REFLECTIONS ON THE WIZARD KINGS

 

 want, with this I want to draw your attention a bit, we are very used to hearing news about the future of the Church, of the world, of this or that nation, but we neglect our spirituality. It makes us tedious to meditate on spiritual writings, it comes to us as a spiritual laziness to apply our mind to the reflections or meditations of the saints, ignoring that by not doing so our spirituality decreases to such a degree that we reach a starvation of spiritual life in our souls. This is the reason for the low spirituality of today's world, a spirituality that distances us more and more from God and in the end kills the soul. In all this, without a doubt, the devil works, who is the most interested in seeing our souls in hell, the enemy of human nature gives more importance to the coming events of which we have a certainty similar to that of a blind man who only knows guide by his stick since the future depends totally and absolutely on God. To the "news" present without knowing that they are smoke before God and in the end that we have left inside the suitcase of our soul with respect to God. Nothing!

Where is the King of the Jews who has been born, etc.

I have told you today that these words show the faith of the noble Kings, first Christians, who were, among the Gentiles, the first fruits of the Christian faith; and his faith is shown as to the intrinsic act, as to the previous act, and as to the subsequent act. The intrinsic act consists in searching; and this is indicated by saying:  Where is the King of the Jews who has been born? And he told you how the Kings were looking for the king of the Jews, a child, a poor fellow and notorious for nothing; They were looking for, I mean, the child king, little infant by maternal generation, but eternal by paternal generation; They were looking for the poor king, stripped of all transitory goods, but opulent by the endless inheritance; Finally, they were looking for the king reputed for nothing, despised for his state subject to condescension, but glorious for his triumphant power over all. That is why it was necessary for them to believe with faith in another way than what they saw with their eyes, since it was not given to them to reach the mystery through the senses.

That is why the Lord deigned to come by means of miracles to the aid of the Kings, who arrived at the previous act of faith by the vision of the star; and this is indicated when it is said:  We saw his star in the east.  What is certain is that such a star was not one of those that are fixed in the firmament, nor was it any of the movable stars; for it was close to the Magi, and it was so great that they could be guided along the way, for which reason it was necessary for it to appear, not by natural virtue, but supernatural. The Magi walked; the star went before them and stopped. It is true, and we do not deny it, that the author of nature uses it in things that are within his reach. But when nature is incapable of producing an effect, as in our case, then he gives rise to the stars by supernaturally divine virtue.  There are five genera of comets, and they are not produced by the sun or by the stars; and there are nine kinds of stars, among which the eighth , called the rose, is most beautiful, which, according to what the philosophers say, is large and ruddy, with the figure of a man and a color similar to that of silver in alloy with gold. . And that such a star was the one that appeared in the east; seems borne Saint John Chrysostom; but it is impossible that it occurred naturally; Therefore, it must be said that the angels supplied what nature could not produce and that star appeared, not only for the Magi, but also to clarify the mystery that enlightens the whole world. 

Now the whole world is taught by the mystery of the star; I mean, those who follow the route of the star are enlightened, which is, it is not a natural route, but an evangelical one; and just as the Magi were led by the natural star, so we are led by the spiritual star. And so I say that the star induced the Magi to appear before Christ, led them to Christ and reduced them to Christ. And that he induced them is implied when it is said: We have seen his star in the east. And that he led them, is hinted at with these words:  The star went before them until it came to a standstill before where the child was. And that he reduced them, is indicated by saying:  And seeing the star, they rejoiced greatly. And entering the house, they found the child, etc.  This star, therefore, induces, leads and reduces. But this star is but a figure of the spiritual star, which also induces us to go to Christ, leads us to Christ, and reduces us to Christ. The star that leads us into the presence of Christ is signified by the morning star, from which, if any, the star that appeared to the Magi originated; and we can well say that the external star is the one that induces us to present ourselves before Christ; the upper star is the one that leads us to Christ.

The external star, whose virtue leads us to the presence of Christ,  is the Holy Scripture;  the superior star, to which it is up to us to lead Christ,  is the holy and blessed Virgin Mary;  and the inner star, which reduces us to Christ,  is the grace of the Holy Spirit.  These three stars lead us as if by the hand into the presence of Christ.

Coming to the first, it must be said that the star that induces us to go where Christ is, is the Holy Scripture, of which it is said in Ecclesiasticus : Shine like the morning star, in the midst of the mist, and like the full moon in his days, etc.  The Scripture is found in the midst of the fog, that is, in the midst of the darkness of human ignorance. Since we cannot see superior things, neither can we see the divine face of Christ; hence, the direction of the celestial light is a necessary requirement to see it; and this light is the Holy Scripture, light from heaven, brought by the Angels to the Patriarchs, Prophets and Apostles. This is the light that we have to look at; and Saint Peter says of her, II Canonical:  And still we have more firm the word of the prophets; which you do well to attend to as a torch that shines in a dark place.  We need the light of Holy Scripture, until the day of eternity shines.

The Holy Scripture is legal light in the Patriarchs, prophetic in the Prophets, and evangelical in the Apostles. In the Patriarchs there is brilliance of merits, in the Prophets brilliance of merits and miracles, and in the Apostles brilliance of merits, miracles and martyrdom.

The Patriarchs had clarity of intellectual vision only the Prophets, clarity of intellectual vision together with the imaginary one; and the Apostles, clarity of intellectual and imaginary vision, united with the certain vision, bodily, I say, not spiritual; for which reason the Lord says:  Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed;  and in the first epistle of Saint John :  What we saw with our eyes and what our hands touched of the Word of life, etc., we announce it to you. Combine the brightness of the merits of miracles and martyrdoms with the clarity of the imaginary intellectual vision and patent to the senses; together I say, in one you are six  

Excellencies and their friendly concert, and you will have the certainty of authority, which will always be unfailing for you. This is the most fruitful star, through which we can go to Christ. Pope Saint Leo says:  "When we are going to consider the mystery of the Son of God, born of the Virgin, let the darkness of earthly reasoning be driven away and the smoke of worldly wisdom dissipated, to the splendor of faith that illuminates our eyes." ", etc. By this star, which is the Holy Scripture, one goes to Christ. 

But those who head towards Herod's perfidy lose the direction of this star. Herod was extremely perfidious, and he insisted on putting an end to Christ. This light was first lost by the Jews, then by the pagans, and lastly by the heretics. The Jews lack it, for occupying themselves with endless genealogies; the pagans, for understanding teachings: demons, and heretics, for indulging in fallacious philosophies. Let us beware of these errors, because, otherwise, we will lose the light of Scripture, as the Magi admonish us, who, when going to Herod, lost the direction of the star. Let us conclude: the outer star induces us to go into the presence of Christ: As for the second, the superior star, which is the blessed Virgin, leads us to Christ; and from it is understood what is said in the book of Numbers, with these words: A star will be born from Jacob, and a rod will rise from Israel and strike the leaders of Moab. Let the blessed Virgin be called a star because of her stable and unshakable virtue; by Moab are meant the voluptuous. Moab's chieftains are the demons or the deadly sins. This star, that is, the blessed Virgin, defeats the leaders of Moab, who are the seven deadly sins: the spirit of pride, being most humble; the spirit of envy, being most benign; the spirit of anger, because it is most meek; the spirit of laziness, for being very devoted; the spirit of greed, due to her most liberal generosity; the spirit of gluttony, due to her very moderate temperance; and, lastly, the spirit of lust, being as she is extremely upright and utterly chaste. Therefore, I destroy that star to the leaders of Moab; and led the Magi to Christ. And just as, falling into Herod's perfidy, man loses the direction of the star that leads him to the presence of Christ, that is, to the knowledge of Sacred Scripture, so also, incurring in Herod's hypocrisy, he deviates from the direction of the blessed Virgin, radiant star, whose office it is to lead Christ.

In Herod the hypocrites are figured. It is said in the Gospel that Herod, secretly calling the Magi, questioned them carefully about the time of the appearance of the star; and he said to them:  go and inquire diligently about this child, and when you find him, tell me, so that I too may go and worship him.  Commenting on this passage, Saint Gregory says that there is nothing so much apart from the direction of the blessed Virgin as hypocrisy. Herod spoke thus:  Find out carefully where the child is, so that I too may go and worship him. As he manifested with this, he wanted the Wizards to find out about the child, so that he too would go to adore him, but, in reality, he wanted something else. In this way, the hypocrite is externally informed of the virtues and pretends to follow the blessed Virgin, when something else is what she intends.

When you pretend that you are humble, being arrogant; that you are benign, being envious; that you are meek, being wrathful; that you are devout, being lazy; that you are chaste, being lustful: believe me, by God, that you are Herod, a name that is interpreted as the one who glories in the epidermis, meaning, for the same reason, the hypocrites.  He gloried, I repeat, in the epidermis, that is, in the outer crust, just like the hypocrites, who glory in external appearances. If you are, then, one of the hypocrites, understand that you do not follow Christ.

Note. These reflections will give us a lot to meditate on and, above all, ask the Child Jesus  not to be any of these characters that Our Lord Jesus Christ disapproves of and, unfortunately, there are many more and more within the same Church. 

Happy kings day,YOU THE EDITORIAL.