Today, on this Feast, which forms the joint between the old year and the new, the Church celebrates three feasts in one.  The first observance is what the ancient Roman liturgy called the “The Octave of the Lord,” essentially another opportunity to circle back to the joy and meaning of Christmas and the great mystery of the Incarnation of Our Lord in the flesh, one week later: many elements of this Mass are taken from the Masses of Christmas and the other Masses of the intervening days between Christmas and today.  The joy and mystery of Christmas cannot be contained within a single day; the light of that sacred night bursts forth into an eight-day octave of celebration, even beyond that in the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany, and indeed in the entire season spanning much of January up until the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, and beyond, as, in a few subtle ways, the Church keeps circling back to Christmas all the way until the Feast of the Presentation on February 2nd.  So we continue to honor, revere, and rejoice in the Lord coming among us, dwelling with us, reaching us in this most incredible way. 

Other parts of this Mass celebrate the divine motherhood of Mary: Our Lady as the Mother of God.  This is connected to Christmas too: it’s fundamentally a recognition of how profoundly Christ has united humanity and divinity together: he is fully God and fully man.  Not 50% of each, not some strange minotaur-like monster where the top half of him is God and the bottom half man or something like that.  He is 100% of each, fully and truly God, fully and truly man.  Therefore Mary is not just the Mother of Jesus’ human body.  He can’t be split up like that.  He is a fully integrated person, with a true human nature and a true divine nature united in his single person.  And Mary is truly the mother of his person, his whole person.  He is God; she is his mother.  And so we call her Mother of God, and we rejoice in that mysterious truth. 

The third element of today’s feast is the Lord’s Circumcision.  Eight days after his birth, Christ underwent this rite, like all Jews, this ritual enjoined on Abraham by God as a pledge of his faith.  At this moment, the child officially and ceremonially receives the name, Jesus.  “Jesus” means “God saves.”  We see in the name of Lord, what his mission on earth will be.  And that saving mission begins already, in this moment.  Every drop of Christ’s blood is sacred and life-giving.  A single drop of his blood would be sufficient for our salvation.  In his circumcision, he sheds those first sacred drops.  Even as a newborn, Our Lord sets out already on his work as Redeemer.  This was his first act of bloodshed; it will not be his last: the gift of his lifeblood will reach the apex of generosity in his Passion and Death, when he shows us the depth of his love, when he loves us all the way to the end, and his sacrifice is confirmed and glorified by his Resurrection three days later. 

That’s why it’s especially meaningful when January 1 falls on a Sunday.  Every Sunday is a “little Easter,” and so there’s even a fourth celebration that’s part of today’s Feastday this year.  We celebrate Christmas; we celebrate Our Lady as Mother of God; we celebrate the Circumcision; and this year, since it’s Sunday, we also celebrate Easter.  And so, rejoicing in our salvation, we dedicate this new year to the Immaculate Mother of God, who suffered with her son, and who protects and prays for us always.  “Mary treasured all of these things, pondering them in her heart.”  May we do the same, both today on the last day of the Christmas Octave, throughout the rest of this sacred season, and all of our lives long.  Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, help us and pray for us, now and always.  Amen.