In this contemplative episode, we pray with Hossein Behzad’s The Birth of Jesus (also known as The Adoration of the Wise Men). This Persian miniature invites an intimate encounter with the Magi and their offerings. Through guided reflection, scripture, and prayer, we consider how our own hearts become the gifts we bring in adoration.

In the Bleak Midwinter -- Carol

What do we bring when we come in adoration? This episode invites us into that ancient and tender question through Hossein Behzad’s The Birth of Jesus, a Persian miniature painting also known as The Adoration of the Wise Men. Beginning with Christina Rossetti’s beloved lines from In the Bleak Midwinter, we reflect on gift-giving as a deeply human and deeply sacred act — one that mirrors the generous heart of God.

Behzad’s painting offers a distinctive perspective on the Nativity. Because the Magi are understood as priestly astrologers from Persia, Behzad’s use of Persian imagery allows us to encounter the story from within their cultural world. The work is intimate in scale, meant to be held, studied closely, and returned to — inviting not a distant viewing, but a personal, devotional encounter.

As we contemplate the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we are guided by the wisdom of Bernard of Clairvaux, who names these offerings as signs of kingship, divinity, and humanity. The gifts are purposeful, symbolic, and revealing — not only of who Christ is, but of how love seeks expression through what we offer.

During the prayerful reflection, we are invited to notice the unexpected abundance of green and flowering life in the painting, standing in contrast to the “bleak midwinter” many of us imagine. What might this suggest about Christ’s arrival as a source of life, renewal, and rebirth? Viewers are encouraged to attend carefully to the details that speak uniquely to them.

The episode closes by inviting us to imagine ourselves kneeling with the Magi, offering our own gift to Christ — perhaps not gold or incense, but something drawn from the heart. What does that gift symbolize? What words are exchanged in that sacred moment? This contemplation gently reminds us that every true gift carries vulnerability, and that what God desires most is the offering of ourselves, given in love.