We come to the final closing days of Christmastide.
Day 9 – January 2– (9th Day) – Nine Ladies Dancing -Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
This also happens to be anniversary of my marriage to Kristin Nealon Wilson
Day 10 – January 3– (10th Day) – Ten Lords a-Leaping – The Most Holy Name of Jesus
The Christians of all ages loved the holy name of Jesus, which, in Hebrew, means “The Saviour.” The name was brought from heaven by the angel, “and thou shalt call his name Jesus.” The promoter of the devotion to the holy name of Jesus, in the fifteenth century, was Saint Bernardin, of Sienna, who, taking its first letters in the Greek, IHS, formed them into a monogram surrounded with rays of light. That devotion, encouraged by Saint John, of Capistran, spread throughout Italy and the south of Europe, till at length it was solemnly approved by the Holy See. Some time afterwards, in the beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Clement VII, the Franciscans obtained the privilege of celebrating a feast in honor of the name of the Savior of the world.
In the Bible the name of God is often taken for his power; for that reason, when Christ sent his Apostles to preach the Gospel, he said: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” When Saints Peter and John came into the temple, they said to the man lame from his birth, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk;” saying that there is no “salvation in any other name;” while Saint Paul tells us, “that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth.” The whole of the New Testament is filled with reverence and devotion to the most holy name of Jesus, and it is found 143 times in the Epistles of Saint Paul.- CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » The Festal Year – The Christmas Season
January 6 – Feast of Epiphany
As I listened in church to the priest giving his homily about the feasts of Christmas, he had this to say about Epiphany. In the Feast of the Epiphany, we are reminded of our Christian responsibility to seek the lord always. The Magi sought the Lord, they persevered, they invested themselves fully. We need to do that too in our prayer. In prayer we have to seek the Lord and persevere. The Magi reminds us to bring the best of ourselves we have to offer to the Lord. I would invite us to meditate closely on the Christmas feasts and see where we can improve our relationship with the Lord.
“We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage” (Mt 2:2). This is the testimony that the Magi gave to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, announcing to them that the king of the Jews was born.
The star led the Magi to Bethlehem by its brightness. We too, by our love, can bring to Jesus the people that we meet, enabling them to see in the Son of God made man the beauty of the Father’s face (cf. Is 60:2) and his way of loving, which is through closeness, compassion and tenderness. Let us never forget this: God is close, compassionate and tender. This is love: closeness, compassion and tenderness. Moreover, we can do this without the need for extraordinary means or sophisticated methods, but simply by making our hearts bright with faith, our gazes generous in welcome, our gestures and words full of gentleness and kindness.
Thus, as we reflect on the Magi, who fixed their eyes on heaven in searching for the star, let us ask the Lord that we might be bright lights that can lead one another to an encounter with him (cf. Mt 5:14-16). How sad it is when someone is not a light for others.
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