Happy New Year
January 1, 2017
The Book of Hours, Flemish miniaturist (1470-1500)
I HAVE been in the sick bay on and off for a couple of days, but I wanted to get to my computer this morning and wish you a very Happy New Year. May you and your families have peace and many blessings. May your homes be preserved from all evils and misfortunes this year.
New Year’s Day is a secular holiday, but it has beautiful mystical significance as well. Today is the Feast of the Circumcision. A little primer:
Why is this day so called?
Because the secular year begins with this day, as the ecclesiastical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent.
What should we do on this day?
An offering for the new year should be made to God, asking His grace that we may spend the year in a holy manner, for the welfare of the soul.
Why do we wish each other a “happy new year?”
Because to do so is an act of Christian love; but this wish should come from the heart, and not merely from worldly politeness, otherwise we would be like heathens, (Matt. v. 47.) and receive no other reward than they.
What festival of the Church is celebrated today?
The festival of the Circumcision of our Lord, who, for love of us, voluntarily subjected Himself to the painful law of the Old Covenant, that we might be freed from the same.
What was the Circumcision?
It was an external sign of the Old Law, by which the people of that day were numbered among the chosen people of God, as now they become, by baptism, members of the Church of Christ.
What is the signification of Circumcision in the moral or spiritual sense?
It signifies the mortification of the senses, evil desires, and inclinations. This must be practiced by Christians now, since they have promised it in baptism which would be useless to them without the practice of mortification; just as little as the Jew by exterior Circumcision is a true Jew, just so little is
the baptized a true Christian without a virtuous life. Beg of Christ, therefore, today, to give you the grace of the true Circumcision of heart.
