HOMILY X. ON THE FESTIVAL DAY OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF THE LORD.
LUKE II. At that time, when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, he was named Jesus, as was spoken.
The evangelist comprehends the holy and venerable memory of the present feast in a few words indeed, but he left it pregnant with the power of heavenly mystery. For having set forth the birth of the Lord, whose joys the angels immediately celebrated with worthy praises, the shepherds celebrated with devout visitation, and all who heard at that time marveled, we also, according to our measure, as much as we could, with Christ the Lord granting, performed with solemn hymns of the masses, he added and said:
And after eight days were completed for his circumcision, his name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. These are the venerable joys of today's festival, this is the sacred solemnity of the day, these are the most sacred gifts of divine piety, which the Apostle commending to the hearts of the faithful says: Because, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians IV). For with great dispensation of piety for the redemption of the human race, God the Father deigned to send not an angel, nor an archangel, but his only-begotten Son. Whom we cannot see in the form of his divinity, he again with great art of love provided that he was made of a woman, that is from the substance of maternal flesh, conceived without male admixture, to be brought forth as true man to human sight: who, remaining in divine power and substance through all things he was, assumed true weakness of mortal nature, which he did not have. And to commend to us the necessary virtue of obedience by the supreme example, God sent his Son into the world, made under the law: not because he owed anything to the law, who alone is our teacher, alone is legislator and judge, but that he might aid those who were placed under the law who could not bear the burdens of the law, with his compassion, and might lead those who were rescued from the condition of servitude under the law to the adoption of sons, which is through grace, with his own generosity. Therefore, he accepted circumcision ordained by the law in the flesh, who appeared without any stain in the flesh at all, and who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in the flesh of sin itself, did not reject the remedy by which the sinful flesh used to be cleansed: just as he also underwent the wave of Baptism, by which he wanted to cleanse the peoples from the filth of sins with the grace of the new law, not out of necessity, but as an example. For your fraternity ought to know that circumcision in the law acted against the wound of original sin in the same way as Baptism now in the time of revealed grace customarily acts, except that they could not yet enter the gate of the heavenly kingdom until he who gave the law would come and give the blessing, so that God of gods might appear in Zion, as they, consoled by blessed rest in Abraham's bosom after death, would await the entry into heavenly peace with happy hope. For the same one who now cries out terribly and salutarily through his Gospel: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John III); he the same one long ago through his law cried out: A male whose foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant (Genesis XVII), that is, because the covenant of life commanded to men in paradise was broken by Adam's transgression, in which all sinned: he will perish from the assembly of the saints, unless he is aided by a saving remedy. Therefore, both purifications, namely of circumcision in the law and of Baptism in the Gospel, were established for the grace of removing the first transgression. Those also who from the beginning of the world until the time of given circumcision or after given circumcision, from other nations were pleasing to God, either by offerings of sacrifices, or certainly by the virtue of faith alone, commending their souls and those of their people to the Creator, took care to loosen them from the bonds of the initial guilt. For without faith it is impossible to please God: and as it is written elsewhere: The just shall live by faith (Habakkuk II).
But coming in the flesh, the Son of God, who contracted only the nature of the flesh, but no contagion of sin from Adam, and since conceived and born of the Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit, stood in need of no renewing grace: He deigned to accept both types of purification, being circumcised by His parents on the eighth day of His birth, and baptized by John in the thirtieth year of His age. Indeed, He did not refuse the third service of the sacrificial victim, being offered up in the temple by the Lord of the temple Himself. Whose thirty-third day, with the help of the Lord, your charity is about to hear and celebrate the mystery. All, I say, both legal and evangelical purification, which He did not need, the Lord did not despise to undertake, so that He might teach the decrees of the law already to be most beneficial, and show to all the faithful the remedies of the coming Gospel as equally necessary to undergo. And in this, too, that on the same day of His circumcision He received the name of Jesus, He did it in imitation of the ancient observance, which we believe was taken from the fact that the patriarch Abraham, who first received the sacrament of circumcision as a witness to his great faith and the divine promise to him, was also on the same day of his circumcision and that of his people blessed with an enlargement of name along with his wife, so that he who was formerly called Abram, exalted father, was then called Abraham, that is, father of many nations: "because," as it says, "I have made you the father of many nations." This most faithful promise has now been so widely fulfilled throughout the world that even we ourselves, called from the Gentiles to the devotion of his faith, rejoice to have him as our spiritual father, the Apostle saying to us: "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3). And Sarai, your wife, you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah, that is, not my princess, but princess: manifestly teaching that she who became a participant and companion of such great faith should not be properly called the princess of her own household, but absolutely the princess, that is, of all rightly believing women, and be recognized as their parent. Therefore, the blessed Apostle Peter, addressing believing women from the Gentiles to the virtue of humility, chastity, and modesty, makes fitting mention of our same mother Sarah with due praise. "As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror" (1 Peter 3). These things, brothers, I have taken care to remind your love, so that each of you may remember that you also, having received the faith of Christ, have merited the fellowship of a noble name with the patriarchs if, having received purification in Christ, you rejoice in having borrowed the surname derived from Christ's saving name and strive to keep it firm and unblemished to the end, rejoicing that in you Isaiah's prophecy has been fulfilled: "And His servants shall be called by another name" (Isaiah 65), that is, by the name Christian, with which all the servants of Christ now delight to be distinguished. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Wherefore the prophet continues: "In whom he blesseth himself on earth shall bless himself in the God of truth" (Acts 4). He also elsewhere speaks of the same, addressing the Church to be multiplied even from the Gentiles: "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will name" (Isaiah 62). The reason the child who was born to us and the Son who was given to us received the name Jesus, that is, Saviour, is not to be understood by our reasoning but requires careful and vigilant meditation, so that we too may be saved by participation in the same name. For we read, as interpreted by the angel: "For He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1). And we undoubtably believe and hope that He who saves us from sins will also save us from the implications resulting from sins and from death itself, as the Psalmist testifies, who says: "Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases" (Psalm 103). For our complete healing will come with the forgiveness of all our iniquities and the manifestation of resurrection glory, when the last enemy, death, will be destroyed. And this is our true and complete circumcision when, in the Day of Judgment, being stripped of all the corruptions of soul and body, having completed the judgment, we shall enter to see forever the Creator's face, signifying the typical presentation of circumcised infants to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem with acceptable offerings of praise.
For he who is cleansed by true circumcision enters the temple of the Lord with gifts, and being purged from all stain of mortality by the glory of the resurrection, ascends with the fruits of good works to the everlasting joys of the heavenly city. "You have broken my bonds," he says, "I will offer you the sacrifice of praise. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the presence of all his people, in the midst of you, Jerusalem" (Psalm 115). The most desired time of celestial entrance is indicated by that eighth day on which circumcision is celebrated. For there are six ages of this world distinguished by the well-known intervals of the times, in which it is necessary to labor for God and to work temporarily for the attainment of eternal rest. But the eighth age is the day of the resurrection, blessed without any end of time, when the true glory of circumcision shines forth in all ways, and the body, which corrupts, no longer burdens the soul; earthly habitation does not depress the mind thinking of many things, but the already incorruptible body gladdens the soul, and the heavenly habitation lifts up the whole man cleaving to the vision of his Creator. The Prophet expounds the blessedness of this eternal day in that Psalm which we mentioned above, stirring up his soul and all the affections of his inner man to bless the Lord and to remember all His rewards: "Who redeems your life from ruin," he says, "who satisfies your desire with good things, who crowns you with compassion and mercy, your youth will be renewed like the eagle’s." Therefore, dearest brothers, it is necessary that we, who desire to reach the rewards of this most beautiful renewal, as the ultimate circumcision, in the meantime care for the preliminary circumcision and renewal, which must be undergone daily in the exercise of virtues as in a form of remedy. Let us lay down the old man, according to the former conduct, who is corrupted according to deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and put on the new man, who is created according to God in justice and holiness of truth. Neither let us believe that it is sufficient to chasten ourselves by hearing circumcision only in one member of our body: but as the Apostle warns elsewhere: "Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement and pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (II Cor. VII); let us read the Acts of the Apostles, see the most blessed proto-martyr Stephen thundering terribly at the Jews who are persecuting him with the Lord: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit." Therefore, if the uncircumcised in heart and ears are those who resist the Holy Spirit's admonitions, there is certainly a circumcision of the heart and ears. And if there is a circumcision of the heart and ears, there is also one of all the senses of our outer and inner man. For he who has seen a woman to covet her, who has lofty eyes, has uncircumcised sight: to whom it is said by the voice of Truth: "He who is of God hears the words of God. Therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John VIII). They are uncircumcised in ears, uncircumcised in tongue and hands are those whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity: "who speak peace to their neighbor, but evil is in their hearts, and their right hand is filled with bribes." They are uncircumcised in taste, whom the prophet rebukes, saying: "Woe to those who are strong to drink wine, and men of strength to mix drunkenness" (Isaiah V).
Uncircumcised by smell and touch, who are smeared with ointment and various perfumes; who follow the embraces of a harlot, sprinkling their bed with myrrh, and aloes, and cinnamon. Uncircumcised in their steps, of whom the Psalmist mentions: Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known (Psalm XI). But those who with all guard keep their heart, who turn their eyes away so that they do not see vanity, who fence their ears with thorns so that they do not hear the evil tongue, who taste and see how sweet the Lord is, how blessed are the men who trust in Him, who keep their paths so that they do not sin with their tongue, who, as long as there is breath in them, and the Spirit of God in their nostrils, do not speak with iniquitous lips, nor does their tongue meditate deceit, who lift up their hands to the commands of God which they love, who prevent their feet from every evil way so that they keep the word of God, all these show that they have their senses circumcised by the spiritual rock of exercise. For we read that circumcision is done with flint knives: but the rock was Christ, by whose faith, hope, and love, not only in baptism but in every truly devoted action, the hearts of the good are purified. And this continuous circumcision of ours, which is the daily purification of the heart, never ceases to celebrate the sacrament of the eighth day, because it customarily sanctifies us in the example of the Lord's resurrection, which took place on the eighth day, that is, after the seventh of the Sabbath, so that as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we may also walk in newness of life, provided by God who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.