Chapter 7: Of the hardships and want of Jesus in His low estate

I BLESS You, and give thanks to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that, as soon as You had taken upon You our flesh, You did, for love of us, endure many hardships, and did make trial, in all its bitterness, of the stress of utter poverty. For when You, very God, were born into the world, You did choose for the hour of Your birth the secrecy of the night, and for its ease and comfort the winter cold: You did not seek, as a home for Your sovereign Majesty, the grandeur of a stately palace, but did find instead, in a little crib, a shelter for Your infant helplessness.

O poverty beyond compare, that You could scarce find swaddling clothes wherein to wrap You — You Who boldest the world in the hollow of Your hand, Who unto Adam and to his wife did make coats of skins. Who in wondrous variety do 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 You! For which of us has come into the world in straits such as Yours? In what language, in what story, shall we find examples of any of Your Saints born under conditions so mean and so poor?

To You, then, O my Jesus, mighty King, Infant worthy of all love; to You do I offer from the bottom of my heart the tribute of all the gratitude of which my heart is capable, beseeching You that, of Your love, You would grant me lovingly to cherish the joys of holy poverty, and by the help of Your grace to bear its hardships patiently. You did leave Your Throne on high that You might commend the state of poverty to our love: to Your riches, as God, no limits can be set; but as man, for our sakes, You made Yourself poor.

I praise and magnify You, for taking upon Yourself our poverty and weakness; and for holding us so dear, that laying aside Your royal diadem, You did vouchsafe to be numbered among the sons of men, and as if You had been one of them, to share the frailty of our nature, yet without any spot of sin.