Nativity Hymn 10: The Mother and the Magi

With you I will begin to speak, you Head who began all created things. I, even I, will open my mouth, but it is you who fill my mouth. I am the earth to you, and you are the farmer. Sow your voice in me, you who sowed yourself in your mother’s womb. [a]

“All the chaste daughters of the Hebrews, and the virgin daughters of the leading men, are astonished at me! Because of you the daughter of the poor meets with envy; because of you the daughter of the weak meets with jealousy. Who has given you to me? [b]

“Son of the Rich One, who abhorred the bosom of the rich women, who led you to the poor? For Joseph was needy, and I too was in want. Yet your merchants have come and brought gold to the house of the poor.”

She saw the Magi, and her songs grew with their offerings: “See, your worshipers have surrounded me, yes, your offerings have encircled me. Blessed is the Baby who made his mother a harp for his words! [c]

“As the harp waits for its master, my mouth waits for you. May your mother’s tongue bring what pleases you. And since I have learned from you a new kind of conceiving, let my mouth learn in you, newborn Son, a new song of praise.

“And if hindrances are no hindrances to you, since difficulties are easy for you, then as a womb conceived you without marriage, and a body brought you forth without seed, it is easy for a little mouth to multiply your great glory.

“See, I am oppressed and despised, and yet I am cheerful. My ears are filled with reproach and scorn, and it is a small thing for me to bear, for a single comfort of yours can chase away ten thousand troubles.

“And since I am not despised by you, Son, my face is bright. I am slandered for having conceived, and yet I have brought forth the Truth, who shows me to be in the right. For if Tamar was shown to be in the right by Judah, how much more will I be shown to be in the right by you!” [d]

David your father sang of you in a psalm before you came, that the gold of Sheba would be given to you. See, this psalm he sang of you is now in reality heaping myrrh and gold before you while you are still a child. [e]

And the hundred and fifty Psalms that he wrote were seasoned in you, because all the sayings of prophecy needed your sweetness; for without your salt every kind of wisdom would be tasteless. [f]