Tuesday, 1 January, 2008
OCTAVE-DAY OF THE NATIVITY (II)
Holy Day of Obligation.
"In the Old Law, by the Rite of Circumcision, every male Jew became a member and shared in the privileges and blessings of the chosen people of God. A Jew who failed to be initiated by the ceremony was excluded. Our Lord was Son of God by nature, and absolutely sinless, and therefore did not need adoption into the membership of God's children. Yet, He submitted to the law. The Church also honours on this day the holy Name of Jesus, given to the Divine Child at the Circumcision, and the Divine Maternity of Our Lady."


Collect: O God, who by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary hast bestowed upon mankind the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may experience her intercession for us, through whom we have been made worthy to receive the Author of Life, Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord: Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Epistle (from The First Mass of Christmas): Bl. Paul the Apostle to Titus, 3:4,7.
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke, 2:21.

Remarks are abstracted from The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual, from Editio Typica of the Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962
(Baronius Press Limited, London, 2004, in conjunction with the Fraternal Society of St. Peter, www.baroniuspress.com)