February 2 is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Forty days after Christmas, Mary and Joseph bring the infant to the temple. An old man who has waited a lifetime takes him in his arms: Lord, now let your servant depart in peace. My eyes have seen your salvation.
Feast of the Conversion of Paul, January 25. The risen Christ asked: why are you persecuting me? To persecute the Church is to persecute Christ himself. The man who came to Damascus to close eyes was sent to open them. The reversal is total.
January 18 is the Feast of the Confession of Peter. Not a feast about a great man, but about a great answer to a great question: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ The Father revealed it. Peter said it. The Church has been asked to keep saying it ever since.
The world begins its new year with resolutions. The Church begins it with a name. January 1 is the Feast of the Circumcision and Holy Name of Our Lord — the eighth day of Christmas, when the infant Jesus was circumcised and given the name that means salvation. Not a resolution. A person.
December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents. Four days after the angels sang, children are dead in Bethlehem. The Church does not move this grief to a more convenient time. It places it here, in the middle of Christmas, because that is where it actually belongs.
December 27: Feast of John, Apostle and Evangelist. He was at the table, the cross, the tomb, the breakfast fire. He outlived every other apostle. And at the end of a long life, he was still writing: that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you.