The Three Kings offered Our Lord gold, the symbol of his Kingship over them. Herod would admit no King but himself. They offered Our Lord incense, the symbol of worship and of Godhead and with it they offered themselves completely to him: Herod never got beyond thinking of his own honour and glory.

They offered myrrh, the funeral spice which symbolised the suffering Saviour who was to give his life a ransom for many. Herod only inflicted suffering and sought to take the Saviour’s life that his own might be safe.

So also, within ourselves there is that personal clash between God on the one side and our sinful lower self on the other: a clash which reproduces within us, to a lesser degree, that same contrast between King Herod and the Three Kings from the East.

Our lower self, the Herod in us, urges us not to make Our Lord the real King of our hearts and minds: not to allow our worship to leave any mark on our daily lives: not to give up committing this or that sin, regardless of how it must wound the Saviour’s Sacred Heart. And on the other side there is the dedicated life of the true disciple which is symbolised by the gifts of the Three Kings.