THE ADORATION OF THE HOLY KINGS.

 

Homily of the blessed Saint Gregory Pope, on the same feast, in the present Gospel: Saint Matthew writes it in chapter 2. v. 1. and 2. he says thus: Jesus being born in Belem of Judah in the days of King Herod, see here that the Magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying: ¿Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the East, and we have come to worship him, …

According to the lesson of the Holy Gospel, it has been told to us, my beloved brothers, when the King of heaven was born, the King of earth has been troubled: because without a doubt all dominion of the earth is confused, when the Majesty of heaven is shown. But in my opinion it is fair that we know, how when our Redeemer was born, an Angel was sent to the shepherds in Judea, to let them know, and to the Magi it was not an Angel, but a star that guided them and brought them to where they had taken him. to worship Just providence of the Lord ordered that the Jews who used reason would be warned by the Angel who has reason; and the Gentiles who did not know how to use it, came to the knowledge of the Lord, not by preaching, but by signs. For in truth, the prophecies were given to the Jews as to believers, and the signs were given to the Gentiles as to unbelievers.

You must also note that, since our Redeemer was already of perfect age, the Apostles themselves went to preach to the Gentiles; and being an infant, and of such an age that according to her she could not yet speak, he was a star to inform her. All this was in accordance with reason, because when our Redeemer was already of speaking age, it was right that preachers who spoke should give us news of him; and being of an age in which he did not speak, the mute elements were preached to him. It is a thing very worthy of note, how great was the hardness in the hearts of some Jews, to whom neither the wonderful signs that were shown in the birth of the Lord, nor the wonders that were seen in his life and death, nor the fulfillment what they saw from the prophecies: nothing was enough for them to know him for who he was. The elements all knew him through his Creator, and bore witness to his coming; And speaking of them as human creatures, I say that the heavens knew that this was his Creator, because they then sent the star to serve him. The sea knew him, because he allowed himself to be trampled by its feet as if it were solid land. The earth knew him, because at the time of his death it trembled.

The sun knew him, which at that same time hid the rays of its light. Know him the rocks and the walls of it, because when he died they broke. She knew him hell, which by her command restored the dead he had; and this Lord thus known by all things, the hard hearts of the unfaithful Jews never want to know him through God; and showing themselves to be harder than stones, they do not want to be broken by penitence: they deny it and do not want to confess it, even seeing that, as we have said, the elements and insensitive things, with all the signs they could, have confessed it; and to their greater condemnation, they knew long before that this Lord was to be born, whom they now despise seeing him born; and they not only knew that he was to be born, but also in what place he was to be born; Because when asked by Herod, they themselves gave information about the place of his birth, and showed that they knew it on the authority of the Holy Scripture; and thus they testified with the prophecy, that Belem was to be honored with the birth of the new captain who was to be born there; and to the further confusion of their unbelief and consolation of our faith, this double knowledge was shown in the Jews. At the time that Isaac gave the blessing to his son Jacob, the great mystery that was to be fulfilled in these appeared. Isaac being old and blind, when giving the blessing he was a Prophet; and not seeing the son that he had before him present, he saw many things that were to take place very later in his succession. Thus, the Jewish people, full of prophecies and blind, did not know the Lord they had: having said things that were to happen to them later. Knowing the Birth of our Sovereign King, Herod then resorted to remedies as a traitor, and fearing that he would lose the king he did not have, he asked to be told where the child had been born: he pretended that he wanted to worship him, being determined to take his life if found it. Let us see from experience how little human malice can do against the advice of divinity: this is what the wise man teaches us in the proverbs. The Magi who came with another faith through the star that had appeared to them, found the born King they were looking for; offered them his gifts, and they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod; so, Herod never found the Lord he was looking for.

By Herod the hypocrites are understood, who never deserve to find God, because they search for Him badly.

Therefore, the Magi offered gold, incense and myrrh: the gold suited him because he was King: the incense is sacrificed to God: and with myrrh they customarily anoint the bodies of the dead: so that the blessed Magi confess, that In this Lord that they adore, they believe there are three things, which they secretly indicate with their offerings: with gold to be King: with incense to be God: with myrrh to be a mortal man. Some heretics confess him as God, but they do not believe that he reigns everywhere. These offer the Lord incense, but they do not want to offer him gold: there are other heretics who grant him to be King, but not to be God. These offer him gold, but not incense: there have been other heretics who confess to being God, and to be King, but they do not confess that he has been a mortal man. These offer him gold and incense: but they do not want to offer him myrrh, like a mortal man. We, my beloved brothers, let us offer gold to the born Lord, confessing him King and Lord of the whole world: let us offer him incense, confessing that this Lord who in time showed himself to us was God without beginning: let us offer him myrrh, confessing that the same Lord who in his divinity was immortal and impassive, in our humanity he was mortal; It is true that through gold, frankincense and myrrh we can understand other mysteries. Wisdom is understood by gold, as Solomon affirms, saying: in the mouth of the wise is the treasure that deserves to be desired: by incense, which is usually kindled for God, the virtue of prayer is understood, according to what The Royal Prophet says: Lord, let my prayer be directed like incense in your presence: by myrrh we understand the mortification of our flesh.

This is confirmed by the Holy Church, which, speaking of those who in its service work until death, says: my hands distilled myrrh: according to this doctrine we offer gold to the born King, if we show ourselves before the Lord such that our works shine with the clarity of sovereign wisdom. Offer us incense, if with the holy exercises of prayer we burn carnal sensuality in the altar of the heart, in such a way that some soft desire of ours always rises before the Lord; and if we mortify the vices of the flesh with abstinence, we offer myrrh, because with myrrh, as we have already said, dead flesh is preserved from corruption; and it is nothing else to corrupt the dead flesh, but to serve with this our mortal body the vice of the flesh. When the Prophet Joel spoke of these, he said: The beasts rotted in his dung. Beasts rotting in dung is nothing else, but sensual men ending their lives in the stench of lust; and so we can say, that we offer myrrh to God, when by means of continence we keep our mortal flesh from being corrupted in lust. The Magi returning by another route to their region is not without great mystery for us; and in being admonished to do so, we are given notice of what we must do. Of course, our region is paradise, and after having known and worshiped the Lord, he commands us not to return the way we came. Let us remember that we were expelled from paradise for pride, for disobedience, for following visible things, for eating the delicacy that was forbidden to us; Well, to return to our region, it is necessary that we take another path, which is to cry with penitence, obey the commandments of God, consider little what our eyes see, and restrain our carnal appetites. We can say that we return by another path to our region, because having been expelled from it by false pleasures, we return with true tears; And for this, my brothers, it is appropriate that we always be in great fear, and with much suspicion and distrust in our hearts, having before the eyes of our soul on the one hand our faults, and on the other the narrow account that we must take of them…

Let us think how just and narrow the Judge we wait for is, and how he always threatens us and is hidden: he threatens sinners, he waits for them and suffers, he defers his coming for our good, and so that we have less to condemn.

Knowing this, let us go ahead to be prepared for his coming, punishing our faults with tears, and let us do what the great Prophet tells us: that with our confession we are prepared to receive him. Let not delights deceive us: let not pleasures demolish us: let us remember how close the Judge is who tells us: ¡woe to you who laugh now, because later you will cry and burst into tears! The wise man thus understood it, when he said: laughter will be mixed with pain, and the extremes of joy are weeping: he says further: ¿I had laughter by mistake, and I said to joy, ¿why do you receive deception in vain? and he himself in another place says: the hearts of the wise where sadness resides, and the hearts of fools where joy is.

Well, if we truly want to celebrate this holy day, it is necessary that we guard ourselves with great fear from offending God; because it is a very pleasing sacrifice before God to see man afflicted for his sins.

Thus we find it in the mouth of the Royal Prophet who says: it is a sacrifice acceptable to God, the spirit troubled, and the heart contrite. Let us remember that Holy Baptism washed us from the sins that had preceded it; and of those that we have committed later, this one can no longer wash us away. Knowing, then, as we do, that after Baptism we have dirty our soul, let us seek the waters of penitence to wash it, since the others can no longer serve us; And in this way, those of us who wish to return to our region, since we left it with false sweetness and vain joy, may return to it with true bitterness and holy sadness, helped by the grace of the Lord who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen