We are in the Octave of the great Feast of Epiphany of Our Lord, therefore, with all love and adoration we may spent several minutes meditating upon the moments described in Scriptures, when the star having risen in the East and foretold by Balaam, so greatly inspired the hearts of Three gentile Kings from the east, whose hearts were full of the expectation of the promised Redeemer, that they were immediately inflamed with the desire of going in search of Him. Through His beloved Mother today, we may ask Our Lord we may never cease to follow Him, who is our Star.
The three Kings, docile to the divine inspiration, suddenly leave their country, their riches, their quiet, in order to follow a star: the power of that God, who had called them, unites them in the same path, as they were already one in faith. The star goes on before them, marking out the route they were to follow: the dangers of such a journey, the fatigues of a pilgrimage which might last for weeks or months, the fear of awakening suspicions in the Roman Empire towards which they were evidently tending - all this was nothing to them; they were told to go, and they went.
The first stay as at Jerusalem, They, Gentiles, come into this Holy City... to announce that Jesus Christ is come! With all the simple courage and all the calm conviction of Apostles and Martyrs, they declare their firm resolution of going to Him and adoring Him. Their earnest inquiries constrain Israel, who was the guardian of the divine prophecies, to confess one of the chief marks of the Messias - his Birth in Bethlehem. The Jewish Priesthood fulfils, though with...ignorance, its sacred ministry, and Herod sits restlessly on his throne, plotting murder. The Magi leave the faithless City....[T]he Star reappears in the heavens, and invites them to resume their journey. Yet a few hours, and they will be at Bethlehem, at the feet of the King of whom they are in search.
O dear Jesus! we also are following thee; we are walking in Thy light, for Thou hast said, in the Prophecy of Thy beloved Disciple: I am the bright and morning Star (Apoc 22:16). The meteor that guides the Magi is but Thy symbol, O divine Star! Thou art the morning Star for Thy Birth proclaims that the darkness of error and sin is at an end. Thou art the morning Star; for, after submitting to death and the tomb, Thou wilt suddenly arise from that night of humiliation to the bright morning of Thy glorious Resurrection. Thou art the morning Star; for by Thy Birth and the Mysteries which are to follow, thou announcest unto us the cloudless day of eternity. May Thy light ever beam upon us! May we like the Magi, be obedient to its guidance, and ready to leave all things in order to follow it! We were sitting in darkness when Thou didst call us to Thy grace, by making this Thy light shine upon us. We were fond of our darkness, and Thou gavest us a love for the Light! Dear Jesus, keep up this love within us. Let not sin, which is darkness, ever approach us. Preserve us from the delusion of a false conscience. Avert from us that blindness into which fell the City of Jerusalem and her king, and which prevented them from seeing the Star. May Thy Star guide us through life, and bring us to Thee, our King, our Peace, our Love!
We salute thee, too, O Mary, thou STAR OF THE SEA that shinest on the waters of this life, giving calm and protection to thy tempest-tossed children who invoke thee! Thou didst pray for the Magi as they traversed the desert; guide also our steps, and bring us to Him who is thy Child and thy Light eternal.
Text after Dom Gueranger "The Liturgical Year"
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