It is unusual for the liturgy to depart from the normal list of Sundays throughout the Year. Sunday is the Lord’s Day and only a feast of the Lord has precedence over the Sunday readings. So today we are celebrating the Presentation of the Lord. This is an event recorded in the Gospel of Luke. It took place by law 40 days after the birth of Jesus.
The first child was consecrated to the Lord in the Temple with a sacrifice offering of two pigeons. Joseph and Mary were there consecrating their child and making the offering that the Law prescribed. We meet and hear the prophetic utterances of Simeon and Anna.
We know about this feast from the Rosary, especially the fourth of the Joyful Mysteries. We have always celebrated it as a feast of Mary, especially considering the prophecies about the sword that would pierce her heart and the sign of contradiction that would describe her Son’s life. But today the Church gives us this feast as a feast of the Lord, a
celebration in the life of Jesus.
In early days, e.g. the fourth century this feast closed the Christmas season. It was celebrated as a festival of light. It
was the day (and still is) when we bless the candles that will be used in the Church for the coming year. Jesus will be a light to the nations and the glory of Israel.
Today is about the old and the new. The Old Testament blessings and customs are invoked by the parents of the child Jesus. The prophecies of Simeon and Anna point to a new day. Meanwhile the child will grow in wisdom and age and grace in the family home in Nazareth.
The first child was consecrated to the Lord in the Temple with a sacrifice offering of two pigeons. Joseph and Mary were there consecrating their child and making the offering that the Law prescribed. We meet and hear the prophetic utterances of Simeon and Anna.
We know about this feast from the Rosary, especially the fourth of the Joyful Mysteries. We have always celebrated it as a feast of Mary, especially considering the prophecies about the sword that would pierce her heart and the sign of contradiction that would describe her Son’s life. But today the Church gives us this feast as a feast of the Lord, a
celebration in the life of Jesus.
In early days, e.g. the fourth century this feast closed the Christmas season. It was celebrated as a festival of light. It
was the day (and still is) when we bless the candles that will be used in the Church for the coming year. Jesus will be a light to the nations and the glory of Israel.
Today is about the old and the new. The Old Testament blessings and customs are invoked by the parents of the child Jesus. The prophecies of Simeon and Anna point to a new day. Meanwhile the child will grow in wisdom and age and grace in the family home in Nazareth.
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