The Circumcision of Christ.
The Collect.
ALMIGHTY
God,
who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man;
Grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our
members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all
things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle
Reading: Philippians 2.9-13
Gospel
Reading: St. Luke 2.15-21
Barbee and Zahl:
“This Collect ( . . . ) was taken from the
Gregorian Sacramentary. ( . . . ) When you meditate on a written prayer such as
this one, ask yourself first, what is being asked for here? When you
take away the address (“Almighty God, which . . . ”), and the formal pleading
(“through the same thy son . . . ”), what exactly is being prayed for? In this
prayer, on the occasion of the Feast of the Christ’s Circumcision, the
petitioner – and we are the petitioner – is asking God for “the true
circumcision of thy spirit.” The idea is
that the Holy Spirit alone can cleanse us and prompt us to accede from the
heart to the design of God for our life. A transformed will results in changed
actions. The Holy Spirit “circumcises” us from within. The consequence is an
inward desire to obey God. Such a will bears the fruit of good works. ( . . . )
What we do results, rather, from who we are, or better, from what the prior
grace of God has helped us to become” (12-3).
-----
Primus Pilus II
