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Let us now follow the Magi to Bethlehem: it is there that we shall
especially see the manifestation of the depth of their faith.
The marvellous star leads them to the place where they were at
last to find Him Whom they had so long sought. And what do they
find ? A palace, a royal cradle, a long train of attentive
servants ? No, but a poor dwelling. They seek a king, a God, and
they see only a Babe on His Mother's knee; not a Babe transfigured
by Divine rays as the Apostles were later to see the God-Man, but
a little Child, a poor weak little Child.
However, from this Little One so frail in appearance, invisibly
went forth a divine power : Virtus de illo exibat. He, Who had
made the star arise to lead the Magi to His cradle, now Himself
enlightened them. He inwardly filled their minds with light and
their hearts with love. And so it was that in this Child, they
recognised their God.
The Gospel tells us nothing of their words, but it makes known to
us the sublime act of their perfect faith: "And falling down they
adored Him": Et procidentes adoraverunt eum (Ibid. 2:2).
The Church would have us associate ourselves with this adoration
of the Magi. When, during the Mass, she gives us these words of
the Gospel narrative to read, she causes us to kneel down, to show
that we, too, believe in the Divinity of the Babe of Bethlehem.
Let us adore Him with deep faith. God requires of us that, as long
as we are here below, all the activity of our inner life should
lead to union with Him by faith. Faith is the light which enables
us to see God in the Virgin's Child, to hear God's voice in the
words of the Incarnate Word, to follow the example of a God in the
actions of Jesus, to appropriate to ourselves the infinite merits
of a God in the sorrows and satisfactions of a Man suffering like
ourselves.
Through the veil of a humble and passible Humanity, the soul
enlightened by a living faith ever discovers God; whereever she
encounters this Humanity-whether it be in the humiliations of
Bethlehem, upon the roads of Judea, on the gibbet of Calvary, or
under the Eucharistic species- the faithful soul falls in
adoration because it is the Humanity of a God. At the feet of
Jesus she listens to Him, in order to obey and follow Him until it
shall please Him to reveal Himself in the beauty of Xis Infinite
Majesty, in the holy splendours of the Beatific Vision: Usque ad
contemplandam speciem tuae celsitudinis perducam? (Collect for the
Feast of the Epiphany).
The attitude of adoration in the Magi translates in eloquent
language the depth of their faith; the presents that they offer
are likewise full of signification. The Fathers of the Church have
laid stress on the symbolism of the gifts brought to Christ by the
Magi. In ending this conference, let us stay to consider the depth
of this symbolism: it will be a joy for our souls and food for our
devotion.
As you know, the Gospel tells us that having found the Child with
Mary His Mother, "opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts:
gold, frankincense and myrrh " (Mt 2:2). It is evident that, in
the intentions of the Magi, these gifts were meant to express the
feelings of their hearts as well as to honour Him to Whom they
were brought.
In examining the nature of these gifts which they had prepared
before their departure, we see that divine illumination had
already manifested to the Magi something of the eminent dignity of
Him Whom they desired to contemplate and adore. The nature of
these gifts likewise indicates the nature of the duties that the
Magi would fulfil towards the King of the Jews. The symbolism of
the gifts therefore refers both to the One to Whom they are
offered and to those who present them.
Gold, the most precious of metals, is the symbol of royalty; it
denotes, on the other hand, the love and fidelity. That everyone
owes to his prince.
Incense is universally acknowledge to be the symbol of divine
worship; it is offered to God alone. In preparing this gift, the
Magi showed that they had in view to proclaim the Divinity of Him
Whose Birth was announced by the star, and to confess this
Divinity by the supreme adoration that can be rendered to God
alone.
Finally, they had been inspired to bring Him myrrh. What would
they show by this myrrh which is used to dress wounds, and to
embalm the dead ? This gift signified that Christ was Man, a Man
capable of suffering, Who would one day die. The myrrh also
symbolised the spirit of penance and immolation which ought to
characterise the life of the disciples of the Crucified.
Thus grace inspired the Magi to bring presents to Him Whom they
sought. It should be the same for us. "Let us who hear the story
of the offering of the Magi," says St. Ambrose (In Lk 2:44),
"learn how to open our treasures and present like offerings." Each
time that we draw near to Christ, let us, like the Magi, bring Him
presents, but presents that are magnificent, that are, like
theirs, worthy of Him to Whom we offer them.
You may perhaps say: we have neither gold, nor frankincense, nor
myrrh. That is true; but we have what is better, we have much more
precious treasures, the only ones, moreover, that Christ, our
Saviour and our King, expects from us. Do we not offer gold to
Christ when by a life full of love and fidelity to His commands,
we proclaim that He is the King of our hearts ? Do we not present
frankincense when we believe in His Divinity, and confess it by
our adoration and prayers?
In uniting our humiliations, our sufferings, our sorrow and tears
to His, do we not bring Him myrrh ?
And if, of ourselves, we are destitute of these things, let us ask
Our Lord to enrich us with the treasures that are pleasing to Him;
He possesses them in order to give them to us.
This is what Christ Jesus Himself made known to St. Mechtilde, one
feast of the Epiphany, after she had received Communion. " Behold,
" said He, " I give thee gold, that is to say My Divine love;
frankincense, that is all My holiness and devotion; finally myrrh,
which is the bitterness of My Passion. I give them to thee to such
an extent that thou mayest offer them as gifts to Me, as if they
were shine own property (The Book of Special Grace. Part I,
chapter 8).
Yes, this is an extremely consoling truth that we ought never to
forget. The grace of divine adoption, which makes us brethren of
Jesus and living members of His Mystical Body, gives us the right
of appropriating to ourselves His treasures so that they may be
accounted as our own by Himself and His Father. " You know the
grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, " says St. Paul, " that being rich
He became poor, for your sakes; that though His poverty you might
be rich" (2 Cor 8:9).
Our Lord Himself supplies for what we lack; He is our riches, our
thank-offering; He has in Himself, in an eminent degree, that
which the gifts of the Magi signify; He perfectly realises in His
Person their deep symbolism. Therefore let us offer Him to the
Heavenly Father in thanksgiving for the inestimable gift of the
Christian faith. God has given us His Son; according to Jesus' own
words, the Infinite Being could not manifest His love for us in a
more striking way: SIC Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum
Unigenitum DARET (Jn 3:16); for, in giving Him to us, adds St.
Paul, He has " given us all things": Quomodo non etiam cum illo
omnia nobis donavit (Rom 8:32).
But we owe, in return, signal acts of thanksgiving to God for this
ineffable Gift. What can we give to God that is worthy of Him? His
Son Jesus. In offering His Son to Him, we render to Him that which
He gives us: Offerimus praeclarae majestati tuae de tuis donis ac
datis (Canon of the Mass), and there is no gift that is more
pleasing to Him.
The Church, knowing God's secret better than anyone, knows this so
well ! On this day, when her mystical nuptials with Christ begin,
she offers to God no longer gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but the
One Who is Himself represented by these gifts, immolated upon the
altar and received into the hearts of His disciples: Ecclesiae
tuae, quaesumus, Domine, dona propitius intuere, quibus non jam
aurum, thus et myrrha profertur, sed quod eisdem muneribus
declaratur, immolatur et sumitur, Jesus Christus Filius tuus,
Dominus noster (Secret of the Mass for the Epiphany).
Let us, then, with the priest, offer the Holy Sacrifice. Let us
offer to the Eternal Father His Divine Son, after having received
Him at the Holy Table; but let us also lovingly offer ourselves
with Him, that in all things we may accomplish what His Divine
will manifests to us: this is the most perfect gift we can present
to God.
The Epiphany still continues; it is prolonged throughout the
centuries. "We, too," says St. Leo (Sermo 35, In Epiphanie
solemnitate 6), " are to taste the joys of the Magi, for the
mystery which is accomplished upon this day is not to remain
confined to it. Through the munificence of God and the power of
His goodness, we in our day enjoy the reality whereof the Magi had
the first fruits."
The Epiphany is renewed, indeed, when God makes the light of the
Gospel shine in the sight of the pagans; each time that the truth
is realized by those living in error it is a ray of the Magi's
star that appears to them.
The Epiphany continues too in the faithful soul when her love
becomes more fervent and steadfast. Fidelity to the inspirations
of grace-it is Our Lord Himself Who tells us so,--becomes the
source of a more ardent and brighter illumination : Qui diligit
me... manifestabo ei meipsum (Jn 14:21). Happy the soul that lives
by faith and love ! Christ Jesus manifests Himself ever more and
more within her; He makes her enter into an ever deeper and closer
comprehension of His mysteries.
Holy Scripture compares the life of the just man to a path which "
as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect
day (Prov 4:18), to that day whereon every veil will fall away,
all shadows flee, when the eternal splendours of the divinity will
appear in the light of glory. In the heavenly city, says St. John,
in his mysterious book of the Apocalypse where he describes the
magnificence of the Jerusalem which is on high, there is no need
of the sun, for the Lamb, that is to say Christ, is Himself the
I,ight which enlightens and gladdens the souls of all the elect
(Apoc 21:23; 22:5).
That will be the heavenly Epiphany.
" O God, Who upon this day by the leading of a star, didst reveal
Thine Only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; mercifully grant, that we
who already know Thee by faith, may be brought to the
contemplation of the beauty of Thy majesty ": Deus, qui hodierna
die Unigenitum tuum gentibus stella duce revelasti: concede
propitius, ut qui jam te ex fide cognovimus, usque ad
contemplandam speciem tuae celsitudinis perducamur.
