A Prayer for Epiphany

Christ,
desire of our longing,
seeking, sojourning hearts,
it is in finding you that we discover
what alone can fill
our deepest and truest longings.

And so we kneel down and offer you
the homage of our love, of our dreams,
of our deepest, truest selves.

We open before you
the humble treasure chest of our hearts
and lay before your tiny, newborn feet
the gold of all we hold dear,
the incense of all we are grateful for,
and the myrrh of all our struggles and pains.

Our Emmanuel,
every day is an epiphany
and you surprise us by being
in the most humble and unexpected places, persons and things in our lives.
Help us to find you in our seeking you,
to love you in our finding you,
and to open ourselves generously
in our loving you.

With Mary and Joseph,
we hope to remain always with you,
beholding your smile,
being warmed by your breath,
feeling your smooth, gentle palm
in our own rough, calloused and worn-out hands.

As we go from here,
we ask you to remain with us,
for in truth,
the house where we find you waiting for us
lies not far from where we are,
not even outside of our selves,
but in the deepest core of our hearts.

In our daily longing,
and in all our seeking,
may we find ourselves sojourning
to that home within our hearts
where we find you and where you find us
with silent yet no less glorious epiphanies.

Lord our love,
let our hearts be always mangers
not too poor
to receive you
and to keep you.

Amen.