“THEY PROSTRATED THEMSELVES AND WORSHIPPED HIM”

The only act worthy of a man
is to kneel before God.

Etty Hillesum

At the end of their long journey, the Magi, before the newly born king of the Jews: «They fell down and worshiped him» (Mt 2,11). «To prostrate» (proskynéo) is a verb often used by the evangelist (cf. Mt 2,2.8.11; 4,9.10; 8,2; 9,18; 14,33; 20,20; 28,9.17). For Meister Eckhart this verb is part of a spiritual process that celebrates the birth of the believer in God and of God in the believer. It is a gradual generation, in five moments. First of all it is necessary to con-siderare (to be with the stars) that is, to turn one’s gaze upwards. And in fact the Magi saw the star in the sky and followed it. This then leads to following one’s own star, that is, the light of one’s own conscience, illuminated by God. Scripture (third moment) reveals who the one is who is sought, while joy leads to the place where one finds oneself. Finally, adoration recognizes in the one who has found oneself the Lord of life, the awaited Messiah, the Hope of the people. The path of the Magi is therefore a path of research moved by love which, through intelligence and revelation, then reaches the gift of self, well expressed in the three gifts: gold, incense and myrrh. In regard to prostrating oneself, I would like to recall here an extraordinary figure, Etty Hillesum, who died in Auschwitz in 1943. Her human and spiritual story is now well known, especially after the complete publication of the Diary. Etty, as she herself tells, did not know how to kneel, yet she learned to do so on a coconut mat in a bathroom. This passage in his life was possible because he discovered a very deep source within himself: God, as he notes in his Diary. “Sometimes,” he writes, “I manage to reach it, more often it is covered with stones and sand; then God is buried. Then we must dig him up again.” Dig up God to let ourselves be illuminated by his light. And then, only then, even the small stone on the road becomes a petrified wonder, and the minute blossoming of the mimosa the silent announcement that life does not die but always returns. Of course, prostrating oneself also means knowing how to overcome human pride, which often puts us one above the other, one against the other and never for the other.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey