What was determined concerning the preceding homily, this same thing I see is to be established concerning the following one. For not only all the editors, but also as many codices as we have mentioned in the preceding notices, show that it ought to be referred as received to Saint Maximus. Its inscription is nearly the same in every codex: On the Epiphany of the Lord, or Of blessed Maximus on the day of the Epiphanies; in the Turin codex it is the twentieth in number, from which mark it can plainly be understood that the ninth and tenth are missing.
Although, most beloved brethren, Christ, the Lord of our salvation, the Son of the almighty Father, coeternal, covered with the veil of flesh, deigned humbly to visit mortals, He nonetheless gave so many and so great tokens of His majesty, whereby the human mind might perceive both that a new man was born and that God had come from heaven. For while our very Lord, by the law of human nativity, wailed in the cradle as a little one and an infant in Judea, and lay hidden in swaddling clothes, a marvelous star from on high nevertheless proclaimed His magnificence to the whole world. For who would doubt that this very star flashed with a gladder light and more brilliant rays, which set before human eyes the light of heaven and earth?
And it was necessary that this star should differ from the other constellations by a brighter orb, which announced Christ, whose nativity differed from that of all mortals; and heaven then indeed glittered with a new star, but the world shone more with a new light. Who could investigate this glory of the miracles, that for the remedy of our salvation, at one and the same moment the creature was shining in heaven, and the Creator was resplendent on earth? Nor is it any wonder, dearly beloved, that a heavenly testimony attends the Lord of the heavens; or why should it seem incredible to us, if the obedient creation bears witness to its own Founder? And indeed the earth marveled that it saw a new star in heaven: but heaven marveled that it saw a new Sun on earth.
How profound are the thoughts of the Lord, and unsearchable His ways—He who, lest the perfidy of men should assail the Virgin's offspring, gave from on high a most clear sign, which neither the Gentile world could refute, nor Judea conceal. And so, as it is read, the Chaldeans come from the East, they follow the star going before them, recognized not by magic art, but marvelous by its own newness. For this reason, moreover, the magi seek the king born especially among Israel, because that Balaam, the soothsayer and once priest of the Gentiles, whose ass is reported to have spoken, had prophesied that a star would arise out of Jacob, and a man would come forth out of Israel: for he says among other things, as it is read: A star shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring up out of Israel (Numbers 24).
Let no one now marvel that the Chaldeans recognized the Lord's nativity, which surely, if by God's revealing he was able to foretell, a Gentile was able to recognize; for this was, as far as it can be estimated, the decision of the supernal dispensation, that among the most sacred voices of the prophets, the coming of Him too should be foretold even by an unbelieving man, He who was to come for the redemption of both the faithful and the unfaithful. And indeed the priest of idols prophesies for this reason, that if perchance the Gentile world should refuse to believe the Jews preaching of the coming of Christ, it might at least follow the testimony of its own authors. Nor let us doubt that the almighty
and most kindly God was able to give the word of foreknowledge to that alien Balaam, He who was able to loose the tongue of his very ass into human words. The ass of the soothsayer-rider was speaking, therefore—a creature prone indeed, and by nature looking upon the earth—that it might signify by a manifest token that the whole Gentile world, which, given over to altars and ever pressed down to the earth by the weight of its perfidy, despising the worship of almighty God, was silent and dumb; but when the star arose out of Jacob, and the man out of Israel, with eyes raised to heaven, it would speak the glory of the eternal God with daily confessions. And so, brethren, the illumined Gentile world comes from the East, but Judea, blinded by the infidelity of its most hardened heart, remains in the west.
But how does not all the obstinacy of the Jews truly waste away in the west and in darkness, they who, spurning the presence of the unwearied Sun, have lost the perpetual day? And well, dearly beloved, did three magi come together by one journey to adore: because in the one Christ Jesus, who is the way of all believers, the Trinity to be adored was inseparable from them. And they bring gifts too, which would be proven not so much gifts as mysteries. They offer Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In the gold, brethren, is shown the precious redemption of our captivity; but in the frankincense are opened both the superstition of demons about to cease, and the worship of the true religion to come;
but in the myrrh, with which lifeless bodies are wont to be preserved, is prefigured the restoration of our flesh and the resurrection of the dead. But that such sacred offerings should be offered to Christ, not the choice of the magi, but the inspiration of the Almighty chose. For as far as pertains to the glory of Christ, these gifts, viewed carnally, seem in every way unworthy of His majesty. For to what purpose gold for the immortal Lord, gold which surely is both of use and of love only to mortals? To what purpose frankincense for the omnipotent God, by whose odor even idols are honored by the Gentiles? Or to what purpose myrrh for Him, the seasoning of stinking bodies, whose flesh no corruption of death was to rule over?
All which things, most beloved, will seem superfluous and empty in the presence of the Son of God, unless the sacraments of our life be believed to be foreshadowed in them. Wherefore, brethren, let us hope in the Lord, and let our heart be strengthened, that in us also the star of faith may shine forth, which may lead us by a right way and without error to Christ; let us too offer the little gifts of our deeds and of our devotion, which Christ may now receive, not lying on earth and in a cradle, but which He may embrace, seated at the right hand of the Father, in heaven.