“Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11
Ever wonder what happened to the gifts of the Magi after their January visit? A Google search revealed several possibilities, the fruit of thoughtful Christian imagination. One site imagined that the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph used the gold for the Lord’s education; clearly, He was well-educated in His people’s tradition and scripture. Others thought that the gifts could have financed the trip to Egypt and maybe could have been used to set up St. Joseph with a carpenter shop. Several sources proposed that the family saved the myrrh so that it was around for the Lord’s burial. The various speculations were creative and mostly reasonable, built on what we know about the Lord.
Note that the Gospel says the Magi, “opened and offered their treasure.” It does not say that the parents accepted or took the gifts. I wonder if, in the presence of the infant King, the treasures were simply forgotten, overshadowed by the Word becoming flesh. The Magi offered gifts, but they were really the ones who received treasure.
Maybe this is also your experience, but I have noticed that babies have the power to bring us to our knees at the miracle of new life, of creation in this tiny, new human life. Busy, important adults are humbled—stopped in their tracks by this wonder. Haven’t we seen young parents transformed by this epiphany?
You have to imagine that the encounter with the divine baby transformed these hope-filled star-gazers so that they realized what the true treasure was.
In contrast to all this stands Herod - afraid, jealous, angry, and scheming. This king represents all that is dark, that resists transformation, that is blind to wonder, that is too busy or important to stop, to bend down, to worship.
This is a fitting moment in the calendar to celebrate St. Francis de Sales. Christmas and Epiphany images are fresh in our imaginations. January brings civil rights, discrimination, right to life, and “throwaway culture” into the light. In the opening weeks of Ordinary Time, our saint challenges us to fix in our minds and hearts who and what is treasure and to go humbled and transformed into all the ordinary moments of the year ahead.
Live Jesus.
Fr. Mike McCue, OSFS
DeSales Service Works
Camden, NJ
