Homily on the Day of the Nativity of Christ, December 25, 1934 (January 7, 1935)

And having come to the church, the boy saw His matter with Mary, and fell down and worshiped Him: and, having opened her treasures, she brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). They came, the wise Magi, to the church and worshiped Him, and opened the treasures of their wisdom and brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh, all the gifts that only a man who comes to God has and can bring to God who has come to men. They appeared to Him as if on behalf of all humanity with human treasures, which exist only to become gifts offered to Christ. Together with them and after them, we now enter the church and see His Mother with Mary and worship Him in the wisdom and joy of giving thanks. What do we bring and what can we bring from the poverty of our love, from the emptiness of our soul, from the gloominess of our life? Are we really standing with empty hearts and empty hands, confused and embarrassed, or, what’s even worse, distracted and indifferent? But no, it won’t! We want to bring Him gifts, and we have them, for it was He Himself who made us rich, having made us poor. He created us according to Himself, and these are His gifts that we must find in ourselves by opening our treasures. And we are not deprived of the Lord, and we are called to bring Him gold, and frankincense, and myrrh - gold as for the King, frankincense as for God, and myrrh as for the Man who tasted us for death. Gold... In the dark depths of the earth lies its sparkling glory, its ringing fullness, its stainless purity. This is like a transformed earth, this is a revelation of the dark depths in which the radiance of light lurks. Through hard work, persistent patience, this gold is extracted little by little until it is collected in such quantity as to illuminate it with its light, to gild it with its radiance. Such are the depths of the human spirit, in which and from which man, through his creativity, extracts intelligent beauty and clothes the world with it. This gold belongs to the King of Glory, and people must bring Him our own glory given by Him, the gifts of the Holy Spirit given by Him. Each person has his own gift of the Holy Spirit, his own glory hidden in him, his own gold, and he must find it in himself so as not to enter the church in vain, not empty-handed. Let us bring to Him the creative impulse of our spirit and its fruit. Lebanon... Fragrant incense ascending to the sky and dissipating in it, like a human soul ascending to its heavenly homeland. The soul is winged, it participates in the angelic armies, singing in heaven the glory of God on high, it flies to the throne of God in its prayers and contemplations. The angelic nature of the human spirit is this Lebanon of the soul hidden in his heart. A person does not know what riches he has, what treasures have been given to him, until he himself experiences them, bringing them to Christ the Infant of God. The eyes of the Child, looking into the eyes of our soul, open it to us, and it kindles with the reverence of love, like a censer before You... But we must rise from the sleep in which we are, we must go on a long journey, not along the boundaries of the earth, but along the stars, in order to find the church of our spirit, in which Christ rests in the manger of the poor, and, having worshiped Him, bring him our frankincense. And every soul is called to be this fragrant censer, every soul has a prayer, knows the way to the sacred church... May she not be afraid of her smallness, for in this church of her Christ himself rests, wrapped in swaddling clothes, let us worship Him... And myrrh... The funeral myrrh of love, brought to love, the myrrh-bearing souls burying the Beloved Bridegroom, and themselves dying with Him in their hearts. Yes, we must bring Him not only life, but also our death, die with Him in order to be resurrected with Him... The wise Magi knew that His Nativity was also the beginning of the mortal path to Calvary, and that the manger is a symbol of the tomb. The path of love is sacrifice, and the price of sacrifice is death. He was born on earth for death, and His whole life is a sacrificial slaughter. But our path is not different, and we must bring to Him our death, our dying with Him... Whoever wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, and whoever wants to come to Him, let him bring to Him his own death, the determination to live in His death and to be resurrected by His resurrection... Doesn’t this sound like sorrow on this jubilant day, in the light of Glory and in the singing of Angels? But these gifts of ours are expressions of the greatest joy, the bliss of love. For love is strong as death, for love is life, and love is death, the death of our selfish, dead self. Death in Christ is life, there is resurrection with Him. May our gifts be pleasing to Him, may He look mercifully on us who have come to Him, may He point His hand at us as His brothers, His Mother, Him and ours. For our sake, the eternal God was born as a young boy... Amen.