Chapter 10: 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 You, and give thanks to You for the painful circumcision of Your most tender Flesh, according to the law of Moses; to which, in order that in all things You might conform to it, You did submit Yourself, albeit You were Yourself without any spot of sin.

I praise You for the first spilling of Your innocent Blood, which on this day You did shed for us. O most meek Lamb of God, how brightly were the excellence of Your love and the depth of Your patience shown forth, when, at so tender an age, You did submit Your holy and innocent Flesh to the pain of circumcision, a pain which It had not deserved.

It is I who have sinned; it is You Who pay the penalty of my sin. I indeed was conceived and born in sin: You were conceived without sin, and yet do You meekly submit to be branded with a sinner's mark. What was there in You faulty, or useless, that needed to be cutaway? And yet, because I could myself never make to You full satisfaction for my sins, You did come to my help by Your grace; and did apply, by the cruel circumcision of Your Flesh, a cleansing remedy to my soul. But what wonder is it that You, Who were ready to give Your life, should submit to be circumcised, for us? Having given Yourself wholly for me, You are willing to be wholly spent for me. O most good and gracious Lord Jesus, You Who did meekly undergo the circumcision of Your innocent Flesh, circumcise, I pray You, all my members with the cutting-stone of Your Grace; order all my actions, and direct all my ways, in conformity with Your most holy life. All that You find in me unspiritual cut away, I beseech You, and destroy: root out all that You see in me to be useless: keep down with all the needful force of Your 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 Your Holy Name, and be found meet to dwell with You in Your Heavenly Kingdom.