As the church celebrates the circumcision of our Lord and the giving of his holy name, we are reminded of the paradoxes of life amidst a dying world and our duty to renew our strength for the year to come. The men and women of the past believed as king David, that “our help cometh even from the Lord who hath made heaven and earth.” So, on this New Year’s Day, let us remember the life that we receive from the Lord, through prayer, and the virtues that we long to attain in the year to come, which our Lord deigns to give those who call upon his holy name. The following prayer is from an anonymous prayer book printed in London in 1693, to be prayed on New Year’s Day.

O blessed Lord, who, as upon this Day receivest the holy Name of Jesus, and undertookest for me the smart of Circumcision; grant unto me the true Circumcision of the Spirit, that my Heart and all my Members being mortified from all worldly and carnal Lusts, I may ever obey thy blessed Will in all things, to my Life’s end.

And because there is no other Name under Heaven, given unto Men, by which they may receive Health and Salvation, but thine only; dear Jesus, be thou henceforth unto me a Jesus, giving me always thankful Eyes, obedient Knees, and a reverential Heart unto thy sweet and saving Name, that now I may begin a new Year of Vertues, and cancel, by Repentance, all the failings of the old.

From: A New-Year’s Gift Complete In Six Parts Composed of Prayers and Meditations for every Day in the Week with Devotions for the Sacrament, Lent, and Other Occasions, (Printed for Henry Mortlock: London, 1693).