Who were they? Mysterious figures emerging from the darkness of secular paganism. Magi from the far East, looking for the King of the Jews who had just been born (cf. Mt 2:2). Their unexpected caravan put slumbering Jerusalem on alert: astonished inhabitants, startled Pharisees, a nervous and restless monarch.
This encounter between kings was also the meeting of two attitudes: envy and admiration. The admiring innocence of the Magi was in search of a newborn King, to worship Him; Herod’s homicidal envy was on the watch for a competitor, to destroy Him. What a gulf between these two mentalities!
But neither the indifference of the Jerusalemites, nor the antipathy of the Pharisees, nor the cynicism of the infanticidal king could shake the faith of these determined men. Confident, they continued their journey under the external light of the miraculous star and the inner radiance of their admiration.
Good disposition and innocent simplicity; order, joy and devout enthusiasm in the smallest things; eyes always fixed on the star; hearts full of goodness, fire and love:1 this is how the German mystic Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich describes the virtues of those kings. In fact, it is hard to imagine them any other way…
When they arrived at the place indicated by the star, they saw neither a palace nor a court, nor a child-king lying in a golden cradle. Instead, they came upon the poor dwelling of a modest couple and a newborn Infant wrapped in simple swaddling clothes.
Those kings had come such a distance and had arrived at such cost… Was it all just a terrible mistake? St. Thomas replies: “As Chrysostom says: ‘If the Magi had come in search of an earthly king, they would have been disconcerted at finding that they had taken the trouble to come such a long way for nothing. […] But since they sought a heavenly King, though they found in Him no signs of royal pre-eminence, yet, content with the testimony of the star alone, they adored: for they saw a man, and they acknowledged a God.’”2
Once again we see in these men the hallmark of admiring souls: the ability to discern the real value of things and their deeper meaning. Had they been pragmatic or superficial, they would have disdained the King of the Universe in His apparent poverty. Had they been envious like Herod, they would have tried to destroy Him.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich also gives us this pious description of the Magi’s longed-for encounter with the Divine Infant: “They were completely enchanted. With a childlike prayer full of love, they commended to the Child Jesus their relatives, their country and their people, their property and their goods, and all that was of value to them on earth; that the newborn King would accept their hearts, their souls and all their thoughts and actions; that He would enlighten them and send them every virtue […]. As they said this, they glowed with humility and love, and tears of joy rolled down their cheeks and beards.”3
We need to properly understand the use of the adjective “childlike”. It does not denote the inherently puerile defects of naivety, immaturity, triviality… but rather the simplicity of soul that makes a person flexible to the inspirations of grace and opens up grandiose horizons, typical of those who know how to admire others and forget themselves.
On that Christmas night, if Our Lord had already begun to speak in human language, He would surely have praised the Eternal Father in terms similar to those He use years later in His public life: “I thank Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes” (Lk 10:21). ◊
Notes
1 Cf. BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH. Viaje de Jesús al país de los Magos. Madrid: EDAF, 2008, p.51-53; 77.
2 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiæ. III, q.36, a.8, ad 4.
3 BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH, op. cit., p.78-79.
