A Liturgical Christmas

You’ve all noticed, I’m sure, the similarity between this week’s schedule and last week’s, with Christmas Day and New Year’s Day falling on the same day as usual, both of them holydays of obligation, calling us to Mass this year two days running for two weeks in a row.  It’s the same every year, of course, although the holydays aren’t usually packed so tight next to the Sundays.  This pattern has been observed since the early days of the Church and would have been as familiar to our ancestors in the Middle Ages as it has become to us today.

First the great feast of Christmas, followed, one, two, three, by the feasts of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, St. John the Divine, and the Holy Innocents.  This week we do it all again, with the octave days of these feasts falling in the same order as before.  It’s as though we regard Christmas and the immediate days of celebration that follow it as so precious that we must repeat them once again so we don’t lose sight of the joy that came to the world on Christmas night.

Finally, when the last of these days are completed with the Octave Day of the Holy Innocents, we transition seamlessly into the White Vigil of Epiphany, Twelfth Night with all its traditions, and finally Little Christmas itself, Feast of the Three Kings, the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  As the Magi complete their journey they bring their gifts to the scene of our Lord’s Nativity and present them, gold, frankincense and myrrh, to the newborn King.  Our Christmas joy is renewed once more as we celebrate this manifestation of our Saviour’s divinity to the world.

Nevertheless, life must go on, and with the Twelve Days of Christmas complete, we reluctantly take down our Christmas Tree and put away its decorations for another year, slowly readjusting our Christmas Spirit by returning to work, to school, and to the cold, dark days of January.  Hopefully, that spirit of the Christmas season will not yet abandon us as we celebrate the days within the Epiphany octave as best we can, ignoring for the time being those nagging thoughts that already start to make their presence felt, reminding us of the true reason why the Christchild was born.  This Saviour came down to earth from heaven, after all, to save us.  And to do that… well, we know what must come first, and we know only too well that we are responsible for what that Christchild must grow up to suffer.  But no, let’s not think about that yet.  For it is Christmastide, and it is not time yet to strip our homes of the decorations that adorn them, nor to strip our hearts of the peace and goodwill that we still enjoy.

May the New Year continue these sentiments within us and preserve us in the grace of our Redemption.  A very safe, peaceful and blessed New Year to one and all.