examination of the heart 324 your Superiors as the Magi followed the command of the star, unless you do not want to find Jesus. 2. “and they knelt down and paid [H]im homage” (Mt 2:11). Learn the manner of praying from these kings: although they were great rulers, yet having recognized the Infant to be God, they fell at once to their knees before Him. And for a good reason: for if on approaching mortal kings, men are accustomed to make a most humble, sometimes threefold bow to them, who would approach the Immortal King without the humblest reverence? The Apocalyptic prophet138 attests to having seen twenty-four elders, who, with inclined heads, were falling down on their faces before the Lord (cf. Rev 4:10). O, how proud or sluggish you must be if you do not fall on your knees in adoration or in prayer! 3. “Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered [H]im gifts” (Mt 2:11). What kind of gifts will you offer the Lord today together with the kings? Indeed, if you want Him to look at you with the same benevolence with which He looked at the Magi, you have to give Him similar gifts: the gold of praise, the frankincense of prayer, and the myrrh of mortification. But if you have not yet gathered these most precious riches in the blessed Arabia, that is your religious community, work hard [f.98r] to gather them; and be eager to imitate the suffering Christ in suffering, the High Priest in praying and the Man most severely tried by adversities in enduring hardships. Now, if you please, hear St. Gregory, who advises: “to offer gold to the Lord who has been born, so that we may make known that [H]e rules everywhere; to offer frankincense, so that we may believe that [H]e who appeared in time existed as God before time; to offer myrrh, so that we may believe that [H]e, whom we 138 St. John the Evangelist, the author of the Book of Revelation (which is also called the Book of the Apocalypse).
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