A week ago, our attention was focused on Jesus, Mary & Joseph as the members of the Holy Family. Today we shift our focus onto the 3 Kings who visited the Holy Family. These 3 men in our manger scenes simply stand or bow or kneel as they gaze upon the infant in the manger.
We don't know how long they stayed but we are told that they finally left in order to return home. There are 3 other men in the gospel who also gazed at the beauty & glory of Christ when he was transfigured before them on a mountaintop. But they too had to go back down the mountain to their family & to their work, even though Peter wanted to stay there forever because the experience was so incredible.
We too come to church each week & we gaze on Christ in the manger or on the cross or present in the sacred bread & wine that are held up for our adoration at the consecration. We too worship, offer our gifts & find solace as we look upon the face of God. But like the 3 disciples on the mountain & the 3 kings at the manger, we too have to return home, to our work & to our families. We have work to do: "When the song of the angels is stilled, the star in the sky is gone, the kings & princes are home & the shepherds are back w/ their flocks, then the WORK of Christmas begins...to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoners & to bring peace to all peoples." Let us begin now the work of Christmas, the work of learning how to live in charity