Chapter 13: Of the Purification of Blessed Mary and the Presentation of Jesus

I BLESS You, and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, Fountain of purity, for Your lowly Presentation in the Temple of God, where, with victims and with gifts, You were offered by Your parents as one of the sons of Adam, and were redeemed with five shekels of silver, as if You had been some chattel of a slave, sold and bought back again.

I bless You, for Your lowly obedience to the Law of God, O most Holy Redeemer of the world, Who — Yourself free from any debt of sin — did make Yourself subject to all the ordinances of the Law, that You might be to us an example of perfect obedience.

I glorify You for the exceeding humility of Your most blessed Mother, and for her obedience, of her own free choice, to the Law of Moses: for, although she was both before and after child-birth, a Virgin undefiled, yet did she not think scorn of submitting to the rite of Purification.

O most pleasing oblation! O most sweet satisfaction! For it was free: it was full: and it was faultless.

But what shall I offer, what shall I render unto You, my Lord and my God, for all Your benefits to me? O how needful for me is purification, for the washing away of my sins; how expedient for me is satisfaction for my acts of transgression — for me who am polluted with the stains of so many sins.

To You, therefore, O most gracious Lord Jesus Christ, to You do I look up, beseeching You, that You would vouchsafe to make satisfaction for me, and to wash away my sins by Your most pure oblation of Yourself: that so, cleansed and purified by Your grace, I may win an entrance into the Temple of Your heavenly Abode, there to praise Your Holy Name for ever.

And do You also, Holy Mother of God, glorious Virgin Mary, pray for me that my sins may be forgiven: that there may be granted to me time for repentance, and a firm purpose of amendment, by the help of God's grace: and that there may be nothing wanting in me to win back my place in God's favour. Do you plead for me, O most gracious Mother, by offering yourself, together with your most dearly beloved Son, before our Father in heaven. May your virginal purity atone for my impurities, whether of body or of soul; may your love inflame the coldness of my heart; may your humility subdue my pride; may your voluntary obedience break down the hardness of my perverse will.

I place myself in your hands, and in those of your dearly-beloved Son: and whatever I can do, that I shall always be ready to do, in His service, and in yours.

I offer a pair of turtle doves, to wit, a twofold compunction of heart, first by way of grieving for my sins and shortcomings, and next by way of sighing for the joys that have no end.

I also present willingly, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, two young pigeons: earnestly desiring, that is, to keep a twofold simplicity of heart, first by way of rendering to no man evil for evil, and next by way of overcoming evil with good. For all which do You vouchsafe to grant me Your grace, O kind Jesus, Who were on this day presented in the Temple by Your lowly virgin Mother, and were taken up with joy into the loving arms of the just and devout Simeon.