OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS - The Circumcision of Our Lord
“And after eight days were accomplished, that the Child should be circumcised, His Name was called JESUS, which was called by the angel, before He was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21)
MEDITATION
In order to transform us from sinners into children of God, the only Son of the Father willed to be clothed in human nature, thereby putting on our sinful flesh and submitting to all its most humiliating consequences. The law of circumcision could in no way affect Jesus, the Son of God, the Most Holy One; but Jesus willed to submit to it as the last of the sons of Abraham, for as St. Paul says, “It behooved Him in all things to me made like unto His brethren .. that He might be a propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17). The rite, which St. Joseph may have performed in the intimacy of the family, caused the first drops of the Precious Blood to be shed from the immaculate flesh of Jesus. Thus eight days after His birth, He is beginning His redemptive mission. He has not yet spoken; the world does not know Him; but He is already shedding His blood for the salvation of mankind.
Jesus’ humble submission to His Father’s will, manifested by His obedience to the law, is a lesson to be learned from today’s Feast. It is an invitation to us to be docile to God’s will, whatever it may be. None of us knows what awaits us in this new year, but God knows. His will has already prepared our path; every detail of our life is already determined in His mind. Let us be ready to accept, or rather to embrace with courage and readiness everything that God wishes or permits, certain that in His holy will we shall find our peace and our sanctification.
COLLOOQUY
“O Word Incarnate, Thou art but eight days old and already Thou art shedding Thy Precious Blood for me. What lesson do I draw from this? … Obedience. By Thy circumcision Thou hast revealed to me Thy obedience to God, Thy meekness, and Thy humility” (St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi).
O Jesus, permit the first drops of Thy most pure Blood to purify and inebriate my poor soul! I understand that from the very first days of Thy life, Thou hast hastened to shed Thy Precious Blood because Thou hast wanted to show us at once that Thou art our Savior and Redeemer. This shedding of Blood was not necessary for Thee, O Son of God, Who art holy with the holiness of Thy Father; but it was necessary for me, a poor creature born in sin. Thou wished to humble Thyself, even to submitting Thyself to a law which was made for sinners. O my Lord, teach me to be humble and obedient. Thou didst not refuse circumcision, Thou the Innocent Lamb, who taketh away the sins of the world… and I, a sinner, want to be considered just? I resent it when I am considered imperfect; I try to conceal my faults under a cloak of false excuses. Oh! Teach me that I can neither follow Thee, nor become like Thee, if I do not welcome opportunities of humbling myself with Thee!
O Lord, teach me also to obey and to submit to my heavenly Father’s will, no matter what it demands or what sacrifice it requires. “I think of this new year as a white page given to me by Thy Father, on which He will write, day by day, whatever His divine good pleasure has planned. I shall now write at the top of the page, with complete confidence: Domine, fac de me sicut vis (Lord do with me what Thou wilt), and at the bottom I already write my Amen to all the proposals of Thy divine Will. Yes Lord, yes to all the joys, the sorrows, the graces, the hardships prepared for me, which Thou wilt reveal to me day by day. Grant that my Amen may be the Paschal Amen, always followed by the Alleluia, uttered wholeheartedly, in the joy of a complete gift. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, and I shall be rich enough.” (Sister Carmela of the Holy Ghost, OCD)
- Taken from Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD (TAN, 1963)