Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!! 
"And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child,
his name was called Jesus,
the name called by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb "
(Luke 2:21)
The Carol
On the eighth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Today is the Gregorian calendar 'New Years Day' 2022 (so named for Pope Gregory XIII, who amended the Julian calendar in 1582). I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the new year, with some tasty festive food and cheer (or, indeed, nursing a hangover as the case may be!).
Here's to a wonderful and blessed 2022
In a religious context, January 1st is a date replete with much greater significance. The 1969 revision to the Church's calendar states: "1 January, the Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord, is the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and also the commemoration of the conferral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus."
Last night, New Years Eve, was the 7th celebratory day of the Octave of Christmas and the Feast of St. Sylvester, pope during the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, when the dogma of Jesus's incarnate divinity and 'consubstantiality' (of the same substance and essence) with the Father was defended against the Arians.
Saint Sylvester's Day - also known as Silvester - is a holiday celebrated in many European countries including: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia. There is much revelry, including fireworks and the consumption of “Sylvester’s Punch.”
It coincides with the Gregorian calendar celebration of New Years Eve, marked with special magnificence as "Hogmanay" in Scotland.
Each year, as the secular calendar turns a new leaf from old to new, the Christian calendar completes an eight-day celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today is the Octave (eighth) day of Christmas, the last major feasting day of the Nativity of Jesus festival, the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus which took place eight days after his birth in accordance with the law of Moses and the conferral of His Holy Name, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God and World Day of Prayer for Peace.
The Catholic Church - along with other denominations, including the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism - celebrates all of these festivals together with New Years Day on this auspicious "super-January 1st" holiday, which is accordingly a 'holy day of obligation' in normal times for Catholics (meaning one must attend Mass although there is a universal exemption from the obligation this time around, owing to the pandemic).
We believe that Christmas is not only on December 25. The secular carol reminds us that there are traditionally twelve days of Christmas to January 6, the Epiphany. Nonetheless, the Church’s liturgy emphasizes, in particular, the eight festal days or octave of Christmas. The days of the Christmas Octave are repeating the solemnness of Christmas for eight days, concluding on a high note with another solemnity - January 1st.
Over 2,000 years ago, Mary held her infant son Jesus as he received his name, which literally means “YHWH saves.” She held him as he first shed his blood for our redemption, as he fulfilled the commandment, and covenant, bequeathed to Abraham, our father in faith, so many centuries before. By 300 A.D., Jan. 1, for these reasons, became a day devoted to Our Lady, under that tremendous title Theotokos, Mother of God.
Pius Parsch sums it beautifully when he writes of today’s feast, January 1, the Octave Day of Christmas:
Today is the octave or the eighth day after the feast of Christmas. An octave continues the celebration of a feast for eight days. In the spirit of the Church the great feasts of redemption should not be restricted to a single celebration but should continue on through a full week.
This liturgical use conforms to the musical denomination of an octave as the eighth note in a diatonic sequence and also as the whole compass of notes comprised between the first and the eighth (including both extremes) in a diatonic scale. In one sense, then, the octave of Christmas is the feast of the Circumcision, or New Year’s Day.
Mother Church is good psychologist; she understands human nature perfectly. When a feast comes, the soul is amazed and not quite prepared to think profoundly upon its mystery; but on the following days the mind finds it easy to consider the mystery from all sides, sympathetically and deeply; and an eighth day affords a wonderful opportunity to make a synthesis of all points covered.
This octave day, therefore, takes on greater importance. Today for the last time the Church leads us to the crib at Bethlehem. (The Church’s Year of Grace, Volume I, pp. 244-245).
This liturgical use conforms to the musical denomination of an octave as the eighth note in a diatonic sequence and also as the whole compass of notes comprised between the first and the eighth (including both extremes) in a diatonic scale. In one sense, then, the octave of Christmas is the feast of the Circumcision, or New Year’s Day.
Mother Church is good psychologist; she understands human nature perfectly. When a feast comes, the soul is amazed and not quite prepared to think profoundly upon its mystery; but on the following days the mind finds it easy to consider the mystery from all sides, sympathetically and deeply; and an eighth day affords a wonderful opportunity to make a synthesis of all points covered.
This octave day, therefore, takes on greater importance. Today for the last time the Church leads us to the crib at Bethlehem. (The Church’s Year of Grace, Volume I, pp. 244-245).
THE COLLECT
Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised
in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name,
to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary
bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation,
grant, we pray, that we may experience the intercession of her,
through whom we were found worthy to receive the author of life,
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as children.
Extended Preface
All glory and honour be yours always and everywhere,
mighty creator, ever-living God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We praise you that on the eighth day
he was circumcised in obedience to the law of Moses,
that he might fulfil the law and reveal to us your grace and truth.
For here is foreshadowed
his perfect self-offering upon the cross,
the shedding of his blood to set us free from sin and death.
In baptism we die with him and are raised in him,
that we might walk in newness of life,
and proclaim the wonders of his saving name.
Therefore with all the angels of heaven
we lift our voices to proclaim the glory of your name
and sing our joyful hymn of praise
whose blessed Son was circumcised
in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name,
to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary
bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation,
grant, we pray, that we may experience the intercession of her,
through whom we were found worthy to receive the author of life,
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as children.
Extended Preface
All glory and honour be yours always and everywhere,
mighty creator, ever-living God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We praise you that on the eighth day
he was circumcised in obedience to the law of Moses,
that he might fulfil the law and reveal to us your grace and truth.
For here is foreshadowed
his perfect self-offering upon the cross,
the shedding of his blood to set us free from sin and death.
In baptism we die with him and are raised in him,
that we might walk in newness of life,
and proclaim the wonders of his saving name.
Therefore with all the angels of heaven
we lift our voices to proclaim the glory of your name
and sing our joyful hymn of praise
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