[Note: In the PNCC we observe the 8th day within the Octave of the Nativity as the Solemnity of the Circumcision of our Lord. The Solemnity falls on Sunday, January 1st, 2006. The PNCC does not celebrate the ‘Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God’ which is a Solemnity observed according to the Roman Catholic Liturgical calendar.

Unless superseded by a Solemnity of the Lord, the Sunday following the Nativity is the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds. The Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds will be observed Sunday, January 8th, 2006]

New Year —“ parties, festivities, football games, parades, and we are here to focus and reflect on the circumcision of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

God entered into a covenant with mankind, he entered into a contract with us through the Jewish people and told them that from the seed of Abraham would come the Savior. It was a contract sealed in flesh and blood.

In the time of Abraham the making of a covenant, or contract, required that the parties sacrifice an animal, divide it in half, and walk between the divided parts. It was a sealing of the contract in flesh and blood. In Genesis 15 we read:

Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” “O Lord GOD,” he asked, “How am I to know that I shall possess it?” He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.

When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates).

Think about this passage. Who walked between the pieces of the cut up sacrifice? God alone as both a smoking brazier and a flaming torch. Abram did not pass through. God, in reality, made a covenant with Himself to make Israel great; to give Abram and his descendants the land.

Later, in Genesis 17, which we read today, God promises to make Abraham the father of —a host of nations.— Not just one nation, but a host of nations.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, told him that He would make him —exceedingly fertile— and that He would make —nations of him— and that —kings shall stem from him—.

God tells Abraham that His covenant will be an —everlasting pact— and the He will be his God and the God of his descendants after him—. That is, the God of a host of nations.

God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.

Today, Jesus Christ is circumcised. God is once again making a contract with Himself, in flesh and blood. Jesus, the new covenant and the fulfillment of the old, is circumcised. Jesus, God Himself, as the sacrifice, sheds His blood.

Because Jesus is truly God and truly man he sanctifies the flesh. Let me ask you, do we believe the flesh is evil? To this the Church must say no. We do proclaim, along with Paul that because of God’s action, because of the atoning death of His Son, Jesus Christ, even though unmerited by us, we have been granted righteousness by our faith.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Yes, we all fall short and with Paul we know that —in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.—

Jesus, God himself, took on our flesh to show us that perfection in our flesh is not only possible, but is our destiny. That even though we fall short we are welcome into the kingdom.

We know we fall short in our flesh and that we are imperfect. But Jesus meets people where they are to show them the way out of sin.

You are called to make a decision. You are called here to make a decision and to move along the road, the narrow path to perfection.

I can guarantee you that you will not reach it before you die. I can however guarantee and what our Church teaches is that once you make that choice for God you are changed forever by that very choice, there is no going back. As Paul told us already, —righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.—

It is a serious decision, to circumcise yourself. To circumcise yourself not in the sense of the flesh, but in the sense of the spirit. We teach and proclaim that your choice for God will open up the treasures of eternity for you and that God Himself will give you His love, in the form of grace, through the sacraments, so that you are strengthened for that journey.

God is all perfection, all truth, and all justice. He is faithful to His covenant, the contract He made with Himself to save us. Now is the time to stand, to look at yourself and to choose. Every day in the grace of God is a new year, a new and perfect eternity in the presence and love of God. Choose today to partake of the free gift won for us by God Himself.