Tractatus Prior, Pars Prior, Cap. 10. i)e apparitione lesa et devota sanctomm regum oblatione.

Tractatus Prior, Pars Prior, Cap. 10. i)e apparitione lesa et devota sanctomm regum oblatione.

I bless you and give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings, for your glorious appearance before the three kings. For when you were born in Bethlehem of Judea, you did not hesitate to reveal your majesty to people from a distant nation, to whom you also showed the arrangement of your holy poverty by leading them with heavenly light to the humble dwelling of your habitation. O great and marvelous God, who alone orders all things and works wonders in heaven above, you were not ashamed to appear poor and unrefined before so many kings and nobles, even as an example of humility. For you did not change your place or appearance for us into a more splendid form, but you remained in the same place and in a similar appearance, dwelling among shepherds and kings without distinction. I praise your ineffable mercy for the first fruits of the nations and the calling of the Gentiles, whom you drew from the regions of the east to the light of faith by secret inspiration. There are no leaders found in Israel among its princes who, with such great glory and faith, would hasten to seek the place of your birth, like these foreign visitors, whose faith is clearer and devotion more fervent. I glorify you for the marvelous illumination of the nations, which has shone so gloriously in the dark hearts of the East, that they might follow the sign revealed to them from heaven with unwavering faith across such vast spaces of the earth. I adore you reverently, wishing to offer you these three precious gifts, which contain great mysteries, as I cling more closely to the footsteps of the saints with a devoted heart. Indeed, they offered gold as a sign of royal dignity, incense for the worship of divine majesty, and myrrh to signify the reality of mortality. Therefore, most merciful King of kings, Lord, ruler of the ages, Jesus Christ, accept this mystical offering from the hands of your poor servant, which I present to you today through the intercession of the holy kings. I offer you first a right faith, a firm hope, and a pure love to be kept without end. I believe you are the King of heaven and earth; I adore you, the true God, the only Son of the Father; I confess that you took on a mortal body from the Virgin Mary for my salvation. Receive also three other gifts that contain the sweetness of good fragrance within themselves. Here’s a gift for you, which I received from you: I give up all the substance of the world for you, and I don’t wish to possess anything of my own in this life, but only to share in common sustenance. I want to be content with simple clothing, and this is the moral offering of precious gold. I offer you the gift of incense, which signifies the devotion of prayer, along with my own sighs and tears for my sins, while giving you thanks for the many blessings you've bestowed and mourning for all those in need: this is the pleasing aroma of incense that rises to you. I offer the likeness of myrrh in remembrance of your most bitter passion, longing to pass through the harshness of my own mortification on the way to perfection. Whenever I recall the bitterness of your passion out of love for you, I offer you the fragrance of myrrh. And whenever I conquer my own wicked desires and renounce my will, I forcefully crush the fragrant myrrh in the mortar of my heart, so that a pleasing sacrifice may be prepared for you. O how blessed I would be if I could offer a bundle of myrrh to my Jesus, gathering together all your labor and pain, as well as the bitterness of your entire passion into one. For such a mixture of myrrh and incense is accustomed to stir up the fervor of repentance, to prompt the faithful soul to mortify its passions. I give you thanks, Jesus Christ, for the great reverence of this day, which you adorned with three glorious miracles. Today, a star led three kings to your manger. Today you were baptized by John in the Jordan. Today you turned water into wine at the wedding, and in all of this, you clearly revealed yourself as both God and man. So I pray to you, humble and gentle Lord, do not allow me to be led astray by the deceptions of the Herodians, by the honors of this world and the allurements of the flesh; but by the prayers of the holy kings and your most chaste mother, lead me with the angelic protection of the blessed kings along the straight path to the heavenly realm, where I may merit to behold you in everlasting light.