First Shedding of Christ’s Blood – Thanksgiving Against Pride | Sevenfold Shedding Devotion

 

First Shedding: Against Pride - Devotional Image

First Shedding: Against Pride

The First Shedding of Christ’s Blood—the Circumcision—reveals the humility of the eternal Son who submitted Himself to the Law (cf. Luke 2:21). Before He preached, healed, or taught, He embraced suffering in silence, offering His innocent Blood for our salvation.

Christian tradition teaches that pride was the root of Lucifer’s fall, for he sought to exalt himself above God (cf. Isaiah 14:12–15; Ezekiel 28:17). The New Testament echoes this truth, warning that pride leads to “the condemnation of the devil” (cf. 1 Timothy 3:6). In contemplating Christ’s humility, we behold the divine remedy for the very sin that first fractured creation.

As we pray this thanksgiving, we ask for the grace to imitate Christ’s humility (cf. Philippians 2:5–8) and to be freed from the vanity that blinds the soul.

Prayer

(kept exactly as printed in the original source)

First Shedding: Against Pride

O most humble Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, eternal praise and thanksgiving be to Thee, because in Thy tenderest age, on the 8th day of Thy mortal life, Thou didst vouchsafe to shed Thy precious and innocent Blood for us, and as a true Son of Abraham to bear the pain of circumcision.

By this most holy shedding of Thy Blood, I beg of Thee the grace of humility against all pride and worldly vanity.

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

O Savior of the world, who by Thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us: save us, and help us, we humbly beseech Thee, O Lord.

Biblical Citations for Meditation

  • Luke 2:21 — The Circumcision of Jesus

  • Genesis 17:9–14 — The covenant sign given to Abraham

  • Isaiah 14:12–15 — The self‑exaltation of the fallen “morning star”

  • Ezekiel 28:17 — “Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty”

  • 1 Timothy 3:6 — Pride and “the condemnation of the devil”

  • Philippians 2:5–8 — Christ’s humility and obedience

  • Matthew 6:9–13 — The Lord’s Prayer

  • 1 Peter 1:18–19 — Redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ

  • Revelation 1:5–6 — Christ who “washed us from our sins in His own Blood”

Conclusion

In contemplating this first shedding of Christ’s Blood, we encounter the humility that destroys pride at its root. The Savior who submits to the Law in infancy invites us to surrender our self‑importance and embrace the simplicity of a heart fully given to God.

May this devotion open the way for the remaining six meditations, each revealing another facet of the redeeming power of His Precious Blood.

Footnote

  1. Manual of Prayers: For the Use of the Catholic Laity (Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1888), pp. 363–364. Public Domain.

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