What does the offering of myrrh made by the three wise men represent?

Symbol of incorruption. Even myrrh was chosen and placed in the hands of the Magi to symbolize that Jesus was true God, and at the same time true man. Like God, Jesus is eternal and incorruptible; but, as a man, he was subject to death; the Magi, like Magdalene with her balm (Joan. 12, 3), prevented the embalming of Jesus, Woe if your body should fall into the dissolution of hell! A single mortal sin is enough ... to damn us.

Symbol of bitterness. The myrrh tastes of bitter; it thus became a symbol of the sufferings that Jesus would have to endure in the first days and then throughout his life. If in the Passion he drank the entire chalice, even between the bands, in the bare stable, in poverty, in the cold of the season, how much he suffered! He wanted bitterness and sufferings throughout his life ... And you ran away from them? And you don't know how to suffer anything for God's sake? Love mortification.

Symbol of mortification. The bitterness of myrrh still represented the sacrifices cost the Magi to find Jesus, and the resolute will to win and sacrifice oneself in the future for love of him. The saying of St Vincent de Paul is still true, that mortification is the abbey of perfection; and St. Paul says: Always carry with you the mortification of Jesus (II Cor 4, 10). How do you mortify yourself?

PRACTICE. - Make a mortification to join the sufferings of Jesus suffering in the cradle