The Holy Family without the wise men.
They are all here: Mary, Joseph, the donkey, the ox, the shepherd and sheep.
Only the wise men are missing.
They are late, as always. Christmas is over, the twelve days.
Here they are. Come from far. Add to scene (from shelf or table).

What is missing without them?

The stars. Wisdom, science.
The leap of faith to follow a star.
The international dimension. From far away.
They open the holy family. Introduce a horizon. The international world.
In relation to the wise men’s origin, Egypt to where the family flees does not seem far.
Herod appears on the horizon who uses the wisdom and knowledge of the wise men in the way of the powerful. He demands that they serve his interest and tries to control their wisdom, intelligence, knowledge. But he of course misses the faith that allows him to follow a star.

The wise men, the opening of the Holy Family also anticipates the push of the early church to go beyond its own boarders. No parochialism. What Jesus brought, what he did, the reality of the new times and the new rule was so strong and infectious that it could not stay within the limits. The wise men provide this horizon from the beginning, even though they are late. They are late every year.

The wise men remind even us not to focus only on our own concerns, our own sorrows, needs. Sometimes even the care we give others can be a way to focus more on our own needs than truly on the needs of the neighbor. The wise men also open our horizon.

Christmas helped us to remember how light we actually travel through life and on the face of this earth. There no sense in carrying too much. The older we get the more we understand: - we have to let go. Of our material property, the intellectual property, the rights that our position in life afford us. Many of the things we take for granted. They are not essential.
Essential is community, care, love, attention for each other. This is what we are given in the Holy Family. The Invisible become visible so that we might be drawn to love.
That draws even the wisest from the farthest away.

Hear a poem for this Epiphany Day, from Karl Rahner:

The star is shining.
You can’t take much on the journey.
Much will get lost on the way.
Let it go.
Gold of love,
Frankincense of longing,
Myrrh of pain
you carry with you.
He will accept them.
(Repeat from Gold of love...)

Amen.