CHAPTER XII
☙ Of the Purification of Blessed Mary and the Presentation of Jesus
BLESS Thee, and give thanks to Thee,
O Lord Jesus Christ, Fountain of purity,
for Thy lowly Presentation in the Temple
of God, where, with victims and with
gifts, Thou wast offered by Thy parents as one of
the sons of Adam, and wast redeemed with five
shekels of silver, as if Thou hadst been some
chattel of a slave, sold and bought back again.
I bless Thee, for Thy lowly obedience to the Law of God, O most Holy Redeemer of the world, Who — Thyself free from any debt of sin — didst make Thyself subject to all the ordinances of the Law, that Thou mightest be to us an example of perfect obedience.
I glorify Thee for the exceeding humility of Thy most blessed Mother, and for her obedience, of her own free choice, to the Law of Moses: for, although she was both before and after child-birth, a Virgin undefiled, yet did she not think scorn of submitting to the rite of Purification.
O most pleasing oblation! O most sweet satisfaction! For it was free: it was full: and it was faultless.
But what shall I offer, what shall I render unto Thee, my Lord and my God, for all Thy benefits to me? O how needful for me is purification, for the washing away of my sins; how expedient for me is satisfaction for my acts of transgression — for me who am polluted with the stains of so many sins.
