Celebrating Epiphany

January 6th is known as Epiphany in the Christian tradition and is the day that celebrates the visit of the wisemen to the infant Jesus.


Even those of us who are not of the Christian tradition can appreciate the birth of a baby. At the birth of a child, the whole world seems possible. Parents and grandparents dream of a child who will grow up to embody all of the hopes they have for the world...often the dreams they did not realize for themselves but hope will come to fruition in their small blessing. Each night a child is born truly is a holy night, as Sophia L. Fahs penned so many years ago.





"There is a legend that the magi were three different ages. Gaspar was a young man, Balthazar in his middle years, and Melchior a senior citizen. When they approached the cave at Bethlehem, they first went in one at a time.

Melchior found an old man like himself with whom he was quickly at home. They spoke together of memory and gratitude. The middle aged Balthazar encountered a teacher of his own years. They talked passionately of leadership and responsibility. When Gaspar entered, a young prophet met him with words of reform and promise.


The three met outside the cave and marveled at how each had gone in to see a newborn child, but each had met someone of his own years. They gathered their gifts in their arms and entered together a second time. In a manger on a bed of straw was a child twelve days old.


The message of Christ talks to every stage of the life process. The old hear the call to integrity and wisdom, the middle-aged to generativity and responsibility, the young to identity and intimacy."

from John Shea in Starlight: Beholding the Christmas Miracle All Year Long