Posted on 12/15/2020 5:14:31 PM PST by marshmallow
VATICAN CITY -- The Gospel of Matthew never details how many Magi came from "the East," but it makes it clear they traveled to pay homage to "the newborn king of the Jews" and "offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."
Beyond their great monetary value, scholars say, the gifts had deep symbolic significance: gold for the Christ child's nobility as king of the Jews; frankincense, which was burned in religious ceremonies, for his divinity; and myrrh, which was used on cuts or wounds and in the anointing of corpses, to prefigure his role as healer and foretell of his death.
Both myrrh and frankincense have exceptional medicinal qualities, which would have made them a very useful and thoughtful gift for the Holy Family, said Anjanette DeCarlo, chief sustainability scientist for the U.S.-based Aromatic Plant Research Center.
"At that time, infant mortality was high," and frankincense and myrrh were "two of the most potent anti-microbial substances in the ancient medicine cabinet," DeCarlo told Catholic News Service in a video call from Vermont, where she teaches at St. Michael's College in Colchester.
"From a Christian perspective, he's the most important baby ever born and, of course, wouldn't you bring that baby something to ensure" he could stay healthy, she said.
What is not healthy, however, is the future of frankincense.
Highly sought after for its religious, medicinal and household purposes, it is one of the oldest traded commodities in the world, spanning at least 5,000 years.
An aromatic resin, frankincense is harvested from the "tears" that seep from cuts made to a variety of boswellia tree species, which grow in the harsh, dry climates of Yemen and Oman in the Arabian Peninsula, of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan in East Africa, and in northwestern India.
These trees are in severe........
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic-sf.org ...
Oh no! Plant the trees then!
I want to buy both essential oils this week (myrrh and frankincense.) thanks.
I was wondering when they would get around to climate change in the article.
Obviously taken as a gift before the current Pope Frank with no sense.
Damn, I just gave a kilo of frankensense that I bought in Oman at an orchard to my maid
I guess they’re afraid it might get too hot in equatorial Arabia and Africa for the Boswellia trees. lol
What the author has failed to learn is that the equator’s climate is the least susceptible to changes in the global climate and has remained fairly constant for tens of millions of years.
Probably the most important use of frankincense is for many serious digestive disorders.
It’s cheap, it works and once healed you don’t have to keep taking it.
Buy it as Boswellia Serrata
Ulcers, colitis, even Crohns to a certain extent
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