The three gifts of the Magi, gold for crowning, frankincense for praying and myrrh for anointing, honour Christ the King, the Priest and the Prophet, pointing to three temple mysteries, spiritual crowning, glorifying sacrificial prayer and hallowing death, holy martyrdom (Mt 2:1-15). When we discover the golden crown, we uncover hallowing wisdom. When we offer incense, we offer the sacrifice of priestly prayer, burning dried gum into a most powerful aroma. When we offer myrrh, we offer anointing oil, a fragrant spice for death and burial, fragrant martyrdom. Melchior the royal mage offers gold, symbol of crowning wisdom, glorifying royal Kingship in the Kingdom of God. Caspar the sage offers frankincense, symbol of prayer and praise, raising priestly prayer to highest heaven in the temple of God. Balthazar the prophetic seer offers bitter myrrh, perfume of redemptive death, anointing Christ’s martyred body in the tomb, fulfilling ancient, martyred prophecy. Three temple gifts were offered back then, in Bethlehem, gold, frankincense and myrrh, but may be offered now and in every moment, remembered as the mysteries of royal kingship, holy priesthood and anointing prophecy.
Wisdom crowns saints with the golden deification of kings, praying the priestly prayer that incenses the whole world and anoints with the fragrant oil of prophecy dying and dead martyrdom. Wisdom, prayer and prophecy congeal where they conjoin, hallowing the sacrifice of the Holy Name. Melchior glorifies Christ the King, Caspar Christ the great High Priest, and Balthazar Christ the dying prophet who fulfils prophecy by dying to death through death, once and for all. His bitter perfume does not cling to sorrow and gloom, but joins with the prayer and praise of the great high priest, glorifying the royal reign of the saving Name. Aromatic gum and fragrant spice anoint Christ in the tomb, only to transform martyrdom into sudden resurrection. Wisdom embraces glory in the heights of heaven as it reveals glory in the depths of hell, hallowing the reigning glory of the Holy Name.
Gold, franincense and myrrh unite wisdom’s crown with prayer and prophecy, fulfilling prophecy by dying to death once and for all. Uncovering wisdom with prayer and prophecy, three magi jointly offered three gifts back then, in Bethlehem, revealing three timeless, temple mysteries right now, always now. Sealed in the stone cold tomb, Christ the prophet of prayer crowns wisdom with the reigning Name, raising hearts from sorrowing gloom. Three gifts of ineffable joy were brought by wise men from the east to Bethlehem, hunted by the jealousy of Herod and his slaughter of innocent babes, obliging Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt to hide the child of uncreated glory from malevolent violence. Returning to Nazareth, where his glory was concealed, the gifts were later transfigured into gifts of thrice-holy healing, curing the nations of many maladies. Gold reveals the glorious reign of God, frankincense the prayer of hallowing healing and myrrh the fragrant death that overcomes death, martyred witness to healing resurrection everywhere.