Biblical Magi

"(To Herod the Great) We have seen a star of great size shining among these stars, and obscuring their light, so that the stars did not appear; and we thus knew that a king has been born to Israel, and we have come to worship him."

"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."

"Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”"

"They were people certain that something we might describe as the “signature” of God exists in creation, a signature that man can and must endeavour to discover and decipher."

"The wise men followed the star. Through the language of creation, they discovered the God of history. To be sure – the language of creation alone is not enough. Only God’s word, which we encounter in sacred Scripture, was able to mark out their path definitively. Creation and Scripture, reason and faith, must come together, so as to lead us forward to the living God. There has been much discussion over what kind of star it was that the wise men were following. Some suggest a planetary constellation, or a supernova, that is to say one of those stars that is initially quite weak, in which an inner explosion releases a brilliant light for a certain time, or a comet, etc. This debate we may leave to the experts. The great star, the true supernova that leads us on, is Christ himself. He is as it were the explosion of God’s love, which causes the great white light of his heart to shine upon the world. And we may add: the wise men from the East, who feature in today’s Gospel, like all the saints, have themselves gradually become constellations of God that mark out the path. In all these people, being touched by God’s word has, as it were, released an explosion of light, through which God’s radiance shines upon our world and shows us the path."

"In Persia there is a city called Saba, from which the three kings departed to worship God when he was born. In that city, the three Magi are buried in a beautiful tomb, and they are still there, intact, with their beards and hair: one was named Beltasar, the other Gaspar, and the third Melquior. Mr Marco asked several times in that city about those three kings: no one could tell him anything, except that there were three kings buried there in ancient times."

"Why did the Three Wise Men set off for Palestine? They were scholars of astrology and, seeing the comet, they attributed extraordinary significance to it because the doctrine of Zoroaster spoke of “a savior born of a virgin without the touch of a man,” the savior would restore the kingdom of good and evil, and his birth would be signaled by the appearance of a bright star. They therefore followed the path of the star and, knowing the Jews' expectation of a Messiah, set off, illuminated by divine grace."

"For you, Mary, Holy Virgin, the Magi, though far away, abandoned vanity, adoring your Only Begotten Son, and became pious forever."