Under Two Holy Names

The New Year will be brought in with much fanfare the world over. The faithful will drive enthusiastically to church in their best outfits to pray for a worthy year ahead. Although it is the beginning of a civil year, we ought to honour it because Time belongs to God.

There is also a Christian facet to it. It is the Octave of Christmas and the first day of the Gregorian calendar as introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, replacing the Julian calendar whose algorithm had miscalculated the date of Easter.

Although the Gregorian calendar is now used in most parts of the world, some churches not affiliated with Rome still follow the Julian calendar. Ukraine is an example. A few years ago, in a bid to distance itself from the Russian Orthodox Church, Zelenksky’s country fell in line with the Church in the West and began celebrating Christmas on 25 December, instead of 6 January.

The first day of the civil year is also dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in celebration of her unique privilege and title as Mother of God. Accordingly, the readings dwell on the Mother of Jesus and on the Holy Name of Jesus.[1] The Feast highlights Mary’s role in the economy of Salvation and helps us place our problems and concerns under her mantle.

The Catholic Church also celebrates the World Day of Peace[2] on the first day of the first month of the year.

In today’s First Reading (Num 6: 22-27)  one of the five books (Pentateuch) dictated by God to Moses. Called so because it begins by listing the numbers of a census of the Hebrew people, the Book represents a march of God’s people across the desert wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. During this march, the participants gathered experiences that eventually impacted their future. God asked Moses to request Aaron, a fluent speaker, to address the Pharaoh.

Aaron, along with Moses, delivered God’s message to Pharaoh: ‘Let my people go, so they hold a festival for me in the wilderness’. When Pharaoh refused, demanding to know who the Lord was, Aaron performed miracles (turning his staff into a snake) to show God’s power, but Pharaoh remained stubborn, increasing the Israelites’ burdens. 

The blessing is a general priestly blessing for the wellbeing of Israel. It is often seen as being fulfilled in the Birth of Jesus. The mystery of the Incarnation was a fulfilment of a long wait; it was a manifestation of God’s benevolence and love for humankind, His supreme creation. His Son liberated us from the old law and from sin; we have also secured His blessings, the privilege to be called God’s children (rather than creatures) being the highest one for Christians.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the willing collaboration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is thus, very naturally, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church, which is the Body of Christ on earth.

This is why St Paul in the Second Reading (Gal 4: 4-7) says: ‘God sent forth His Son born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.’ His words highlight the human side of the Son of God, that He became man to first save the Chosen People, that He was formed by the religion of his ancestors (to us, the Old Testament), and that in time He perfected the law, whereby all men and women of goodwill would be saved.

Finally, in the Gospel (Lk 2: 16-21), the poor shepherds were the first to receive the Good News of Salvation. They met Mary and Joseph, with the Divine Babe lying in a manger. They soon understood the magnificent Hymn of the Angels, Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis, and became the first proclaimers of the Word made Flesh. They were adopted as children of God.

The fact that, at the end of the Octave, Jesus was circumcised and given His Holy Name, as preannounced by the Angel Gabriel to Mary, justifies the celebration of His Holy Name together with Mary’s title as Mother of God. It also explains why 1 January was observed as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus, with a Marian orientation predating it, since the 13^th century. However, this feast day was cancelled by Pope John XXIII’s General Roman Calendar of 1960 and simply called the Octave of the Nativity.

Like Mary, we too need to treasure all these things, ponder them in our hearts, and be ever more faithful to Holy Scripture and Tradition. The Blessed Virgin, who had a unique understanding of Jesus’s divinity and mission from the beginning, understood the full import of her Son’s words after the Resurrection and Pentecost.

We too ought to bide our time and put His Holy Name upon our world, pray for God’s blessing, and discern our vocation. Above all, by God’s grace, we ought to eschew sin, cease to be slaves of the world, and happily be sons and heirs. The affirmation of their Christian past and inheritance by European and American leaders signals a new grace that is entering our hedonistic world.

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[1] The feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was first granted to the dioceses of Portugal and Brazil and Algeria in 1751 on the petition of King José I of Portugal. By 1914, the feast was established in Portugal for celebration on 11 October and was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1931. The 1969 revision of the liturgical year changed it to 1 January.

[2] Pope Paul VI established it in 1967, inspired by Pope John XXIII’s Encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963) and with reference to his own Populorum Progressio (1967).