This coming Sunday we will celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord. Matthew, the evangelist, offers to us the account of the Magi, who came from afar to worship Jesus. Today's liturgy sees in the account of the Magi the fulfillment of what was announced in the book of Isaiah, the first reading of the Mass that we will listen. In Isaiah the protagonist is Jerusalem: the glory of God shines on her and the pagan peoples bring her children to her, and the exiled Jews flood her with their riches, their incense and their gold. In today's gospel Jerusalem is not the protagonist:  the Glory of God, the Messiah is revealed in Bethlehem: it is at Bethlehem that the wise men end up their journey. Jerusalem is a simple place of passage and place of opposition to the Messiah, opposition represented by  Herod who wants to kill him and the religious authorities who are not interested in knowing him.

The theme of the three readings is the universality of the Message. They all speak of a new relationship between God and men. God always manifests himself to everyone, although he is only discovered by those who seek him. God is constantly manifesting himself in his creation. For everyone who is attentive with their entire being and not just with their senses.

The story of the wise men goes in this direction. They discover the star, because they dedicated themselves to searching the sky; They were able to lift their eyes from the ground. Most of those who were milling around the newborn, didn't even notice him. Today we celebrate with joy God who manifests himself to everyone and in everything and not just to the Jewish people.

We, descendants of pagan peoples, must imitate the example of the Magi: we should experience immense joy when we see the star, this joy should bring us to the adoration of the Child, adoration that express itself through the offering of gifts. But Matthew thinks of a different Child, to whom we must adore and offer ourselves full of joy.