Liturgy: Octave of the Nativity
Illumination from "Menologion of Basil II" compiled for Basil II: c. 1000 AD.
A child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, whose government is upon His shoulder. - Introit of the feast
In today's liturgy three feasts are included. The first is that which was known in the ancient sacramentaries as "On the octave-day of our Lord." So the Mass is largely borrowed from those of Christmas.
By the second feast we are reminded that it is to Mary, after almighty God, that we owe our Lord Himself. For this reason, formerly a second Mass was celebrated in the basilica of St. Mary Major, in honor of the Mother of God. Some traces of this Mass remain in the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion which are the same as in the votive mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The psalms at Vespers are also the same as on the feasts of our Lady.
The third feast is the Circumcision which has been kept since the sixth century. Moses commanded that all the young Israelites should undergo this rite on the eighth day after birth (Gospel). It is a type of Baptism by which a man is spiritually circumcised. Saint Ambrose says,
See how the whole sequence of the Old Law foreshadowed that which was to come; for circumcision signifies the blotting out of sins. He who is spiritually circumcised by the rooting up of his vices is judged worthy of the Lord's favor."
While speaking of the first drops of His sacred Blood that our Redeemer shed for the cleansing of our souls, the Church emphasizes the thought of the cutting out of all that is evil in us. "Jesus Christ ... gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse us" (Epistle). "O Lord ... cleanse us by these heavenly mysteries" (Secret). "May this communion, O Lord, purify us from sin" (Postcommunion).
Source: Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, 1945, adapted and abridged.
