by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, LifeSite News:
The first day of January coincides with the Octave of Christmas, when the Liturgy is centered on the Circumcision of the Lord and the Divine Motherhood of Mary Most Holy, proclaimed by the Council of Ephesus in 431 as Deipara – in Greek Theotokos – or Mother of God. In ancient times, two Masses were celebrated on this day, one of the Octave and one in honor of the Virgin Mother. Later the memory of the Marian celebration remained in the postcommunio and in the station church at Santa Maria in Trastevere.
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In the Incarnation, the Word of God became flesh, making fruitful the unblemished virginity of the Holy Mother of the Redeemer. The Word takes shape – Verbum caro factum est – generating Emmanuel in the womb of the Virgin, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And he will be called, as Scripture says in Isaiah’s prophecy, admirable counsellor, strong God, Prince of peace, Father of the coming age, Angel of the great counsel (Is 9:6). Even the Archangel Gabriel, in bringing the announcement to Mary, says to her: Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and called the Son of the Most High; the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end (Lk 1:31-33). With the Circumcision, His Name is imposed on Him: Jesus, God saves.
To name someone or something means to define the person or thing in its essence. And this is the prerogative of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Triune God who manifests Himself by revealing His Name. In the creative act, the name designates creation itself: Let there be light. And there was light (Gen 1:3). And he called the light day and the darkness night (Gen 1:5); he called the firmament heaven; he called the dry land the earth and the mass of the waters the sea (Gen 1:10). Having decreed that man should be in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26) and that he should rule the earth, He allows Adam to participate in some way in the creative act by allowing him to give a name to the animals: Then the Lord God formed out of the ground all kinds of wild animals and all the birds of the air and brought them to the man, to see what he would call them: whatever the man called each of the living beings, that was to be his name (Gen 2:19). The name expresses reality and defines it: this is why the Word is holy, and why the name of God is holy and terrible (Ps 111:10) – as the Psalm says – because it is the Word of Truth. This is why the sacraments have matter, intention and form, that is, the sacramental word: “I baptize you,” “I absolve you,” “I confirm you,” are all words that bring about what they say and signify.
