What are you doing, O Magi? Do you adore a little Babe, in a wretched hovel, wrapped in miserable rags? Can this Child be truly God? … Are you become foolish, O Wise Men … Yes, these Wise Men have become fools that they may be wise.
— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
January 6th is the feast of the 3 Kings. they became kings only later on in time.
when they started out is the Gospel of Mathew they are referred to as Magi. Magi were a caste in Persia but it could just mean astrologers, fortune tellers when they began their journey, they were not really name nor was their ancestry known but then they came to be called the kings of Orient Caspar, Melchoir and Balthasar.
they followed the stars that emerged on the horizon to Bethlem seeking the saviour. by the time they really reached him, he was no longer the infant, but was a child.
the 3 kings arriving with gifts is believed is believed to be the nativity of Jesus. so 200AD saw celebration of nativity from Egypt to Rome. around 25 dec.380 St. Gregory of Nazianzus refers to this day as ‘The Theophany” and says it commemorates the holy nativity of Christ. in 385 AD pilgrim Egeria calls Nativity celebration at Jerusalem and Bethlem as epiphany in description.
1n 1969 the roman calendar revisited the event and put it on a Sunday between Jan 2nd and jan 8th. though most people celebrate it on the 6th of January that is 12 days after Christmas.
though a feast is very much part of the event, it is about giving gifts. the culinary treat is the Rosca De Reyes that is Kings cake, shaped like a king’s crown and has many surprises embedded within. there is also a token embedded within, whoever receives this token is obligated to host the Candlemas day party that occurs on 2nd of February.
putting aside all these stories and religiosity, there is a life lesson embedded in the story of the Magi, when we seek God with sincere determination, we will find divinity. for the divine wants to have an intimate relationship with each of us. the gifts that the 3 kings got for Jesus was the kind that only God deserves, that is bowing before him and worshiping him.
when the Magi’s returned they did not go the same way that they travelled to Bethlem they changed for ever when we accept the divinity within, we cannot go back to our old life, our transformation is forever.
the gifts the Magi brought are so symbolic too For by gold the power of a king is signified, by frankincense the honour of God, by myrrh the burial of the body; and accordingly, they offer Him gold as King, frankincense as God, myrrh as Man.
— St John Chrysostom
0n a lighter vein if the Maggie’s were 3 wise women, they would have asked directions arrived on time, help to deliver the baby cooked a casserole, cleaned the stable and there would be peace on earth.
let me share a secret with you, which I discovered from Vera Nazarian… one true king knew when to step aside and give up the reins of power – to remove his crown and relinquish his kingdom – all for the sake of glimpsing just once in a life time, the face of a holy child.
He was the fourth to follow the star.
his gift was a secret
the rest of his journey is unknown … maybe you are him… or maybe I am him.
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