The story of the visitation by the Magi is a curious one. The very term, Magi, used by many commentators, has negative and positive connotations.

Mary seems an enigma, but is she? Her role as a mother is a timeless one, but not all mothers are called to nurture Mankind’s Messiah! Strange that she should have pondered in her heart the shepherds’ account

Both the Old Testament and Rabbinic teaching pointed to Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. Yet nothing could have been less expected; a counting of the people, a census taken at the bidding of a pagan Emperor and executed by the hated Herod.

The focus now moves from this insignificant priest to a humble unassuming family in the Galilee, simple ‘country folk’, with their awkward speech. If the Rabbis had been writing the script for what was about to come, the cast of characters would be very different and far more important!

Just imagine this. You are one of fifty priests (out of a pool of around 20,000) on duty that day at the Temple. The first lot was drawn. This was for inspection duties of the courts by torchlight in the early hours. Then the next lot covered the lighting of a fresh flame in the dying embers of the altar …