And when they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh (Mt.2:11).
Mosaic icon of the adoration of the magi, located in the Vatopaidi Monastery on Mount Athos. Photo: Pinterest
They, the Wise Magi, came to the house, bowed to Him, opened the treasures of their wisdom and offered Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh—all the gifts that only a person who comes to God has and can offer to God Who has come to man. They appeared before Him as if on behalf of all mankind with human treasures, which exist with the sole purpose of becoming gifts offered to Christ. Together with them and following them we now enter the house, see the Infant with Mary His Mother and bow to Him in the wisdom and joy of grateful love.
What are we offering and what can we offer Him from the scarcity of our love, from the emptiness of our souls, and from the illusiveness of our lives? Are we standing empty-handed, confused and dismayed, or what’s even worse, with scattered minds and indifferent? But no, let it not be so! We want to offer gifts to Him, and we do have them, for He Himself enriched us, growing poor for us. He made us in His image, and these are His gifts which we must find in ourselves, opening our treasures. The Lord has endowed us richly, and we are called to offer Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh—gold as to the King, frankincense as to God, and myrrh as to a Man Who tasted death for all of us.
Gold... In the dark bowels of the earth lies its sparkling glory, its sonorous fullness, and stainless purity. It is like earth transformed, a revelation of the dark depths in which the radiance of light is hidden. With hard work and persistent patience this gold is extracted bit by bit until it accumulates in such a quantity as to illuminate with its light and gild with its radiance. Such are also the depths of the human spirit, in which and from which man extracts intelligent beauty by his creativity and clothes the world with it. This gold belongs to the King of Glory, and we humans must offer Him our glory given by Him—the gifts of the Holy Spirit given by Him. Every person has his own gift of the Holy Spirit, his hidden glory, his gold, and he must find it in himself so that he would not enter the house in vain empty-handed. Let us offer Him the creative impulse of our spirit and its fruits.
Frankincense... Fragrant incense that ascends to Heaven and fades away in it, like a human soul ascending to its Heavenly motherland. The human soul is winged: it is party to the angelic hosts that sing in Heaven praises to God in the highest; it rises up to the throne of God in its prayers and contemplations. The angelic nature of the human spirit is this frankincense of the soul, hidden in his heart. A person does not know what riches he has, what treasures were given to him until he himself experiences them, offering them to the Divine Infant Christ. The Infant’s eyes, looking into the eyes of our soul, open it to us, and it kindles up with the awe of love, “as incense before Thee...” But we must rise from sleep in which we are sunk, and go on a long journey—not on the earthly pathways, but on the stars—in order to find the house of our spirit, in which Christ rests in a poor manger, and, having bowed to Him, offer Him our frankincense. And every soul is called to be this incense burner, every soul has its own prayer and knows its way to the sacred house... Let it not be afraid of its smallness, for Christ Himself rests in its house, wrapped in swaddling clothes—let us bow to Him...
And myrrh... The funeral myrrh of love, offered by the love of the soul—the Myrrh-Bearing Women, who were burying the Beloved Bridegroom, were themselves dying with Him in their hearts. Yes, we must offer Him not only our lives, but also our deaths, to die with Him in order to rise with Him again... The Wise Magi came to understand that His Nativity was also the beginning of His path to Golgotha, and that the manger was a symbol of the tomb. The path of love is sacrifice, and the price of sacrifice is death. He was born on earth to die, and His whole life was a sacrificial offering. But our path is no different, and we must offer Him our death, our dying with Him... Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself (Mk. 8:34); and whoever wants to come to Him, let Him offer Him His death, the determination to live in His death and be resurrected by His Resurrection... Doesn’t it sound sorrowful on this day of jubilation, in the light of glory and in the singing of the angels? But these gifts of ours are the expression of the greatest joy, the bliss of love. For love is strong as death (Cant. 8:6), for love is life, and love is death—the death of our selfish, dead self. Death in Christ is life and the resurrection with Him. May our gifts be pleasing to Him; may He look mercifully upon us who have come to Him; may He point to us with His hand as to His brothers to His Mother, His and ours. Since for our sake the Pre-Eternal God was born as a young Child. Amen.
