Gift of Kings
The event happened on the island of Java, Indonesia, where a missionary arrived to preach the name of Jesus. Father Loeff himself refers to this fact full of charm.
The Jesuit father, seeing the precarious cultural level of those people, built a school for the boys and girls of that island. In this way, while he enriched his cultural knowledge, he spoke to them about God, and in it he admitted anyone who wanted to learn some discipline. He himself, with the help of some laymen, directed the classes.
As Christmas festivities approached, the father was explaining all the mysteries of the life of Our Lord, an explanation that captivated his children, just as the contemplation of poor and naked Jesus in the cave of Bethlehem, in the arms of his beloved, captivates all of us. mother, the Blessed Virgin: the adoration of the shepherds, the singing of angels, the appearance of the star, the Magi…
Everything caught the attention of those children who avidly listened to the missionary’s stories… But we older people all know that above all else there is a story that children love: the gifts of the Three Kings. The father spoke to them about the famous European tradition: children in Europe, days before the feast of the Three Kings, write them a letter in which they ask their Majesties for gifts corresponding to the good behavior they have had during the year. . And, as this has been, so generous are the Majesties of the East. The children’s eyes widened.
-And, can’t this happen here, father?
-I don’t know… I don’t know if the holy Kings will come here. As we never write them letters nor do they have that habit. In addition, he thinks that there are many countries to visit in a single night and they go on a camel. But, Darmi, if they happened to come, what would you ask of them?
Darmi did not dare to answer the father in front of all her classmates. But inside of him he had already formulated his letter to the Magi: he had asked them for baptism. Why would my father oppose my becoming a Christian? If the Lord Jesus is so good and he is truly God, well, he does miracles!…
This is how he then responded in particular to the priest. And, evidently, Father Loeff also wrote his letter to the Holy Kings. Will it be possible for the Kings to come to the island of Java this year?
An hour later, Darmi returned to her village with her companions Uarni and Sarjoki, also unbaptized. It was the afternoon of January 5. They crossed the sugar cane fields. The wind moved the sticks that looked juicy. How hungry the three boys were! They were walking on the banks of a river and between laughs and games that enlivened the long journey, Darmi stops and, pointing towards the river, yells at his friends:
– An eel! An eel! With the hunger that I have. I go to her! You stay still here.
Darmi approaches the river bank masterfully. She was not the first to fish. She puts her feet in the water. She is so attentive to her that she does not escape her prey, that she does not feel the cold of the water. She takes a few steps with agility… She puts her hand in the water with a quick movement, but… nothing. She then pounces with both hands to see if she in the depth of the waters she can still find her.
Darmi screams in fright. She straightens up and with this gesture takes her hands out of the river. A long black snake has wrapped itself around her arm, which Darmi shakes deftly, but it’s too late. The serpent, fine and flat head, terribly lively small eyes, has sunk its steely teeth into Darmi’s hand and injects the terrible poison from him. Darmi dares not touch the snake with her other hand, in case it turns and bites her too. Finally, the animal lets go of Darmi’s arm and turns back into the depths of its waters.
Darmi, aware of what can happen, runs to her friends who have been paralyzed with fear.
-Run, suck the poison! Uarni yells at him.
Darmi obeys promptly. Repeatedly suck and spit out the infected blood.
-We are going to tie his hand to prevent the poison from rising up his arm! Sarjoki now shouts.
But it’s too late. Her hand begins to swell and so does her arm. However, Uarni brings a reed and ties it to his arm as tightly as he can. Although the arm is already too thick.
-There’s nothing to do.
-So, am I dying? says Darmi, sadly.
-It seems.
“Well, don’t waste time,” he says decisively. To baptize me! Jesus says that if we are not baptized we will not go to heaven, and I want to go to heaven with Him. So you have to baptize me.
The two companions look at each other confused trying to remember what the father has told them about baptism. Sarjoki remembers better than Uarni, which is why he tells the latter to bring some water between his hands. He puts one hand on Darmi’s head and with the other he takes the water that Uarni has brought and pours it on his mortally wounded companion:
-Darmi, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And he is letting the water fall on Darmi’s head. Sublime confession of faith of a child who, faced with the danger of death, all he asks of his companions is to be baptized. Death comes to him, but he seeks Life.
Now yes, already baptized, Darmi lets himself be done. His companions take him in his arms and help him get to the village where his parents live, which is still a few kilometers away. Darmi’s parents are moved by the gesture of Sarjoki and Uarni, and call the doctor. They put the boy on a pallet. They don’t know what to do with it until the doctor arrives. Darmi smiles thinking that if he dies, he enters heaven headfirst. The doctor arrives and takes charge of the situation instantly. He pierces the wound with a large needle, rubs the arm from top to bottom and applies a piece of wool soaked in coconut oil to the wound so that it sucks out the poison. The remedy is effective and, thank God, Darmi will not die… Two days later, Darmi returns to school and tells her father everything that has happened.
—Have you seen, Darmi, how the Three Wise Men remembered you and brought you the gift you asked for?
It is always children, with their innocence, who help us understand the mysteries of God, as the Gospel tells us, because “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Darmi, still a pagan child, poor and needy more than any of us, only thinks of asking the Magi to facilitate, as soon as possible, baptism to go to heaven. How beautiful it would be if we, those of us who are already baptized, in our letters to the Kings of the East, instead of things for the earth, asked them for things for heaven! The holy Kings traveled through the desert, following a star, until they found the Messiah, who was heaven on earth. May we know how to travel through the desert of this life looking at the star, which is Mary, to reach Christ, who is heaven!
Author of the text: J. Andrés Ferrer, MCR. Ave Maria Magazine No. 654
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