Dear Three Wise Men.
This year I am writing to you at short notice. By now, you must be in a hurry. I hope I am not late. I know I have not behaved very well, what am I going to deceive you. I find it hard to overcome my shortcomings and limitations and… sometimes I throw in the towel. I ask for your understanding for another year.
First of all, it comes from inside me to tell you that I believe in you. In the world, illusion and hope are important. You know how to awaken it. Those who say that the Three Kings are the parents are wrong. It is not true. Many parents buy things for their children just to entertain them and to keep them out of the way. You are not like that. You make us wish for the best.
And I am going to ask you. For this year I ask you for something immaterial: A bag of time. Time to waste, to savour, to dedicate to God, to the people I love, to others. I ask you for a good bag of time so that I don’t rush around all day, doing things that sometimes I don’t really know what they’re for. The others need me and I need them. Time is an unrepentant tyrant who steals our hearts. If you would give me a little time I could pray a little more; I would take the opportunity to see some sick people… I would even dedicate an afternoon to visit my neighbour who recently fell and broke her hip.
I ask you for the time to spend it (=gain it) with those who really need it, with the lonely, with the elderly, with those who suffer, with myself. I ask you for time to savour it slowly with Jesus. With the bag of time, you don’t need to give me the instruction manual. I already have it. I already know the theory… I am the one who does not know how to use the time I have now.
But above all I ask you to bring a little peace to the world. Things are very bad in your land, bombs are on the rampage and terror is multiplying. The balconies of many children’s houses are in ruins to leave toys… and many have lost their expression and their ability to dream. Will you be able to renew their smile? You have experience. You dealt with Herod who caused a massacre of innocent creatures… Today there are many people of all ages, also children, who have to flee as the Holy Family did in boats and canoes risking their lives to reach a Europe where they can take refuge from the horror. Please, leave them coal to those who destroy the smiles of children through lies, wars and terror. Gold, they already have it; frankincense, they give it to themselves, myrrh… well, myrrh I am not quite sure what it is.
Dear Wise Men: give us the time and the will to seek Jesus, as you sought him; give us the courage not to succumb to the wizards who, like Herod, try to lead us astray; give us a sense of humour and love to give us hope for life. May we see your star and may it guide us in the same direction you went in order to leave amazed like you. Please continue to fulfil, as you do every year, your mission to brighten up our lives.
On the balcony, as every year, I leave you polvorones and a bottle of aniseed for the road. Also some straw for the camels, the poor things.
Promising that next year I will change and be nicer, I send you a big hug with all my love.
Juan Carlos cmf
(PHOTO: Marcel Eberle)
