On the eighth day after His birth, the divine Infant was brought to the temple and circumcised, according to the law that has been in force in Israel since Abraham. At that time, they gave Him the name Jesus, as the archangel Gabriel announced to the Most Holy Virgin in Nazareth. The Old Testament circumcision prefigures the New Testament baptism. The circumcision of the Lord shows that He took on a true human body, and not an apparent one, as some heretics later claimed. The Lord was circumcised also because He wanted to fulfill the entire law, which He Himself gave through the prophets and forefathers. Having fulfilled that precept, He replaced it with baptism in His Church, “for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15), as the Apostle Paul declared.