A number of years ago I had the pleasure of spending time with a 3-year-old Spaniard. His mother worked for the family I was living with in Paris. Although Juanito spoke no English and little French, and my Spanish was minimal, we enjoyed each other’s company.
A favorite activity was looking at mail-order catalogs. Even an ordinary catalog was filled with marvels. I can still hear Juanito’s voice, filled with wonder, exclaiming: “¡Mira, Rosa, Mira!” (Look, Rose, look!) And I was led to see for a moment with his child’s eyes.
The Wise Men must have had something of a child’s eyes to be able to see the remarkable in the commonplace. After all, babies are born every day, and this particular birth was not outwardly extraordinary. The family was not prominent; the surroundings were poor. To exclaim, “¡Mira!” and fall down in wonder before such an unexceptional scene: this required eyes open to what was not readily visible. Yet it was at this ordinary scene of a family with a newborn that they knelt, then presented their royal gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Today the Risen Christ is always with us. The goodness of God is all around us and within us. Not only does every newborn share in the glory of Christ, but also the struggling teenager and the elderly person approaching death. Each star, each sunrise, the people we meet, our meals, our computers — before all of these do we not hear the voice of the Spirit whispering, “¡Mira! Look!” and calling us to gaze in wonder?
Wonderful God,
grant me the eyes to look with wonder on your world
and to see myself and all creation
with the heart of Christ.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’
(Matthew 2:1-2)