(1) The sacrifice made by JESUS. _Ecce Venio._ "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O my GOD." He has come to the Temple to offer Himself as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to His Father. This is the morning sacrifice--the evening sacrifice will be on Calvary. This is like the _Offertory_ at Mass, when the Priest offers to GOD the Bread and Wine which He will use presently to accomplish the sacrifice at the Consecration. He is the "Firstborn amongst many brethren," (Rom. viii. 29), that is why He must be presented in the Temple. He is our Elder Brother. He represents us all, and answers to GOD for all those who are united to Him. He offers Himself as a Ransom that all the rest of the family may go free. Am I prepared to ratify this offering that my Elder Brother made in my name? Have I any right to claim the privileges? Yes, if I am united with Him, identified with Him; if I am saying as He did: "Behold, I come to do Thy Will," and this in the little sacrifices of my everyday life. (2) The sacrifice made by Mary. _Ecce ancilla._ "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." Mary knows perfectly well what she is doing when she puts her JESUS into the arms of the Priest. She knows that she is offering to GOD the firstfruits--the earnest of what is to come; and she makes her sacrifice whole-heartedly, zealously, lovingly. She said her _Fiat_ at the Incarnation, and she will never take it back. She is His Mother--it is with Blood drawn from her veins that He will one day redeem the world; and she offers to GOD now, not only the Victim Who is to be the Redeemer, but herself as a co-victim--herself to suffer with Him. "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord"--ready to give Him all that He requires. How perfectly Mary identifies herself with JESUS! It is her intense love which enables her to copy so exactly. (3) The sacrifice made by Joseph. _Ecce adsum._ "Behold, I am here too, ready for any sacrifice." Joseph is so closely connected with JESUS and Mary that he must share their spirit and do what they do. But his sacrifice is made in the dark, as ours are for the most part. He does not know what JESUS and Mary are doing. He cannot gauge the extent of their sacrifices--enough for him to unite his intention with theirs, and to offer with perfect detachment his two treasures to GOD, begging Him to use them as He will. Am I ready to make my sacrifice--even a blind one--ready to say: _Ecce adsum_--"Behold, here I am"--and to trust where I cannot understand? _Point III._--THE FIRST DOLOUR