CHAPTER IV Of the redemption of the human race by the mystery of the Incarnate Word
CHAPTER IV
Of the redemption of the human race by the mystery of the Incarnate Word
I BLESS Thee, and give thanks to Thee, my Lord and my God, Creator and Redeemer of the human race, for Thy exceeding great love in willing that man, whom Thou hadst wonderfully created, should be still more wonderfully redeemed. For it was when we were yet thine enemies, and death had long tyrannized over all the human race, that Thou didst call to mind Thy rich mercies, and from the place of Thy habitation in glory, didst look down upon this vale of tears and wretchedness.
It was when Thou hadst seen that the affliction of Thy people was great upon the earth, and that the burden of the sons of Adam was grievous to be borne, that, inwardly moved by the tenderness of Thy charity, Thou didst set Thyself to think in our behalf thoughts of Redemption and of peace.
For, when the fullness of time was come, Thou Thyself, the Dayspring from on high, didst come to visit us, and didst fulfil the desires of the prophets by taking upon Thyself our Flesh, and appearing among men true God and true man.
I bless and praise Thee, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, for Thy exceeding great humility in deigning to choose for Thy Mother a poor young maiden, and for causing her to be espoused to the poor carpenter Joseph, a just and holy man.
I bless Thee for making known Thy most illustrious Incarnation, and for the reverent angelic greeting, with which the Angel Gabriel most devoutly saluted the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, making known to her the Divine Mystery that she should be the Mother of the Son of God.
I praise and magnify Thee for the grandeur of the faith of Mary the Virgin, for the courage of her assent, for the lowliness of her reply, and for all the other virtues which she so conspicuously displayed, when she made her obedient answer to the angel’s message in the words: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy word.”
I praise and glorify Thee, O Eternal Wisdom of the Father, for the marvellous condescension of Thy unapproachable Majesty in entering the vile prison of our mortal frame, and for Thy most pure Conception, by the operation of the Holy Ghost upon Mary; in whose virgin womb the Power of the most Highest, overshadowing her, formed Thy most sacred Body from the undefiled flesh of a pure virgin. For Thou, being at the same time true God, consubstantial with the Eternal Father, wast made one flesh with us, without spot of sin, to make us one spirit with Thee, through the adoption of the sons of God.
I praise and magnify Thee for voluntarily emptying Thyself of Thy fullness, and for graciously taking upon Thyself our weak and degraded nature, capable of suffering and of death; that so Thou mightest fill us by emptying Thyself, mightest save us by Thy sufferings, mightest raise us by Thy lowliness, mightest strengthen us by Thy weakness, and by Thy death mightest bring us to a glorious immortality.
I praise and magnify Thee, for that Thou, Whose Divine nature knows neither times nor seasons, but Who hast ordered all things here below in their season and time, didst vouchsafe to dwell for nine long months within the narrow limits of a virgin’s womb, and to lie hid there as a babe waiting for the due time of his birth.
O the gracious and most wondrous condescension of Him, Who, though God of boundless glory, did not think scorn of becoming a contemptible worm; and Who, though He had created all things by His own mere Will, yet, to free us from them, was ready to take upon Himself our sorrows!
O most sweet Jesus, Thou Brightness of the Eternal Glory, the lower Thou hast made Thyself, by taking upon Thee our nature, the more exalted dost Thou appear to me in Thy Goodness; the viler Thou hast made Thyself for me, the dearer hast Thou become to me.