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Show J Some Church Feast Days. Christmas day commemorates the i birth of Christ and is one of the. greatest great-est festivals in. the ecclesiastical year. It recall's the; coming of Jesus Christ in the. flesh, and His birth at Rethle-hem. Rethle-hem. From the earliest days of Christianity, Chris-tianity, a feast similar to Christmas was observed, but the date was no universally uni-versally the same. St. vJohn Chrysos-tom, Chrysos-tom, in H, said: "It rs not ten year.-? since Christinas day. on Dec. .j, was. clearly known to us, but it has been familiar, from the beginning; to thv.se who dwell in the west." He also tells us that P ipe Julius I caused strict inquiries lo be made as to the proper date and thus settled authoritatively on Dec. 25 as the day of tlio anniversary. The Feast of the Circumcision is the day on which Our Lord received in His flesh the mark of the children of Araham and is identical with the 1st of January. Our Lord submitted to this ceremony to show that .He was man, and descended from Abraham and David, according to the prophets; also to show us, by example, the respect we must have for the laws of God and the Church. On the day of His circumcision the Son of God received trie name of Jesus, Je-sus, which signilies Savior. This name was made known to Mary by the An-' An-' ge Gabriel, when he announced to her that she was to be the mother of God. The circumcision was made a solemn j feast in the sixth century, the Church j wishing- to expiate the wicked orgies I of the pagans or this day, it being ! Xew Year's day. I The ("hurch celebrates the feast of the liplphauy on the nh of .January. Three times, in the space of fifteen days, she calls her children lo the stable of Ilt-thlehem, to teach the rich detachment from wealth, and charity to the oor; and the poor, resignation in their poverty and trails. Epiphany is the day on which Our Lord was adored by the kings from the east. They were learned men. engaged en-gaged in the study of astronomy, when a miraculous star appeared, and the kings, enlightened by grace, went to Pethlehcm. prostrated themselves before be-fore the Infant Jesus, and offered His presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This is a very ancient feast, having been observed in the early aires of the Church. Jt is a solemn" feast, and being connected with the' feast of Christmas, we do not fast on the vigil. Fair as the snowdrops which mark her feast on Feb. 2. gentle as the doves which are its symbol, the Maiden Mother, guarded by St. Joseph, enters the temple with her babe who is Lord of the temple, coming to fulfill in deepest humility and unswering obedience, obedi-ence, the ancient Jewish law of publication. pub-lication. The: law forbade mothers lo appear in public after childbirth, or to participate partici-pate in holy things, for a certain length of time. This time was forty days for male children, and eighty days- for females. This . period elapsed, . the mother was to present herself at the temple, bringing a lamb to'; be .sacrificed .sacri-ficed to God in acknowledgment of His supreme dominion and in " thanksgiving thanks-giving for the happy delivery, and. a young pigeon 'or dove for her legal purification.- The poor were permitted to present a second dove instead of a lamb. The Blessed Virgin -was not .bound by this law. but she wished to submit to It,- through the spirit of obedience and-humility. and-humility. Her example . teaches all Christians the respect with which they, ought to conform to the usages of the Church, and it teaches Christian mothers' moth-ers' how careful they should be to come to the church after the birth of their cildren. to return thanks to the Lord. ' This feast is sometimes called Can-d'emas. Can-d'emas. Lighted candles are distributed to represent Jesus iChrist.j who is the light of the world. This feast demands of us great humility, ardent-charity and angelic purity of heart. The Mon-. V. r. i |
