``Where the
Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Feast of
the Circumcision
The 1st day of January is the Octave of Christmas (i.e., from
December 25 to January 1, inclusive, are 8 days).
This is the Feast of the Circumcision, a day known in the Novus Ordo as
"Mary, Mother of God"; either way, January 1 is a Holy Day of
Obligation on which we must attend Mass. On this day, we recall Our
Lord's submitting to the Mosaic Law by getting circumcised on the
eighth
day of His human life in obedience to the Law:
Genesis
17:10-12:
This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you, and thy
seed after thee: All the male-kind of you shall be circumcised. And you
shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a sign
of the covenant between me and you. An infant of eight days old shall
be circumcised among you, every manchild in your generations: he that
is born in the house, as well as the bought servant, shall be
circumcised
Our Lord later
fulfilled this part of Torah through the Sacrament
of Baptism, an event which will be brought into focus on the Feast
of the Epiphany in five days and again on the 13th of January at the
Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord. His Circumcision, though, has
another, deeper meaning in that it symbolizes and foreshadows the Blood
He will shed for us on Calvary.
In Aquinas's Catena Aurea,
Epiphanius gives four more reason why Our Lord was circumsized: "First
indeed to shew the reality of His flesh, in opposition to Manichćus and
those who say that He came forth in appearance only.
Secondly, that He might prove that His body was not of the same
substance with the Deity, according to Apollinaris, and that it
descended not from heaven, as Valentinian said. Thirdly, to add a
confirmation to circumcision which He had of old instituted to wait His
coming. Lastly, to leave no excuse to the Jews. For had He not been
circumcised, they might have objected that they could not receive
Christ uncircumcised."
Today, too, we honor the Holy Name of Jesus
which was given to Him on this day. We celebrate His Holy Name more
fully next Sunday (or tomorrow if the first Sunday of the year falls
today, or on the 6th or the 7th), on the Feast of the Holy Name.
Finally, today, too, we celebrate St. Telemachus, an Eastern ascetic
who was martyred in Rome in a particularly interesting way. President
Ronald Reagan related his story well at the National Prayer Breakfast
on February 2, 1984:
This power of
prayer can be illustrated by a story that goes back to the fourth
century. The Asian monk living in a little remote village, spending
most of his time in prayer or tending the garden from which he obtained
his sustenance -- I hesitate to say the name because I'm not sure I
know the pronunciation, but let me take a chance. It was Telemachus,
back in the fourth century. And then one day, he thought he heard the
voice of God telling him to go to Rome. And believing that he had
heard, he set out. And weeks and weeks later, he arrived there, having
traveled most of the way on foot.
And it was at a time of a festival in Rome. They were celebrating a
triumph over the Goths. And he followed a crowd into the Colosseum, and
then there in the midst of this great crowd, he saw the gladiators come
forth, stand before the Emperor, and say, ``We who are about to die
salute you.'' And he realized they were going to fight to the death for
the entertainment of the crowds. And he cried out, ``In the name of
Christ, stop!'' And his voice was lost in the tumult there in the great
Colosseum.
And as the games began, he made his way down through the crowd and
climbed over the wall and dropped to the floor of the arena. Suddenly
the crowds saw this scrawny little figure making his way out to the
gladiators and saying, over and over again, ``In the name of Christ,
stop.'' And they thought it was part of the entertainment, and at first
they were amused. But then, when they realized it wasn't, they grew
belligerent and angry. And as he was pleading with the gladiators, ``In
the name of Christ, stop,'' one of them plunged his sword into his
body. And as he fell to the sand of the arena in death, his last words
were, ``In the name of Christ, stop.''
And suddenly, a strange thing happened. The gladiators stood looking at
this tiny form lying in the sand. A silence fell over the Colosseum.
And then, someplace up in the upper tiers, an individual made his way
to an exit and left, and others began to follow. And in the dead
silence, everyone left the Colosseum. That was the last battle to the
death between gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Never again did anyone
kill or did men kill each other for the entertainment of the crowd.
One tiny voice that could hardly be heard above the tumult. ``In the
name of Christ, stop.'' It is something we could be saying to each
other throughout the world today.
May the spirit of St. Telemachus inspire us all throughout
the new year! We need such fortitude now more than ever! The power of one individual should never be
underestimated! All great change for the Good must start somewhere; let it be with you! For inspiration, I encourage
you to read Vaclav Havel's essay, "The Power of the Powerless"
(pdf) from this site's Catholic Library.
A detail from
a painting of St. Telemachus by José Benlliure y Gil. Click on it to
enlarge and see the entire painting; it depicts a great
procession of martyrs surrounding him as he makes his heroic plea.
Customs
On this first day of the new year, a plenary indulgence
can
be acquired, under the usual conditions, by praying the Veni, Creator Spiritus to glorify God and
call down the Holy Ghost to grant us virtues and peace (in the same
way, praying the Te Deum on December
31, the last day of the year, is indulgenced). Download a pdf
of the Te Deum and Veni Creator Spiritus for easy printing.
The eighth day
of Christmas is New Year's Day of the secular year, and it's considered
good luck in the United States to eat black-eyed peas (for luck),
collard greens or cabbage
(for
money), cornbread (for health), and hog jowls (for plenty). In the
American South and Midwest, the black-eyed peas are eaten in the form
of "Hoppin' John":
Hoppin' John
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large ham hock
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart chicken stock
Bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
3 cups cooked rice
Heat oil in a large soup pot, add the ham hock and sear on
all sides for 4 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper, and
garlic, cook for 4 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves,
thyme, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for
40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender, stirring
occasionally.
If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock. Adjust seasonings,
remove the ham hock and bay leaf, then garnish with green onions. Serve
over rice, alongside cornbread and collard greens or fried cabbage.
In the Middle
Ages, the days after Christmas were coupled with
celebrations in honor of the various levels of the clergy. The second
day of Christmas, the Feast of St.
Stephen, was devoted to deacons; the third day of Christmas, the Feast of St. John the Evangelist,
was devoted to priests; the fourth day of Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, was
devoted to choristers and those who serve at Mass. The eighth day of
Christmas, Feast of the Circumcision, became associated with the lower
clergy -- but their feasting got way out of hand. This celebration,
known as the "Feast of Fools," became known for extreme
antics rooted in its appointing a "Lord of Misrule" and a reversing of
the normal order of things with regard to clerical status. So
outrageous it all became that it was banned under the severest
penalties by the year 1435.
Finally, enjoy
this piece by Bach, written especially for the Feast of
the Circumcision: Herr Gott, dich
loben wir (BWV16):
Note: For very
important information about the Catholic view of circumcision, and to
learn how the ritual Christ endured was a radically different sort of
circumcision than the one that prevails today, see this page.
Reading From Gueranger's
"Liturgical Year"
Our new-born King and Saviour is eight days old to-day; the Star that
guides the Magi is advancing towards Bethlehem, and five days hence
will be standing over the Stable where our Jesus is being nursed by his
Mother. To-day the Son of Man is to be circumcised; this first
sacrifice of his innocent Flesh must honour the eighth day of his
mortal life. To-day also a Name is to be given him: the Name will be
Jesus, and it means Saviour. So that mysteries abound on this day: let
us not pass one of them over, but honour them with all possible
devotion and love.
But this day is not exclusively devoted to the Circumcision of Jesus.
The mystery of this Circumcision forms part of that other great
mystery, the Incarnation and Infancy of our Saviour - a mystery on
which the Church fixes her heart not only during this Octave, but
during the whole forty days of Christmastide. Then, as regards our
Lord’s receiving the Name of Jesus, a special Feast, which we shall
soon be keeping, is set apart in honour of it. There is another object
that shares the love and devotion of the Faithful on this great
Solemnity. This object is Mary, the Mother of God. The Church
celebrates to-day the august prerogative of this divine Maternity which
was conferred on a mere creature, and made her the co-operatrix with
Jesus in the great work of man’s salvation.
The holy Church of Rome used formerly to say two Masses on the first of
January; one was for the Octave of Christmas Day, the other was in
honour of Mary. She now unites the two intentions in one Sacrifice, in
the same manner as, in the rest of this Day’s Office, she unites
together the acts of her adoration of the Son, and the expressions of
her admiration for and confidence in the Mother.
The Greek Church does not wait for this eighth day, in order to pay her
tribute of homage to her who has given us our Emmanuel. She consecrates
to Mary the first day after Christmas, that is December 26, and calls
it the Synaxis of the Mother of God, making the two days one continued
Feast. She is thus obliged to defer the Feast of St Stephen to December
27.
But it is to-day that we, the children of the Roman Church, must pour
forth all the love of our hearts for the Virgin-Mother, and rejoice
with her in the exceeding happiness she feels at having given birth to
her and our Lord. During Advent we contemplated her as pregnant with
the world’s salvation; we proclaimed the glory of that Ark of the New
Covenant, whose chaste womb was the earthly paradise chosen by the King
of Ages for his dwelling-place. Now she has brought him forth, the
Infant-God; she adores him, him who is her Son. She has the right to
call him her Child; and he, God as he is, calls her in strictest truth
his Mother.
Let us not be surprised, therefore, at the enthusiasm and profound
respect wherewith the Church extols the Blessed Virgin and her
prerogatives. Let us on the contrary be convinced that all the praise
the Church can give her, and all the devotion she can ever bear towards
her, are far below what is due to her as Mother of the Incarnate God.
No mortal will ever be able to describe, or even comprehend, how great
a glory accrues to her from this sublime dignity. For, as the glory of
Mary comes from her being the Mother of God, one would have first to
comprehend God himself in order to measure the greatness of her
dignity. It is to God that Mary gave our human nature; it is God whom
she had as her Child; it is God who gloried in rendering himself,
inasmuch as he is Man, subject to her: hence, the true value of such a
dignity, possessed by a mere creature, can only be appreciated in
proportion to our knowledge of the sovereign perfections of the great
God, who thus deigns to make himself dependent upon that favoured
creature. Let us therefore bow down in deepest adoration before the
Majesty of our God; let us therefore acknowledge that we cannot respect
as it deserves the extraordinary dignity of her whom he chose for his
Mother.
The same sublime Mystery overpowers the mind from another point of
view: what were the feelings of such a Mother towards such a Son? The
Child she holds in her arms and presses to her heart is the Fruit of
her virginal womb, and she loves him as her own; she loves him because
she is his Mother, and a Mother loves her Child as herself, nay, more
than herself: but when she thinks upon the infinite majesty of him who
has thus given himself to her to be the object of her love and her fond
caresses, she trembles in her humility, and her soul has to turn, in
order to bear up against the overwhelming truth, to the other thought
of the nine months she held this Babe in her womb, and of the filial
smile he gave her when her eyes first met his. These two deep-rooted
feelings - of a creature that adores, and of a Mother that loves - are
in Mary’s heart. To be Mother of God implies all this: and may we not
well say that no pure creature could be exalted more than she? and that
in order to comprehend her dignity, we should first have to comprehend
God himself? and that only God’s infinite wisdom could plan such a
work, and only his infinite power accomplish it?
A Mother of God! It is the mystery whose fulfilment the world, without
knowing it, was awaiting for four thousand years. It is the work which,
in God’s eyes, was incomparably greater than that of the creation of a
million new worlds, for such a creation would cost him nothing; he has
but to speak, and all whatsoever he wills is made. But that a creature
should become Mother of God, he has had not only to suspend the laws of
nature by making a Virgin Mother, but also to put himself in a state of
dependence upon the happy creature he chose for his Mother. He had to
give her rights over himself, and contract the obligation of certain
duties towards her. He had to make her his Mother, and himself her Son.
It follows from all this, that the blessings of the Incarnation, for
which we are indebted to the love where with the Divine Word loved us,
may and ought to be referred, though in an inferior degree, to Mary
herself. If she be the Mother of God, it is because she consented to
it, for God vouchsafed not only to ask her consent, but moreover to
make the coming of his Son into this world depend upon her giving it.
As this his Son, the Eternal Word, spoke his FIAT over chaos, and the
answer to his word was creation; so did Mary use the same word FIAT:
let it be done unto me [St Luke i. 38], she said. God heard her word,
and immediately the Son of God descended into her virginal womb. After
God, then, it is to Mary, his ever Blessed Mother, that we are indebted
for our Emmanuel.
The divine plan for the world’s salvation included the existence of a
Mother of God: and as heresy sought to deny the mystery of the
Incarnation, it equally sought to deny the glorious prerogative of
Mary. Nestorius asserted that Jesus was only man; Mary consequently was
not Mother of God, but merely Mother of a Man called Jesus. This
impious doctrine roused the indignation of the Catholic world. The East
and West united in proclaiming that Jesus was God and Man, in unity of
Person; and that Mary, being his Mother, was, in strict truth, Mother
of God’ [Deipara, Theotókos, are the respective Latin and Greek terms.]
This victory over Nestorianism was won at the Council of Ephesus. It
was hailed by the Christians of those times with an enthusiasm of faith
which not only proved the tender love they had for the Mother of Jesus,
but was sure to result in the setting up of some solemn trophy that
would perpetuate the memory of the victory. It was then that the pious
custom began, in both the Greek and Latin Churches, of uniting during
Christmas the veneration due to the Mother with the supreme worship
given to the Son. The day assigned for the united commemoration varied
in the several countries, but the sentiment of religion which suggested
the Feast was one and the same throughout the entire Church.
The holy Pope Xystus III ordered an immense mosaic to be worked into
the chancel-arch of the Church of St Mary Major, in Rome, as a monument
to the holy Mother of God. The mosaic still exists, bearing testimony
as to what was the faith held in the fifth century. It represents the
various scriptural types of our Lady, and the inscription of the holy
Pontiff is still legible in its bold letters: XYSTUS EPISCOPUS PLEBI
DEI (Xystus Bishop to the people of God): for the Saint had dedicated
to the faithful this his offering to Mary, the Mother of God.
Special chants were also composed at Rome for the celebration of the
great mystery of the Word made Man through Mary. Sublime Responsories
and Antiphons, accompanied by appropriate music, were written to serve
the Church and her children as the expression of their faith, and they
are the ones we now use. The Greek Church makes use of some of these
very Antiphons for the Christmas Solemnity; so that with regard to the
mystery of the Incarnation there is not only unity of faith, there is
also oneness of devotional sentiment.