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The Christmas Cycle
O Lord Jesus Christ, who was subject to Mary and Joseph, and who hast thus sanctified
domestic life with ineffable virtues; grant that we, with their aid, may be guided by the example
of the Holy Family and thus attain to eternal fellowship with them in heaven. Amen.
First Day in the Octave
The three wise men open their treasures and make their offering. The liturgy imitates this
example daily in the Offertory of the Mass. The Offertory for the feast of Epiphany refers to
the Church, to us:
“The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents; the kings of the Arabians and of
Saba shall bring gifts; and all kings of the earth shall adore Him; all nations shall serve Him.”
In the offerings which the faithful formerly brought to the altar in the Offertory procession
and which the priest now, in the name of the sacrificing Church, brings to the altar as the bread
and wine, we give ourselves as sacrifices to God. These sacrificial gifts are a substitute for those
who offer them. Instead of gold, we offer the best and most precious thing we have: ourselves,
our heart with its desires and inclinations, our will, our freedom, and our actions. “Behold, I
come to do Thy will” (Heb 10:9). To Him belongs all we have and are. When we offer incense,
we acknowledge Him to be our God, our all. Our whole life should be a prayer and a continual
elevation of our thoughts and affections to our Lord and God. “Let my prayer be directed as
incense in Thy sight” (Ps 140:2). With our offering of myrrh we renounce, as did the wise
men at the crib, the inordinate attachment to flesh and blood; we leave father and mother in
order to live for Him. We renounce the inordinate desires of earthly life and willingly share the
poverty of the divine King in the manger. We choose a life of penance and resolve to mortify
the internal and external man.
At the Consecration of the Mass, our gifts of bread and wine become the living Christ.
“Graciously regard, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gifts of Thy Church, in which gold, frankincense,
and myrrh are no longer offered, but He whom those mystic offerings signified is
immolated and received, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord” (Secreta). Then with the Church
we offer this unspotted, holy, and immaculate gift to the Father. It is our gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. The gold is the divine person of the incarnate God. The incense is His endless
holiness, which alone can pay worthy adoration, homage, praise, and thanksgiving to God.
The myrrh is His holy love for God and man which prompted Him to suffer death on the
cross. By means of this most perfect offering we give “to God the things that are God’s”
(Mt 22:21). “By Him, and with Him, and in Him, is to Thee, God, the Father Almighty, in
the unity of the Holy Ghost all honor and glory,” and to us the forgiveness of sin and the
fullness of grace.
“The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents; the kings of the Arabians and of Saba
shall bring gifts.” How zealous these kings were! How much they have sacrificed in order to
make an offering to the Lord! How great and generous was their faith! With what joy they gave
the best they had! And when we come to Mass, what do we have to offer? What do we finally
give? Have we ever given all that we have: our entire will without restriction? Have we forsaken
every selfish wish, every selfish demand, in order to live according to His will and desire? Have
we really offered, given all, renounced all, as the Lord demands of us?
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