Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On the feast of the Epiphany, on January 6, the Holy Father Benedict XVI recalled the day for the Holy Childhood Association at the Angelus, expressing his greeting and encouragement to all the “little missionaries” of the world, with these words: “Observed on the Solemnity of the Epiphany is Children's Missionary Day, with the motto 'Children Help Children.' Promoted by the Venerable Pope Pius XII, this initiative educates children to be formed in a mentality open to the world and to be in solidarity with their poorest peers. I greet affectionately all the little missionaries present in the five continents and encourage them to be always witnesses of Jesus and heralds of his Gospel.”
In his address prior to the Angelus, the Pope reflected on the figures of the Magi, “who appear to us as models of genuine seekers of truth.” In fact, Benedict XVI said, they “were wise men, who scrutinized the stars and knew the history of peoples. They were men of science in a broad sense, who observed the cosmos regarding it almost as a great book full of divine signs and messages for man. Their learning, however, far from making them self-sufficient, was open to further divine revelations and appeals.” Finding themselves themselves before "the Child with Mary, his Mother," “as true wise men, they were open to the mystery manifested in a surprising way, and with their symbolic gifts, demonstrated that they recognized in Jesus the King and Son of God. Precisely in that gesture were fulfilled the messianic prophecies that proclaimed the homage of nations to the God of Israel.” Another sign of the unity between intelligence and faith that existed in the Magi, was pointed out by the Pope: for them, “It would have been natural to return to Jerusalem, to Herod's palace and the Temple, to proclaim their discovery. Instead, the Magi, who chose the Child as their sovereign, protected him in concealment, in keeping with Mary's style, or better, with that of God himself. And thus, as they appeared, they disappeared in silence, content, but also changed by the encounter with Truth.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 7/01/2009)
