Glorified Gifts
Met. Gregory (ACROD) exhorted his flock to pray this special prayer during the Nativity season:
We praise, bless and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal Son of the Father! Taking upon Yourself the redemption of the human race, You did not disdain the Virgin's womb. You, the King of Glory, were humbly born amidst poverty in a stable toraise up fallen humanity and enrich it with Your grace. As a newborn Child, You were bound in swaddling clothes to release us from the bondage of sin and death. What can we give You, O Christ, for Your boundless love for us? Instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, accept the offering of our whole life to You. As we now prepare to joyfully remember Your Nativity, grant peace to the world, growth to Your Church, stability to our country, wisdom to all civil authorities, and unity to our families. Make us worthy to celebrate the coming feast and to join with the angelic choirs in singing and glorifying You, O Emmanuel -- "God with us" -- forever. Amen.
My family was saying our usual prayers together this evening when our middle son asked, “Why does the Nativity prayer say, ‘instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?’”
I thought I would share you with my answer to his question because it's an idea that gives me hope in every season of life.
Jesus makes much of the humble gifts of His children.
The magi gave to Christ the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Jesus received and multiplied that offering, giving them back to us in the Church. We have the golden chalice and patent, gospel book, candlesticks, censors, and etc. We have the censors with diverse fragrances, one of which is frankincense. We have the holy myrrh with which the faithful are chrismated and regularly anointed. These gifts have been received by God as well as they can be received, and He makes good use of the gifts given to Him.
That is why we offer our lives instead of these gifts. Like the Mother of God, we render everything to Him. Look how much her simple faith accomplished!
The truth is that the offering of our lives to the Master is the only suitable gift we have available to us. We hear in the divine liturgy, “we offer to You, Yours of Your own, on behalf of all and for all”. We already belong to God. But God desires His children to love Him with the love He first showed us. When this happens, something miraculous occurs.
When Jesus received the five loaves and two fish, he blessed them and multiplied them. Jesus makes much of the humble gifts of His children. Now consider the saints who adorn the Church. They offered--in various ways--their whole lives to God instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And what did Jesus do? He accepted their offering and gave their lives back to us! These are glorified gifts.
I begin most days with my boys reading the Prologue of Ohrid. We hear the lives of various saints. We are always especially moved by the child martyrs. Their faithfulness to Christ is a gift that keeps on giving--and a gift that will never end!
As we continue our journey toward Holy Nativity, I hope you will all contemplate with me how we can offer our whole lives to our Lord Jesus Christ.
God desires His children to love Him with the love He first showed us. When this happens, something miraculous occurs.