Novena for the Purification

O ETERNAL God, whose adorable Majesty was so imperfectly honoured by the sacrifices of the Old Law, we rejoice from the bottom of our hearts, in the homage thou didst receive from thy beloved Son, on his presentation in the Temple. Sacrifices and sin-offerings had ceased to please thee; when behold! he came, in whom, from eternity, thou wert well pleased, to offer thee that victim of adoration, which thy infinite Majesty expected—that sacrifice of expiation, which thy justice required—that victim of thanksgiving, which thy benefits deserved—and that host of impetration to which thy mercy had reserved the most precious favours. O most happy Virgin! from whom the Almighty first received a victim worthy of himself, let us not be excluded from a share in the graces, which through thee have been granted to the world. Give us thyself, thy Divine Infant, in each of our communions, as thou didst to holy Simeon. Obtain that, like him, a lively faith may discover to us, our Lord and salvation, in the mystery of his humiliation; that our hearts may love him therein ardently, and that frequent union with Jesus, in the sacrament of his infinite goodness, may so detach us from the world, that we may never cease to sigh after that kingdom of peace, where we shall never sin, and never cease to love. Amen.