CHAPTER VI Of the hardships and want of Jesus in His low estate
CHAPTER VI
Of the hardships and want of Jesus in His low estate
I BLESS Thee, and give thanks to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that, as soon as Thou hadst taken upon Thee our flesh, Thou didst, for love of us, endure many hardships, and didst make trial, in all its bitterness, of the stress of utter poverty. For when Thou, very God, wast born into the world, Thou didst choose for the hour of Thy birth the secrecy of the night, and for its ease and comfort the winter cold: Thou didst not seek, as a home for Thy sovereign Majesty, the grandeur of a stately palace, but didst find instead, in a little crib, a shelter for Thy infant helplessness.
O poverty beyond compare, that Thou couldst scarce find swaddling clothes wherein to wrap Thee—Thou Who holdest the world in the hollow of Thy hand, Who unto Adam and to his wife didst make coats of skins, Who in wondrous variety dost adorn the sky with stars, the earth with flowers, and beasts with their coats of hair.
O holy poverty of the Son of God, more precious than all earthly wealth, poverty in which scarce one of us can follow Thee! For which of us has come into the world in straits such as Thine? In what language, in what story, shall we find examples of any of Thy Saints born under conditions so mean and so poor?
To Thee, then, O my Jesus, mighty King, Infant worthy of all love; to Thee do I offer from the bottom of my heart the tribute of all the gratitude of which my heart is capable, beseeching Thee that, of Thy love, Thou wouldest grant me lovingly to cherish the joys of holy poverty, and by the help of Thy grace to bear its hardships patiently. Thou didst leave Thy Throne on high that Thou mightest commend the state of poverty to our love: to Thy riches, as God, no limits can be set; but as man, for our sakes, Thou madest Thyself poor.
I praise and magnify Thee, for taking upon Thyself our poverty and weakness; and for holding us so dear, that laying aside Thy royal diadem, Thou didst vouchsafe to be numbered among the sons of men, and as if Thou hadst been one of them, to share the frailty of our nature, yet without any spot of sin.