Stories can bring delight. And if there ever was a story that has sparked delight among believers, it’s the one about those three travelers from the East who not only followed a bright star, but reverenced its source when they recognized it in this child Jesus — and then kept on following that radiance as they set off in a new direction. Their delight speaks to something aglow inside every believer since.

For one thing, these three wisemen have eyes for the light, are open to the glints of God’s presence in their world. What kinds of things would sensitize our eyes to God’s light, and summon us forward?

They would certainly include our gathering at a Sunday Mass — and while there, opening ourselves to the Scriptures, to the example of the believers around us, and certainly to the coming of our Eucharistic Lord. Then there are those daily practices: prayer, generous outreaches to the neighbor, and care for God’s poor.

For another thing, these three Kings not only discover God’s presence, but they kneel before it, reverence it. They are stirred and allow it to figure into their responses to all of the life around them. In what ways does Jesus’ vision of things suffuse our outlook? What issues and concerns pop up when we turn to look at the world through Jesus’ eyes?

Finally, because of whom they’ve seen, these three travelers change direction and set out on a new way. Their following this Way begins to have a bearing on what matters more and what matters less in their lives. They are led down other roads exposed by the glow of that same light that is God’s nearness.

For those of us who would follow their journey, similar actions emerge. And so, not just basking in the light, but letting it illuminate paths laid out by the Gospel, allowing it to become that compelling aura at the end of the tunnel, letting it become a beacon for more of God’s Word to radiate into this world.

Though there is delight in the story of these three Kings on their westward journey, that delight means more than just listening to their story. In the active spirit of our St. Vincent, it translates into the kinds of deeds that bring more substance and body to the Christ-light always shining among us.