Luke tells what happens eight days after the nativity: the son of Mary is circumcised and receives the name of Jesus, as prescribed by Moses. As Saint Paul reminds the Galatians, the Son of God is born of a woman, born under the Law. It is born of a woman like every human person, in complete solidarity with our condition, since we all come from a mother’s womb. At the same time he is born under the Law, because he remains deeply in solidarity with his people: he too submits to the Law and receives circumcision. He did it to make peace and create one people of the two (cf. Eph 2: 14-18), so that we could all receive adoption as children and learn to cry out, in the Spirit, “Abbà. Father!”. One of the first things a child is taught is to say “dad”, “mom”. And the little one begins to pronounce these names, to stammer as best he can. The Spirit of Jesus teaches us to say “abba, papa, papa …”. And we, as babies, stammer this name, because we still can’t fully understand what it really means to turn to God by calling him “abba”. We entrust ourselves today to the Virgin Mary so that her motherhood, as the Word of God generated in our flesh, helps us too to fully understand our filial dignity, and to live it with love and coherence, in the peace of a reconciled brotherhood, taking care of the each other.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey