to be the Messiah promised in the Scriptures, have for themselves the epiphany made to the shepherds on Christmas night. Their epiphany was brought about through the angels who announced the birth of the Lord. The wise men, for their part, begin their journey to Jesus through their use of ancient science and natural reason. Crucially they recognise the limits on their knowledge and their need of supernatural revelation through the prophecies of the Jewish Scriptures. Herod, who was son of an Idumean father and an Arab mother, uses the Scripture also but for evil ends in his attempt to locate and kill the infant Jesus - born to be King of the Jews. When we look at our own journey of faith we can see that people encounter God and come to faith in Jesus Christ in different ways: prayer, moral conduct, reading the Bible, teachings of the Pope, lives of the saints, the example given by Catholics of their acquaintance, Catholic schools, personal revelation, etc. All of them, regardless of the ways in which they came to faith, need to have the courage to journey so as to find and encounter Christ for themselves, acknowledge him with joy and pay him homage. The gifts we bring are the assent of the faith, the love of our hearts and the bouquet of good deeds.
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