Tractatus Prior, Pars Prior, Cap. 11. De puriflcatione beatae Mariae et praesentatione lesu.

Tractatus Prior, Pars Prior, Cap. 11. De puriflcatione beatae Mariae et praesentatione lesu.

I bless you and give thanks to you, Lord Jesus Christ, author of purity, for your humble presentation in the temple of God, where you were offered with the sacrifices and gifts like one of Adam's sons by your parents and for five silver shekels as if you were a redeemed servant. I bless you, most holy Redeemer of the world, for your humble obedience to the divine law, who without the debt of sin, by presenting yourself as an example of true submission, made yourself subject to the legal requirements in all things. I honor you for the greatest and most spontaneous humility of your most blessed mother, who, although she was a holy virgin in childbirth and after giving birth, did not refuse to accept the remedy of purification according to the command of the law. O most gracious offering, O sweetest satisfaction, because you are free, because you are full and free from all guilt. But what can I offer, or what can I repay to you, my Lord, for all the good you've done for me? Oh, how necessary it would be for me to have purification for washing away my sins, how useful the satisfaction I owe for the offenses I’ve committed, since I am so deeply stained by the multiple filth of my sins. Therefore, I turn to you, most gracious Lord Jesus Christ, praying that you would deign to satisfy for me and cleanse all my sins with your most pure offering, so that I may be worthy to enter the temple of the heavenly dwelling, cleansed and pure, and to praise your holy name forever. Pray also for me, you most loving Mother of God, glorious Virgin Mary, that my sins may be forgiven, that I may be granted time for repentance and a firm purpose of amendment to earn the help of divine grace, and whatever I lack in giving thanks for the benefits of God, you supply for me, most loving Mother, by offering yourself with your most beloved Son to the glory of the Father. May your virginal integrity excuse my impurity, both of mind and body; may your love ignite my lukewarmness; may your humility bend my pride; and may your spontaneous obedience break the hardness of my will. Here I offer myself into your hands and those of your beloved Son, and whatever I can do will be in your service, always prepared. I offer a pair of turtledoves, namely a double compunction, first for my sins and neglects, grieving, and then sighing for eternal joys. I willingly offer two young doves as a holocaust to the Lord, keeping within me a double simplicity, eager not to repay evil for evil to anyone, but rather to overcome evil with good. May you grant me, good Jesus, what I ask of you, who today were presented in the temple by your humble virgin mother and received joyfully in the arms of Simeon, a just and reverent man.