Happy New Year!
Happy 8th Day (Octave) of
Christmas!
Happy Feast of the Circumcision for
you old-school (pre-Vatican II) Latin Mass Catholics! Holy Day of
Obligation. Go to Mass!
Happy Feast of the Mother of God for
you New Order Catholics! Holy Day of Obligation. Go to Mass!
Happy First Friday of the
Month! Go to Mass if you practice this devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus.
Happy Month of the Holy Name of
Jesus!
Happy World Peace Day! Go hug
an Islamist and see what happens.
The 1st day of January is the Octave Day 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 8th 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 5 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...
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. On this day, a plenary indulgence can be acquired, under the usual conditions, by reciting the Veni, Creator Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit). Note: Today is New Year's Day of the secular year, and it's considered good luck to eat black-eyed peas (for luck), collard greens (for money), and hog jowls (for plenty). |
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