CHAPTER IX Of the painful Circumcision of the Lord Jesus
CHAPTER IX
Of the painful Circumcision of the Lord Jesus
O LORD JESUS CHRIST, Saviour of the world, Fountain of purity, Pattern of spotless innocence, I bless Thee, and give thanks to Thee for the painful circumcision of Thy most tender Flesh, according to the law of Moses; to which, in order that in all things Thou mightest conform to it, Thou didst submit Thyself, albeit Thou wast Thyself without any spot of sin.
I praise Thee for the first spilling of Thy innocent Blood, which on this day Thou didst shed for us. O most meek Lamb of God, how brightly were the excellence of Thy love and the depth of Thy patience shown forth, when, at so tender an age, Thou didst submit Thy holy and innocent Flesh to the pain of circumcision, a pain which It had not deserved.
It is I who have sinned; it is Thou Who payest the penalty of my sin. I indeed was conceived and born in sin: Thou wast conceived without sin, and yet dost Thou meekly submit to be branded with a sinner’s mark. What was there in Thee faulty, or useless, that needed to be cut away? And yet, because I could myself never make to Thee full satisfaction for my sins, Thou didst come to my help by Thy grace; and didst apply, by the cruel circumcision of Thy Flesh, a cleansing remedy to my soul. But what wonder is it that Thou, Who wast ready to give Thy life, shouldst submit to be circumcised, for us? Having given Thyself wholly for me, Thou art willing to be wholly spent for me.
O most good and gracious Lord Jesus, Thou Who didst meekly undergo the circumcision of Thy innocent Flesh, circumcise, I pray Thee, all my members with the cutting-stone of Thy Grace; order all my actions, and direct all my ways, in conformity with Thy most holy life. All that Thou findest in me unspiritual cut away, I beseech Thee, and destroy: root out all that Thou seest in me to be useless: keep down with all the needful force of Thy discipline whatever in me is false and frivolous; so that, inwardly cleansed from my faults, and adorned with the virtues that I lack, I may have a perpetual love of Thy Holy Name, and be found meet to dwell with Thee in Thy Heavenly Kingdom.