Daily Life and Social Issues

34.8 «In the meantime, here is the gold which befits a king to possess, here is the incense which befits a God, and here, Mother, here is the myrrh because Your Child is a Man as well as God and He will experience the bitterness of the flesh and of human life as well as the inevitable law of death. Our souls, full as they are of love, would prefer not to utter those words and we would rather think that His flesh is also eternal as His Spirit. But, Woman, if our writings and above all our souls are right, He is Your Son, the Saviour, the Christ of God and consequently, to save the world, He will have to take upon Himself the evil of the world, of which one of the punishments is death. This myrrh is for that hour. That His holy flesh may not be subject to the rot of putrefaction, but may preserve its integrity until its resurrection. And on account of this gift, may He remember us and save His servants by allowing them to enter His Kingdom. In the meantime that we may be sanctified, will You, Mother, trust Your Little One to our love. That His heavenly blessing may descend upon us, while we kiss His feet.»

Mary, Who has overcome the fright caused by the words of the Wise Man, and has hidden with a smile the sadness of the doleful allusion, offers the Child. She lays Him in the arms of the oldest one, who kisses Him and receives His caress, and he then hands Him over to the other two.

• Death of Jesus Christ
• Gold
• Incense
• Jesus Christ - God-Man
• Myrrh

They [the Magi] have no human worry, when they decide on their journey. You would have had hundreds of problems: ‘How will I be able to make such a long journey in countries and among peoples speaking different languages? Will they believe me or will they put me in prison as a spy? What help will they give me to cross deserts, rivers and mountains? And the heat? And the winds of the highlands? And the malarial fever along stagnant marshes? And the floods and heavy rains? And the different food? And the different languages? And… and… and…’ That is your way of thinking. But they do not think like that. With sincere, holy daring they say: ‘You, o God, can read our hearts and You see the purpose we are aiming at. We trust to Your hands. Grant us the superhuman joy of adoring Your Second Person, Who has become Flesh to save the world’.

That is all. And they set out from the far away Indies. From the Mongolian chains of mountains which are the dominion of eagles and vultures, where God speaks with roars of winds and torrents and writes words of mystery on the immense pages of glaciers. From the land where the Nile rises and then flows with its green blue waters to the azure heart of the Mediterranean, neither mountains, nor woods, nor sands, dry oceans more dangerous than the seas, can stop them from proceeding. And the star shines upon them at night, preventing them from sleeping. When one seeks God, natural habits must yield to superhuman considerations and necessities.

• Abandon
• Restlessness - Preoccupation
• Travel

Their souls were accustomed to meditation and each of them had a most sensitive conscience, refined by constant attention, and by sharp introspection, which made of their interior a mirror from which even the slightest faults of daily actions are reflected. Their conscience has become their teacher, a voice that warns and cries not at the least error, but at the least inclination towards errors, at everything human, at the satisfaction of one’s ‘ego’. Consequently, when they place themselves before that teacher and that severe clean mirror, they know that it will not lie.

• Acts - Actions
• Contemplation
• Examination of conscience
• Good conscience
• Meditation
• Vigilance
• Words of wisdom

‘Oh! How sweet it is to feel that there is nothing against God in us! To feel that He is kindly looking at the soul of His faithful son and blesses him. Faith, trust, hope, strength and patience are increased by such a feeling. The storm is raging just now. But it will pass, because God loves me and He knows that I love Him, and He will not fail to help me again’. That is how those speak who enjoy the peace that comes from an upright conscience, that is the queen of every action of theirs.

• Acts - Actions
• Examination of conscience
• Faith
• Force
• Good conscience
• Hope - Espoir
• Patience
• Trust
• Union with God and Jesus - Living with God
• Vigilance
• Words of wisdom

The storm is raging just now. But it will pass, because God loves me and He knows that I love Him, and He will not fail to help me again

• Pain and suffering
• Prayer in solitude and abandonment
• Prayer of abandonment to God
• Sacrifice and immolation
• Test

34.13 I said that they [the Magi] were ‘humble because they were really great.’ What happens, instead, in your lives? There a man is never humble not because he is great, but because he is more domineering and makes himself mighty by means of his arrogance and because of your silly idolatry. There are some wretched men who, simply because they are the butlers of some overbearing fellow, or ushers in some office, or officials in some small village, that is, servants of those who employed them, put on the airs of demigods. And they arouse pity!…

The three Wise Men were really great. Firstly, because of their supernatural virtues, secondly because of their science, last because of their wealth. But they feel that they are nothing: dust on the dust of the earth, in comparison with the Most High God, Who with a smile creates the worlds and scatters them like grains of corn to satisfy the eyes of the angels with the jewels of the stars.

They feel they are a mere nothing as compared to the Most High God Who created the planet on which they live and He made it most varied. An Infinite Sculptor of boundless works, with a touch of His thumb, He placed a ring of hills here, the bone structure of mountain ridges and peaks there, like vertebrae of the earth, of this enormous body, the veins of which are the rivers, its basins the lakes, its hearts the oceans, its dresses the forests, its veils the clouds, its decorations the crystal glaciers, its gems the turquoises and the emeralds, the opals and the beryls of all the waters that sing, with the woods and the winds, the great chorus of praise to their Lord.

But they feel they are nothing with regard to their wisdom as compared to the Most High God, from Whom their wisdom comes and Who gave them more powerful eyes than those two pupils by means of which they see things: the eyes of their souls, which know how to read in things the word not written by human hands, but engraved by God’s thought.

And they feel they are nothing with regard to their wealth: an atom as compared to the wealth of the Owner of the universe, Who scatters metals and gems in the stars and planets and grants supernatural, unexhausted riches to the hearts of those who love Him.

• Creation
• Humility
• Pride
• The powerful man
• The rich man

(...) During the whole night and the following morning they prepare with the most ardent prayer their souls for the communion with the Child-God.

They do not go to that altar, which is the virginal lap holding the Divine Host, with their souls full of human worries, as you do. They forget to eat and to sleep, and if they wear the most beautiful robes, it is not for human ostentation, but to honour the King of kings. In royal palaces the dignitaries wear the most beautiful clothes. And should the Magi not go to that King in their best garments? Which greater opportunity is there for them?

Oh! In their far away countries, many a time they had to adorn themselves for men like themselves. To welcome and honour them. It is only fair, therefore, that they should prostrate purples and jewels, silks and precious feathers at the feet of the Supreme King. It is fair to put at His sweet little feet the fibres of the earth, the gems of the earth, the feathers of the earth, the metals of the earth — they are all His work — so that all these things of the earth may adore their Creator. And they would be happy if the Little Creature should order them to lie down on the ground and become a living carpet for His little baby steps, and if He trampled on them, since He left the stars to come down to them, who are but dust.

• Eucharist
• Kingship of Jesus Christ - Christ-King
• Leaders and heads of state - Kings and monarchs

They were humble, generous and obedient to the ‘voices’ from Above. They tell them to take gifts to the New-Born King. And they take gifts. They do not say: ‘He is rich and does not need them. He is God and will not die’. They obey. And they are the first to help the Saviour in His poverty. How useful that gold will be for Him Who is about to be a fugitive! How meaningful that myrrh is for Him Who will soon be killed! How pious that incense is for Him Who will have to smell the stench of human lewdness raging round His infinite purity!

• Death of Jesus Christ
• Escape to Egypt
• Gold
• Incense
• Myrrh

But, My dear children, there are two more lessons in this vision.

The behaviour of Joseph who knows how to keep ‘his’ place. He is present as the guardian of Purity and Holiness. But not as the usurper of their rights. It is Mary with Jesus who receives the homage and the words. Joseph rejoices because of Her and does not grieve because he is a secondary figure. Joseph is a just man: he is the Just Man. And he is always just. Also at the present moment. The fumes of the feast do not go to his head. He remains humble and just.

He is happy for the gifts. Not for himself, but because he thinks that with them he will be able to make his Spouse’s and the sweet Child’s lives more comfortable. There is no greed in Joseph. He is a workman and will continue to work. But he is anxious that ‘They’, his two loves, should be comfortable. Neither he nor the Magi know that those gifts will be needed for an escape and a life in exile, when riches vanish like clouds scattered by winds, as well as for their return to their country, where they have lost everything, customers and household furnishings, and where only the walls of their house have been saved, protected as they were by God, because there He was united to the Virgin and became Flesh.

Joseph is humble, in fact, although he is the guardian of God and of the Mother of God and Spouse of the Most High, he holds the stirrups of these vassals of God. He is a poor carpenter, because sustained human pressures have deprived David’s heirs of their royal wealth. But he is always the offspring of a king, and has the manners of a king. Also of him it must he said: ‘He was humble, because he was really great’.

• Escape to Egypt
• Gold
• Incense
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Myrrh
• The Virgin Mary - Mother of God

A good clever workman will always make his way.

• Workers