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Page:PrecesGertrudianae.djvu/257

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partaker of my passible flesh and blood. O good Jesus, with what priceless and incomprehensible love hast thou loved me, that thou, the Lord of highest Majesty, shouldst condescend to empty thyself, taking the form of a servant! Thou, my God, art become my Brother! And what can I render thee for this thy compassion and thy tender mercy? Behold, I offer thee now my body and my soul for thine everlasting praise and glory.

I give thee thanks for thy most sacred Nativity, when thou didst come forth from the womb of the Virgin Mary, a tender Infant, in a stable, on a rough and bleak winter's night. Hail, thou sweetest Babe; hail, thou King of Glory, Light of the nations, Saviour so long desired, who didst not disdain to be wrapped for me in swaddling clothes, to be swathed with bands, to be laid on straw in a manger, and to draw thy sustenance from the Virgin's breast.

I give thee thanks for thy painful Circumcision, for thy Manifestation to the Gentiles and the bright star with which thou didst bring them to thy feet, for thy Presentation in the Temple, for the Flight into Egypt, and for all the privations and sufferings thou didst endure in thy most holy infancy, thy boyhood, and thy youth.

I give thee thanks for the sacred and worshipful Baptism which thou, the Creator of heaven and of earth,