Returning By Another Way - Christmas 1

The wise men were, "warned in a dream not to return to Herod [so they] returned to their own country by another way." Since we have now celebrated Christmas, many of us are back to our familiar routines. Perhaps, as we make our own way "back" to everyday life, this word to the magi, this invitation to "return by another way," can preserve in us the gifts that we have received in Christ: hope, love, joy and peace. And that, of course, would be a gift to the world. In the words of Leiva-Merikakis, "By returning quietly to their homeland full of the joy of the Lord, the Magi were doing a great deal to preserve the spiritual peace and sanity of the world."