NOTES for Mat 2:13-23

When the Magi arrive in Jerusalem, they ask, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” They bring Him highly symbolic gifts: gold for a King, frankincense for God, and myrrh for a mortal man. Yet for many years after the Nativity, events take place which we read about in today's passage from the Gospel according to Matthew and which bear little resemblance to the fate of a great king: Herod's barbarous cruelty in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, the almost secret return, and a silent life in Nazareth... Such is Christ's fate in the human world, and it reveals above all His humility and our human unworthiness.

Today, on the second day of the Nativity, one thinks of the shepherds who witnessed the Nativity in Bethlehem. Their lives probably did not change noticeably after that event. They continued to pay Roman taxes and to encounter the cruelty of rulers... Yet despite all this, they knew that somewhere in the world the Savior, already born for all people, remained hidden. It is important for us to remember this, so that the mystery of Christ's presence in our world may become a source of life for us.