Phase Two, Week Three, Exercise Two: Baby Jesus is Revealed to the World

This exercise should be experienced between January 4 and January 7.

Pray with Matthew 2:1-15. Recall that Matthew is a Jewish Christian writing to a Jewish Christian community. The magi, wise men, come to visit the Christ child. They symbolize Gentiles who have been entering Matthew's community.

Use your imagination to enter the scene. With whom do you identify? Through whose eyes do you see the scene? In a way, we all are strangers to Christ? We can all know him better. In other ways, he is never a stranger to us. Our hearts recognize him as our best friend.

As a stranger and as a friend, how do we see Jesus? When do we recognize him? Are there voices like Herod's inside of us that would like to do away with what Christ reveals to us? Do we have our own inner Joseph and Mary who nurture Christ's revelation inside of us?

The colloquy may continue with Joseph and Mary as we learn of the devotion and care of the two who nurtured the child Jesus.