Epiphany for Children: Why the Wise Men Worshipped Jesus
Showing Your Child How to Worship Like a King
The wiseman travelled many miles to see this most special prophesied King. They negotiated difficult terrain on the backs of uncomfortable camels. What perseverance they must have had to travel such a distance!
But this isn’t the greatest distance that they travelled to meet and adore Jesus…
The greatest distance they travelled was when they fell to their knees in adoration before their creator, the King of all!
In this reflection, I have used the words wisemen and kings interchangeably. For a more in-depth look at whether these men were wisemen or kings, please see the short video at the end. I have also discussed the kings falling to their knees and removing their crowns as two separate issues for clarity. When speaking with your kids, it’s probably best to discuss both issues together.
Perhaps you could start my suggested Adoration of the Baby Jesus on the Feast of the Epiphany, 6th January, and then carry it on throughout the month.
First, children need to know why the kings fell to their knees
The catechism says that adoration of God acknowledges Him as creator and sees us as nothing. It is certainly true that without God, we wouldn’t exist. God seems to have placed in us a sort of spiritual DNA that yearns to worship Him. In Deuteronomy 6:13, it says that “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”
In old civilisations, people worshipped a god or a collection of gods. There seemed to be this desire to worship. In today’s society, it seems that if a person doesn’t have faith in God, they need to find something else to pour their love into. You see this in people who have made football an idol. If not football, maybe shopping, travelling or collecting antiques become idols in place of the one true God. What I am trying to get at is that there is an innate need in humans to worship! Unless we worship the one, true God, we will fall for anything!
In the bible, it describes the three kings as falling down to worship:
“The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did Him homage.”
Matthew 2:10-11
Falling to their knees they did Him homage… they didn’t gently get down on one knee and then the other... no! they fell down on both their knees. This shows us that they were overcome by the presence of baby Jesus. There was an urgency to get down on their knees in worship.
Explain to your child that God should be worshipped because He created us! When someone loves you like this, it’s only natural that you love them back. It’s similar to when a parent loves their child – the child naturally loves their parents back!
Not only did He create us, but He created a world where we could live, including our family and our friends. He loves us with an infinite love – the sort of love in which He died for us, to ensure we could enjoy joy, peace and love with Him FOREVER in Heaven!
So, perhaps you could read the bible passage above and / show the above painting and say to your child:
“When the 3 Kings saw baby Jesus in front of them, they realised that He was the creator of everything: the King of the universe! They had a strong urge to worship Him, and they fell to their knees to do this. Let’s fall on our knees just like the three kings!”
You and your child could fall on their knees onto your prayer cushions. (How to Create a Family Prayer Altar: A Guide for Catholic Families) If you don’t have one, you could use any type of soft cushion or even a pillow to make sure you and your children make a safe landing.
Secondly, children need to know why the 3 Kings removed their crowns to worship baby Jesus.
Please take another look at the painting above! You can see that as each king gets closer to Jesus, not only does he find himself on his knees, but he has also taken off his crown…
We see something similar in the Book of Revelation:
Perhaps you could show your child the painting with the kings earlier in the day and say something like:

“See how the wisemen worshipped baby Jesus by falling to their knees and removing their crowns. They realised that they were in the presence of a much greater King than themselves: they were in the presence of the KING of KINGS! Tonight, we are also in the presence of Jesus….so let’s do the same!”
Thirdly, make the crowns to remove during worship
Crowns are fun and easy to make with coloured paper, a pair of scissors, a felt tip pen (and some extra stick-on jewels if you so wish)! Perhaps make these in the days leading up to the Epiphany…

So, as you all approach Jesus during your prayer time, you can all fall onto your cushions and remove your crowns. Can I also suggest that you learn and sing one or more verses of the worship song below? Alternatively, you could play this YouTube song video so that all of you can sing along. I am sure your children will be making up their own actions to go with the words!
Fourthly, point out that where 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus’ name, ‘the Holy One is here’

This means that Jesus is with you as you worship Him! Also, explain that He is sooo generous that He doesn’t just sit there on His throne smiling while we worship Him! While Jesus is in your midst, He will be giving each of you gifts. This is His nature. Perhaps it might be the gift of being able to feel or sense His presence with you, perhaps the gift of a deep joy, or the gift of His whisper in your heart, maybe the gift of physical healing for one of you or the gift to bring healing to others. Sometimes we may never know what gift Jesus is giving us during prayer. Here is where trust in the King of the Universe comes in! May Jesus surprise you all during your prayer times!
Let your kids know that Jesus is giving gifts to us every day if we but look for them (a sunny blue sky or someone being unexpectedly kind to us).
So, why is falling to our knees a greater distance than the hundreds of miles that the three kings travelled on their camels? Well, of course, in terms of measurement, it isn’t! But in terms of worship….to be able to believe that Someone is far greater than yourself and must be worshipped takes an even greater movement of the heart! Worship is a great sign of submission to a higher authority and something that we should only do when worshipping God, the Almighty!
If you would like to delve more deeply into whether these men were kings or wisemen, please check out the short video below. Enjoy your times of adoration of the Christ-child!
- Maybe light a special candle set aside just for the month of November. Perhaps have a photo of a loved one who has passed away on your prayer altar. This loved one can be enveloped in your prayers.
- Remind your child/ children why you are praying for these Holy Souls.
- Pray the St. Gertrude prayer together.
- As a thank you for praying the St. Gertrude prayer and releasing 1000 Holy Souls, offer your child/ children a homemade soul cake with a mug of hot chocolate and marshmallows. Delicious!

Making Soul cakes
Basically, these were small cakes made of wheat or oatmeal with dried fruits, spices and even alcohol. These varied from region to region in the British Isles. For example: In Yorkshire they were square with carrots in the centre. In Lancashire and Herefordshire, they were made with oatmeal, fat, ginger and brown ale. They are a bit like spiced shortbread.
It’s important to encourage your child to help you make these.
I found the recipe below on YouTube which uses wheat, spices and it doesn’t use alcohol - so very child friendly. Of course, you can make these to your own taste. When I tried making them, I added freshly ground cardamoms and turmeric to the mixed spice. I also used honey instead of sugar and einkorn flour instead of all-purpose flour. Einkorn flour is an ancient grain. The photos below are of my homemade soul cakes!
Traditional Soul Cakes Ingredients:
For those of us who use grams rather than cups for measurement and Celsius instead of Fahrenheit– please use the following measurements instead:
Preheat oven to 350 F/ 175 Celsius.
Roll out to ½ inch/12.7mm thick!! Makes 8 cakes
Cook for 15-20 mins
170g/ ¾ cup butter
150g /3/4 cup sugar (I used 75g honey)
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice (I also added 8 freshly ground cardamoms)
Some saffron/ 3 drops yellow food colouring (I used a pinch of turmeric)
375g/3 cups all-purpose flour (I used wholegrain Einkorn flour)
½ cup/ 120g currants
Milk if needed
How my Soul Cakes turned out!

You can see that each soul cake has a cross over the top of each ‘cake’. I made these with a knife. This signifies that the souls being prayed for are holy. They belong to Jesus and are simply going through their final purification before they can be with their Lord and Saviour forever. They are part of the Communion of Saints.
The cross could also be made by pushing currants into the top of the cake to form a cross. Maybe your child has a unique way of making the cross on top of each Soul Cake?
I hope that this enriches your November prayer times and draws the whole family closer towards the Holy Souls.
Tammy's Blog
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