We celebrate Christmas on December 25 and then New Year's day on January 1. This may not seem like a big deal, but if we think about it then it is. The birth of Christ is celebrated at the end of the year since December is the last month of the year. This celebration runs into the New Year with the commemoration of Mary the Mother of God, the Holy Family, the Epiphany and then the Baptism of the Lord. I have always meditated on this and Revelation 1:8 comes to mind. In Revelation 1:8, Jesus tells John,
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Do you see the connection?
We celebrate Jesus' birth at the end of the year; He is the Omega or the End. This celebration continues into the New Year beginning with the one who gave birth to Him, Mary. This continuation of the celebration of Christmas into the New Year shows us that Christ is also the Alpha, or the Beginning. Mary as usual is in the middle of this temporal manifestation of the Divine. This is why she is appropriately called the "Theotokos" or God-bearer. Christ is the Lord of space and time. This is why we use AD (Anno Domini - Year of Our Lord) to designate time. Jesus is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega.
