The Gifts of the Magi 

"The Magi came from the East.  How did they know about Christ?  Probably from the prophecy of Daniel concerning the seventy weeks of years; they counted the revolution of the stars.  In any case, they knew, and they brought gold because he was king, incense because he was a priest, but also myrrh.  That's the way he was buried, with a hundred pounds of spices and myrrh. What would our mothers have thought if the neighbors brought in embalming fluid when we were born? Everywhere there was the shadow of suffering."