Meditation by Fr. Dehon on the mystery of Christmas from the first volume of “The Love of the Sacred Heart.”
Here it is no longer the Sacred Heart who speaks His, “Behold I come.” It is no longer the angels who sing. It is the symbolic gifts chosen by the Magi under the inspiration of grace that represent the characteristics of the oblation of the Sacred Heart.
Gold, incense and myrrh symbolize love, prayer and sacrifice. Gold, the instrument of charity, brilliant as fire, is the symbol of love; incense, ascending to heaven with an agreeable odor, is the symbol of prayer; myrrh, the perfume of burials, is the symbol of sacrifice. These gifts are symbols of the gift above all gifts which is the Sacred Heart. Like all sacred offerings and sacrifices of the Old Law, they are figures of the unique sacrifice, the Sacred Heart. Jesus constantly offers to His Father gold tried by fire, the pure gold of His love, the gold of our Redemption. Likewise, He constantly offers Him, in this very Heart which is a true censer of gold, the incense of His prayers, His praise and His thanksgiving. He offers the myrrh of His sacrifices, His immolation and His annihilation.
Love, prayer, sacrifice: that is the whole life of the Sacred Heart. It is His uninterrupted oblation. It is also our oblation. Love, prayer and sacrifice for the Sacred Heart ought to be our daily and constant gifts. In order that they be agreeable to Him, one condition is necessary: they must be offered as He desires, with simplicity.
L. Dehon , The love of the Sacred Heart, 42-43
