ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Phil 2: 10-11
In nomine Iesu omne genu flectatur, caelestium, terrestrium et infernorum; et omnis lingua confiteatur quia Dominus Iesus Christus in gloria est Dei Patris.
At the name of Jesus, every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
GLORIA
COLLECT
Deus, qui salutem humani generis in Verbi tui incarnatione fundasti, da populis tuis misericordiam quam deposcunt, ut sciant omnes non esse, quam Unigeniti tui, nomen aliud invocandum.
O God, who founded the salvation of the human race
on the Incarnation of your Word,
give your peoples the mercy they implore,
so that all may know there is no other name to be invoked
but the Name of your Only Begotten Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
FIRST READING Philippians 2:1-11
Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others.
Have in you the same attitude
that is also in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place--
What are humans that you are mindful of them,
mere mortals that you care for them?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Yet you have made them little less than a god,
crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them rule over the works of your hands,
put all things at their feet:
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
ALLELUIA
Pariet autem filium et vocabis nomen eius Iesum, ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum.
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save people from their sins.
GOSPEL Luke 2:21-24
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
they took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
"Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,"
and to offer the sacrifice of
"a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,"
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Largitatis tuae munera deferentes, quaesumus, Domine, ut sicut Christo usque ad mortem oboedienti salutiferum nomen dedisti, ita nobis eius virtute muniri concede.
Bringing you these offerings
from what your bounty bestows on us,
we pray, O Lord,
that, just as you have given to Christ,
obedient even until death, the Name that saves,
so you may grant us protection by its power.
Through Christ our Lord.
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Ps 8: 2
Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name
through all the earth!
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Hostia sumpta, Domine, quam Christi nomen honorantes tuae obtulimus maiestati, gratiam tuam, quaesumus, nobis infundat uberrime, ut et nostra in caelis esse scripta nomina gaudeamus.
May the sacrificial gifts offered to your majesty, O Lord,
to honor Christ's Name
and which we have now received,
fill us, we pray, with your abundant grace,
so that we may come to rejoice
that our names, too, are written in heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.
Official readings for the Liturgy of the Hours have yet to be published. The following propers are from the Old Roman Breviary, Feast of the Circumcision, which was commemorated on January 1.
From the Office of the Day, except the following:
Evening Prayer I
MAGNIFICAT (Canticle of Mary)
Antiphon: God, for his great love + wherewith he loved us, hath sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, alleluia.
Morning Prayer
BENEDICTUS (Canticle of Zechariah)
Antiphon: A great and wondrous mystery + is made known to us this day : in a new manner are natures united, for God is become incarnate : what he was, he still abode ; and he was not, he took unto himself, suffering in his Person neither confusion nor division.
Evening Prayer II
MAGNIFICAT (Canticle of Mary)
Antiphon: Heirs are we + of a great mystery : the womb of her that knew not man is become the temple of the Godhead; he, of a Virgin incarnate, suffereth no defilement; all the nations shall gather, saying : Glory be to thee, O Lord.
Office of Readings
FIRST READING
From the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 4:1-17
What then can we say that Abraham found, our ancestor according to the flesh? Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works, he has reason to boast; but this was not so in the sight of God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." A worker's wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due. But when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. So also David declares the blessedness of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not record."
Does this blessedness apply only to the circumcised, or to the uncircumcised as well? Now we assert that "faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness." Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or not? He was not circumcised, but uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal on the righteousness received through faith while he was uncircumcised. Thus he was to be the father of all the uncircumcised who believe, so that to them also righteousness might be credited, as well as the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but also follow the path of faith that our father Abraham walked while still uncircumcised.
It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith. For if those who adhere to the law are the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law produces wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist.
RESPONSORY
Holy is the day that is dawning for us :
come, all ye nations, and worship the Lord :
- For as on this day a great light hath descended upon the earth.
This is the day which the Lord hath made : let us rejoice and be glad therein.
- For as on this day a great light hath descended upon the earth.
SECOND READING
From a sermon by Saint Leo, Pope
Dearly beloved brethren, whosoever will keep this day's festival with true reverence and due honour, must neither think falsely of the Lord's Incarnation, nor meanly of the Godhead. For as there is danger of not realizing the truth of Christ's humanity, so is there no less danger of failing to recognize his equality in glory with his Father. Wherefore, when we try to contemplate the mystery of Christ's birth, wherein he was born of a Virgin Mother, we must soar above the clouds of earthly imagination, and with the eye of enlightened faith pierce through the fog of earthly wisdom.
The authority on which we believe is the authority of God himself ; and the teaching which we follow is the very teaching of God himself. Therefore it is true, whether we lend an ear to the testimony of the Law, or to the sayings of the Prophets, or to the trumpet of the Gospel. This latter did John the Son of Thunder sound, when, filled with the Holy Ghost, he proclaimed : In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; the Same was in the beginning with God ; all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made. True also is the witness of John when he saith : The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father.
The Person of the Son of God therefore remaineth unchanged and one, though he hath two natures, keeping his own, and taking ours. He cometh on earth as man to be the restorer of man, but abideth all the while in his unchangeable Godhead. That Godhead which he shareth with the Father was not a whit the less almighty, nor did the form of a servant touch the form of God to derogate from it. The Most High and Everlasting Being, bending down for man's salvation, took the Manhood into his glory. Yet he ceased not to be that which he is from everlasting. Hence we see the only-begotten Son of God in one place confessing that the Father is greater than he, and in another declaring that he and the Father are One. This is an evident proof of the distinction of his two natures, and the unity of his Person. For he is inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood, and yet equal to the Father as touching his Godhead. Albeit, though he be God and Man, he is not two, but One Christ.
RESPONSORY
Rejoice with me, all ye that love the Lord :
- For while I was yet little I pleased the Most High,
and from my womb have I brought forth God and man.
All generations shall call me blessed,
for God hath regarded the lowliness of his hand-maiden.
- For while I was yet little I pleased the Most High,
and from my womb have I brought forth God and man.
COLLECT
O God, who founded the salvation of the human race
on the Incarnation of your Word,
give your peoples the mercy they implore,
so that all may know there is no other name to be invoked
but the Name of your Only Begotten Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
