On the Octave of Christmas (and a Happy New Year!)

The Octave day of Christmas has borne several titles over the centuries, especially in Western Christendom: The Feast of the Circumcision; The Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus; and now The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

The former feasts are intended to underscore the humanity of the child Jesus. The earliest strata for the liturgical observance of the octave, the Circumcision serves to situate the child in his / our historical matrix as a son of David, of Abraham, an observant Son of the Promise--eight days old and Jesus is already busy with the work of perfect observance of the Law. Later generations would develop a spirituality that celebrates the circumcision as the first of seven bloodsheddings that Jesus suffered in his great work of Salvation. A more recent effort at the observance, the Feast of the Most Holy Name, provides the more sensitive Christian an opportunity to celebrate the birth/naming of the Saviour, bypassing most of the blood. Both Feasts strongly assert that Jesus is a real human child, born into a real human family, in a real time and place. It is this Jesus that we await.

Paul VI, fearing that twentieth century folk put too much thought to the human aspect of the baby Jesus during the Advent / Christmas seasons, sought to remind us that while Mary is the mother of the human infant, that infant is also Very God of Very God. The Jesus that we worship and await is not a child, but a grown man, a martyr, a priest, a king, a sacrifice. When Jesus returns, with salvation in his hand, he will not be an infant, but a grown man, wounded but whole. Mary is the mother of the infant, but also of that grown man, the Son of God, our Saviour and brother.

At the end of the day, the Church still uses the mass readings for the Circumcision / Holy Name, so, go figure.

Luke 2:16-21

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God

for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.