Epiphany

Ray and I just returned from church this evening.  It is Epiphany, the day the wise men reached Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem after being sent by Herod so that he could “worship him.” They followed a star in the east “till it came and stood over where the young child was.”  They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh and then after being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they “departed into their own country another way.”

This is the only Christmas mass we attended because we came down with that awful stomach virus.  We sang “We Three Kings,” and “The First Nowell,” and “What Child Is This” and “Joy to the World.”

We were also given sacred chalk that had been blessed so that we could come home and write the initials of the Wise Men on the left side of our front doors “C+ M+ B+” and write the year “2017” above our home’s entryway, and write “+OPN+” (meaning “Pray for us”)  on the right side of the doorway.  The Wise Men’s initials, CMB, also stand for the Latin words Christus Mansionem Benedicat, mean “May Christ bless the house.”

I stood in church and thought, “We need to be here more than ever right now.”

The Prince of peace.

Yes, indeed.