Patrick Comerford
Today is the Ninth Day of Christmas (2 January 2024). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today celebrates the lives of Saint Basil the Great (379) and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (389), bishops and teachers of the faith, Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1833), monk and spiritual guide, and Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (1945), bishop in South India and Evangelist.
Before today begins, I am taking some time for reading, reflection and prayer.
My reflections each morning during the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ are following this pattern:
1, A reflection on a verse from the popular Christmas song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’;
2, the Gospel reading of the day;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Today is the Ninth Day of Christmas (2 January). But, in liturgical terms, Christmas is a 40-day season that continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).
Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. They were defenders of the doctrine of the incarnation in the fourth century, and so it is appropriate to remember them during the 12 days of Christmas.
The Orthodox calendar celebrated Saint Basil yesterday, and in the Orthodox tradition 2 January instead marks the beginning of the Forefeast of the Theophany, which reaches its climax on 5 January.
The ninth verse of the traditional song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, is:
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …
nine ladies dancing,
eight maids-a-milking,
seven swans-a-swimming,
six geese-a-laying,
five golden rings,
four colly birds,
three French hens,
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
The Christian interpretation of this song often sees the nine ladies dancing as figurative representations of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit:
● Love,
● Joy,
● Peace,
● Patience,
● Kindness,
● Goodness,
● Faithfulness,
● Gentleness, and
● Self-control
(see Galatians 5: 19-23).
John 1: 19-28 (NRSVA):
19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 21 And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 22 Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ 23 He said
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord”’,
as the prophet Isaiah said.
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ 26 John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 2 January 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Looking to 2024 – Freedom in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Duncan Dormor, USPG General Secretary.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (2 January 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
As we start a new year, we pray that we look to this year with hope for the future – free of fear, faithful in Christ.
The Collect:
Lord God, whose servants Basil and Gregory
proclaimed the mystery of your Word made flesh,
to build up your Church in wisdom and strength:
grant that we may rejoice in his presence among us,
and so be brought with them to know the power
of your unending love;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Basil and Gregory to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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