On the eighth day, the Divine Babe also received the name Jesus. When the Archangel Gabriel descended from heaven and appeared to the Most Pure Virgin Mary, he made known that her Son would be called thus; whereupon, she consented to the tidings and cried, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (St. Luke, Ch. 1). Immediately, the Logos/Word of God assumed flesh and took up His dwelling in her immaculate, Most Sacred womb. At His circumcision, the name disclosed by the herald before the Virgin conceived was formally given to Christ the Lord to announce the coming of our salvation. Jesus means salvation, as the same Angel explained to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins" (St. Matthew, Ch. 1).

Eight days after the Nativity, Our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to be circumcised. He submitted to circumcision, first of all, to fulfill the Law. "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law," said He; "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Saint Matthew, Ch. 5). He subjected Himself to the Law to free transgressors subject to the Law, as the Apostle teaches: "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law" (Galatians, Ch. 4).

"If you love your neighbor, then all of heaven will love you. If you are united in spirit with your fellow creatures, then you will be united with God and all the company of heaven; if you are merciful to your neighbor, then God and all the Angels and Saints will be merciful to you. If you pray for others, the all of heaven will intercede for you. The Lord our God is Holy; be holy yourself also."--Saint John of Kronstadt

"Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy" (St. Matthew 5:7). The merciful person is he who gives to others what he has himself received from God, whether it be money, or food, or strength, a helpful word, a prayer, or anything else that he has through which he can express his compassion for those in need. At the same time, he considers himself a debtor, since he has received more than he is asked to give. By Christ's grace, both in the present and in the world to come, before the whole of creation, he is called merciful, just as God is called merciful (cf. St. Luke 6:36).--Saint Peter of Damascus

Ioasaph said to the elder (geronda), "Well then, as the strictness of these doctrines demands such chaste conversation, if after baptism I chance to fall in one or two of these commandments, shall I therefore utterly miss the goal and shall all my hope be in vain?"