Not so much commentary today dear readers, on this (rare) Second Sunday After Christmas Day, but more praying. We have but a brief Christmastide in which to fit so much reflecting, and I want you to not miss these gems of Christmas Collects. We pray four in total during a full Christmas season, echoing the four Advent Collects. There is one I highlight below, but let’s list and pray them together one by one. Enjoy!
Christmas Eve
O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Christmas Day
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Sunday After Christmas Day
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Second Sunday After Christmas Day
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
The astute reader will perceive the overt reference to the theosis of eastern Orthodox Christianity in this last Collect, the same theosis we geeked out on yesterday. God not only creates, but through Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, God more wonderfully restores the dignity of human nature. Here we also quote from the 1979 BCP’s Baptismal Covenant, which asks baptismal candidates if they will respect the dignity of every human being. We petition God to share the divine life of Christ, to come close to Jesus and therefore to our Heavenly Father, to inhabit the Kingdom of the Heavens here and now. What a beautiful and fitting end to the Collects of Nativity and Incarnation!