Today we commemorate the feast of Epiphany, which is celebrated at the end of Christmas; as the revelation of Jesus the son of God. It focuses primarily on the revelation of God to the three wise Men.

Have you ever thought what could possibly have possessed very wise men to leave their homes and undertake a long, hard desert journey?

What was so special about this new “king of the Jews”? Everyone knew that Israel was under Roman occupation. Any Jewish king would be a mere puppet of the emperor. Why would news of a powerless king in a faraway land be so attractive? Perhaps the Holy Spirit was moving them, touching a sense of longing and hope and compelling them to investigate. These wise men, astrologers and interpreters of dreams, clearly believed that they were being led to someone extraordinary.

Those who should have been interested were not, Herod, the chief priests and the whole of Jerusalem were on the contrary disturbed and Herod planned to eliminate him. It was these foreigners from the east who were overjoyed to find their way to Jesus. The first shall be last and the last first. The story of the magi reflects the history of the early church. Jewry had excommunicated the Christians but the gentiles were flocking to Jesus and being baptized- “and going in they fell to their knees and did him homage.”

In this story where are you? Are you among the chief priests who should have been anxious to welcome the infant king of the Jews but were not interested or do you join the magi in searching for Jesus?

We know that there are many stars appearing in front of our eyes in our daily life. We get confused to follow a particular star because we don’t know which star will lead us to the destination. But we are here to follow the particular star which gives us everlasting happiness, joy, and peace. We need to follow the star which leads us to Christ.

The star which appeared to the Magi, it may not appear easily to us today. Therefore, all of us need to search for the star which helps us in our journey to reach Christ. But the journey is very tough when we follow the star. We may face doubts, challenges, temptations and tribulations in our path. And there is a possibility to come across other stars on our way which may misdirect us. Sometimes these stars are very much pleasing to us but they deceive us.

Therefore, in the times of difficulties and temptations, we need to follow constantly the right star that is the inner voice of heart and Holy Spirit. The best star is the inner voice of our heart which never deceives us. If we follow our inner voice, surely, we will have blissful life with Christ.