Today we celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord and New Year’s. This is the season of Feasts concerning the early life of Jesus Christ. The Feast of the Nativity, the Feast of the Circumcision (Jan.1), the Feast of Theophany (Jan.6,) the baptism of our Lord, culminating in the Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord into the Temple. (Feb. 2).
This feastday was a sign of God’s covenant or agreement with Abraham as recounted in Genesis 17, when God told Abraham, “I will be your God and the God of your descendants”. (Gen. 17:7). The meaning of this Feast is expressed best in the hymn of the day, “You fulfilled the Law, by freely accepting Circumcision of the flesh so as to put an end to prefigurations of the old dispensation and to lift the veil of passions from our hearts.”
Our covenant with God, the new covenant in Jesus Christ, must bring about in us the complete submission of our flesh and its desires to God, the complete consecration and sanctification of our body and its natural functions. The great commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart”, expresses very well what the Circumcision of the Heart means, to submit to a true spiritual Circumcision.
As we greet the New Year 2023, let us pray for a year of peace, health, prosperity and joy. Let us also remember in this new Jubilee Year to thank Almighty God for the bountiful blessings and mercy He has bestowed on us over the past 50 years!
