Friday, January 11, 2008

..and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matt 2:11).

The Three Holy Wise Men were following with joy and zeal the heavenly sign: "and seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy" (Matt 2:10). They did not delayed the start of their journey, nor did they have any fear about traveling far and to unknown lands. We need similar zeal and readiness to answer to God's grace. If we ever notice little star shining upon us, or in other words, if we notice God asking something from us - would it be the voice of conscience, sermon of the priest, good advice from our dear friend, or something really moving like good spiritual reading, all we can do is to follow the call with joy and zeal of Three Holy Kings. Why? For grace can be sent at particular moment and when unnoticed or ignored it may never come back again! Let us look carefully at Three Kings response to grace sent them: "for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to adore him" (Matt 2:2) .
Even smallest sacrifice out of sincere love for Our Lord will surely delight Him. Let us give Him the gold of alms, of particular detachment, of getting rid of aversion we feel toward someone, of desire for praise and admiration or riches and honours. Moreover, we can offer Him frankincense of prayer - pouring out our heart to Him in sincere prayer may cause Him to shower us with graces in return. We do not have to say long prayers, the prayer can be short but loving and said often throughout the day, like: "My God, all for love of Thee!" Let us pay homage to God-Man who was ready to suffer so much for us. Let us come close to the manger and adore the Child together with Three Holy Kings and offer Him from our own treasure-box gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh of charity, prayer and sacrifice.

credit: B. Murillo "Adoration of the Child"