the presentation of jesus homily

Reflections for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Introduction:    This feast commemorates how Jesus, as a baby, was presented to God in the Temple in Jerusalem. This presentation finds its complete and perfect fulfillment in the mystery of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord. The  Feast of the Presentation of the Lord   is a combined feast ,  commemorating the Jewish practice of the  purification of the mother  after childbirth and the  presentation of the child  to God in the Temple and his buying back ( redemption ) from God. It is also known as the  Feast of the Purification of Mary , and the Feast  of Candlemas.  It is also called the  Feast of Encounter  ( Hypapánte  in Greek) because the New Testament, represented by the baby Jesus, encountered the Old Testament, represented by Simeon and Anna. Joseph offered two pigeons in the Temple as sacrifice for the purification of Mary after her childbirth and for the presentation and redemption ceremonies performed for baby Jesus.

Homily starter anecdote: “Four chaplains Sunday:  Julia Duin in the Washington Times Sunday, February 1, 2009 told this story. Just after midnight on Feb. 3, 1943, an act of extraordinary unselfishness by a group of men became a legend of martyrdom and sacrifice. When the Army ship Dorchester was torpedoed by the Germans just south of Greenland that night, its passengers and crew had 25 minutes to get off the boat. As 902 people went for the life jackets, it quickly was discovered there weren’t near enough. Of the 13 lifeboats, only two functioned. In the ship’s final minutes, Methodist senior chaplain George Lansing Fox, Rabbi Alexander Goode, Dutch Reformed minister Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington, a Roman Catholic priest, were helping passengers leave the vessel. Then four men appeared all of them without life jackets. The chaplains quickly gave up their own vests and went down with the ship, perishing in the freezing water. Survivors saw them, locked arm in arm, praying and singing the Navy hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” just before the ship dove beneath the waves. It was a night as dramatic as the sinking of the Titanic but without a blockbuster movie to record the drama. “The Four Immortal Chaplains,” as they are now known, have been honored many times, including on a stamp issued in their honor by the U.S. Postal Service. Hence the first Sunday in February is known as “Four Chaplains Sunday” in some Christian denominations.  They presented and offered themselves completely for the wellbeing of others as Jesus was presented to God his Heavenly Father in the Temple of Jerusalem for the salvation of the world. ( http://frtonyshomilies.com/).

Scripture lessons summarized:   In the   first reading,  taken from Malachi, the prophet speaks of the Lord suddenly coming to Jerusalem to purify the lax, lazy and indifferent priests of His Temple as silver is purified by fire. Simeon saw the Infant Jesus as the fulfillment of this passage. He saw Jesus as the Lord Who has come to the Temple,  "destined to be the downfall and rise of many in Israel."    In the second reading,  St. Paul   proclaims Jesus as our Eternal High Priest of     the New Covenant (Heb 2:17), Who offered himself on the altar of Calvary, the only pure priestly sacrifice that could please God.    He replaces the former priesthood.  The Gospel  describes how Joseph, as the head of the Holy Family of Nazareth, presented Mary and the baby Jesus in the Temple of God for the mother’s purification and the Child’s “redemption.” It also describes the Holy Family’s encounter with the old prophet Simeon and the holy old widow Anna. In his prophecy, Simeon extols the divine blessings which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men and predicts that Mary will play a crucial and sacrificial role in her Son's redemptive work by sharing in her Son's sufferings.

The first reading explained : Malachi prophesies in the first reading that the Lord is going to appear suddenly in the Temple of Jerusalem  to purify its priests and the people . The prophecy warns that nobody can endure the day of the messenger's coming because he will be like a refining fire, purifying the sons of Levi.  Led by the Spirit,  Simeon saw the Infant Jesus as the fulfillment of this passage .  Simeon, even if unknown to himself, foresaw Christ and His priests of the New Covenant who were ordained during the Last Supper. He saw Jesus as the Lord Who would come to the Temple,  "destined to be the downfall and rise of many in Israel."  In today's reading, Malachi prophesies that God will purify the lax, lazy and indifferent priests of His Temple as silver is purified by fire.  At the time of Malachi (around 460-450 BC), the priests were offering blemished (blind, lame) sacrifices and giving bad example (1:6-2:4).  The people were negligent in their support of the Temple (3:6-12). Israelite wives were being rejected by husbands who wished to marry foreign women (2:14-16). Social injustice was rampant (3:5), and the people doubted God’s love (1:2-5). Hence, Malachi reminds them that the Day of the Lord, a Day of Judgment, reward and retribution is coming. He describes the Divine intervention as a two-stage process. First God’s messenger will appear to prepare the way by purifying the clergy and refining the cult (v. 3). This purification will take place until they present offerings to the Lord in a spirit of justice and righteousness. Then, the Lord of Hosts will suddenly appear in the Temple (v. 1), to bring judgment and justice against unfaithful sinners (v. 5). The Psalm announces to Jerusalem that Jerusalem is about to receive a great visitor. The Psalmist identifies him as “The LORD of hosts … the king of glory.”

The second reading explained:  The second reading proclaims Jesus as our Eternal High Priest of the New Covenant (Heb 2:17), Who offered Himself on the altar of Calvary, the only pure priestly sacrifice that could please God. The  Didache  or the first catechism of the early Church (14:1-3), saw Malachi’s prophecy of a pure sacrifice and offering made from east to west as a prophecy of the sacrifice of the Eucharist.  Hence Malachi prophesies that the Lord will enter His Temple, there will be a renewed priesthood, and there will be a pure sacrifice offered worldwide and pleasing to God -- the Eucharist. Jesus became like us in all things except sin in order that He might offer to the Father perfect praise and glory.  Besides, since Jesus fully shared our experience, He is now a merciful and faithful High Priest on our behalf,  "able to help those who are being tested."   Jesus replaces the former priesthood. In keeping with the theme of today’s feast, namely, the presentation of the first fruits, this excerpt from Hebrews emphasizes Jesus’ dual role, as  first-fruits ,  par excellence , and as the  faithful High priest  Who presents the perfect gift of Himself to God for the expiation of human sin. By virtue of His Incarnation, Jesus became human in every way (vv. 17-18) except as regards sin. As representative of His brothers and sisters before God and as their Mediator, Christ perfected His service as both sacrifice and priest. By so doing, Christ was able to “rob the devil” of power (v. 14). As the first-fruits from the dead, as the conqueror of sin and death, Christ, in His person and through His mission, has set the course and cleared the way we are to follow; the decision to do so must be a daily and deliberate one.  It takes faith to see God's power at work in the death of Jesus.  Simeon hinted at this when he told Mary that she herself would be pierced with a sword.  Even knowing that her Son was the Savior of the world, it would be difficult for Mary to see him accomplish that salvation by being crucified.

Exegesis of today’s Gospel:  The birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways -- first, by the shepherds, after the angel's announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Today’s Gospel describes the Presentation of the Baby Jesus in the Temple. It was intended to ritually redeem Jesus who was the first born in the family and where Mary herself will have to be ritually purified. Mary and Joseph was a typical pious Jewish couple, who went to the Temple in obedience to do all that was required and expected of them by the Law.The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus is a combined feast , commemorating the Jewish practice of the purification of the mother after childbirth and the presentation of the child in the Temple. It is known as the Hypapánte   feast or Feast of the Purification of Mary (by the offering two pigeons in the Temple), the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (by prayers and a sacrifice offered in the Temple to redeem or buy the firstborn male child back from the Lord), the Feast of Candlemas (because of its ancient rite of blessing of the candles to be used in the church for the next year — a practice dating from the middle of the fifth century) and the Feast of Encounter (because the New Testament, represented by the Baby Jesus, encountered the Old Testament, represented by Simeon and Anna). Originally, there was no connection between today’s festival and the blessing of candles.    In the ancient East, this celebration occurred on February 14, forty days after Epiphany.   On February 15, pagans celebrated the festival of Lupercalia , a great “light” festival.    Perhaps this is an instance of the Church's “baptizing” a pagan custom.    At the principal Mass, the celebrant blesses candles, and people take part in a candlelight procession.    This should remind us that Jesus is our High Priest and the Light of the World.

Purification and redemption ceremonies : The Gospel describes how Joseph, as the head of the Holy Family of Nazareth, presented Mary and the baby Jesus in the Temple of God for the mother’s purification and the child’s “redemption.” According to Leviticus 12:2-8, a woman who bore a child was unclean  for forty days following the birth of a son or eighty days following the birth of a daughter.   Although Mary, the most holy of women, ever-Virgin, was exempt from these precepts of the Law, because of her miraculous conception, she chose to submit herself to the Law just like any other Jewish mother. Joseph and Mary showed their total submission to Law and obey the norms prescribed by the Old Testament.  The custom was practiced probably for the physical and emotional re-integration of the new mother into the community. There was a religious reason as well. Exodus 13:2, 12-13 prescribes that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God.  However, once divine worship was reserved to the tribe of Levi, first-born who did not belong to that tribe were not dedicated to God's service, and to show that they continued to be God's special property, a rite of redemption was performed. The Law also commanded that the Israelites should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim -- for example, a lamb or, if they were poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons.  The Book of Numbers 18: 15 taught that since every Jewish firstborn male child belonged to Yahweh, the parents had to “buy back” (redeem), the child by offering a lamb or turtledoves as a sacrifice in the Temple. The price of redemption for a human baby is five shekels of silver (Num 18:15-16). Jesus never needed to be "bought back," as he belonged wholly to the Lord, but Joseph kept these laws as an act of obedience to God. 

The encounter with Simeon and Anna :   By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old, pious and Spirit-filled Simeon and Anna had been waiting in the Temple for the revelation of God’s salvation. The Greek Church celebrates the Hypapánte or Feast of the Encounter commemorating the encounter of the New Testament represented by Jesus with the Old Testament represented by Simeon and Anna. Simeon, who is described as a righteous and devout man, obedient to God's will, addresses himself to our Lord as a vassal or loyal servant who, having kept watch all his life in expectation of the coming of his Lord, sees that this moment has "now" come, the moment that explains his whole life.  When he takes the Child in his arms, he learns, not through any reasoning process but through a special grace from God, that this Child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the nations.  Simeon recognizes Jesus as the Lord’s anointed one, and in his prayer of blessing he prophesies that Jesus is meant to be the glory of Israel and the light of revelation to the Gentiles. Pope Francis: “Simeon took him in his arms and thanked God that he had finally “seen” salvation. Anna, despite her advanced age, found new vigor and began to speak to everyone about the Baby. It is a beautiful image: two young parents and two elderly people, brought together by Jesus. He is the one who brings together and unites generations! He is the inexhaustible font of that love which overcomes every occasion of self-absorption, solitude, and sadness. In your journey as a family, you share so many beautiful moments: meals, rest, housework, leisure, prayer, trips and pilgrimages, and times of mutual support… Nevertheless, if there is no love then there is no joy, and authentic love comes to us from Jesus. He offers us his word, which illuminates our path; he gives us the Bread of life which sustains us on our journey.”

Simeon’s prophecy: Simeon's canticle (verses 29-32) is also a prophecy.  It consists of two stanzas: the first (verses 29-30) is his act of thanksgiving to God, filled with profound joy for having seen the Messiah.  The second (verses 31-32) is more obviously prophetic and extols the divine blessings which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men.  The canticle highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men without exception -- something foretold in many Old Testament prophecies (cf. Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 2:6; 42:6; 60:3; Psalm 28:2). While Simeon blessed Mary, he warned her that her child would be “ a sign of contradiction, ” and that she would be “ pierced with a sword.” Simeon was prophesying both the universal salvation that would be proclaimed by Jesus and the necessity of suffering in the mission of the Messiah. Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet He would be a sign of contradiction because some people would obstinately reject Him -- and for this reason He would be their ruin.  But for those who would accept Him with faith, Jesus would be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this life and raising them up to eternal life. The Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph marveled, but not because they did not know who Christ was. They were in awe at the way God was revealing Him. 

The paradox of blessedness:  Mary was given the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God.  That blessedness also would become a sword which would pierce her heart as her Son died upon the cross. The words Simeon addressed to Mary announced that she would be intimately linked with her Son's redemptive work.  The sword indicated that Mary would have a share in her Son's sufferings. Her suffering would be an unspeakable pain which would pierce her soul.  Our Lord suffered on the cross for our sins, and it is those sins which forged the sword of Mary's pain.  Mary received both a crown of joy and a cross of sorrow.  But her joy was not diminished by her sorrow because it was fueled by her faith, hope, and trust in God and his promises.  Jesus promised his disciples, "no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:22).  The Lord gives us a supernatural joy which enables us to bear any sorrow or pain and which neither life nor death can take way.  Do you know the joy of a life fully surrendered to God with faith and trust? According to Dr. Scot Hann, the feast we celebrate shows a curious turn of events. The Redeemer is redeemed. She who is all-pure presents herself to be purified. Such is the humility of our God. Such is the humility of the Blessed Virgin. They submit to the law even though they are not bound by it.

Anna’s encounter with the Lord and her testifying to the Messiah:  Anna was an eighty-four-year-old widow who spent her days in the Temple in fasting and prayer, waiting for the promised Messiah. She was rewarded with the joy of seeing her Redeemer as a Baby. In her excitement, she praised God and introduced the Infant to others around her as the expected Messiah. Supernatural hope grows with prayer and age!  Anna was pre-eminently a woman of great hope and expectation that God would fulfill all his promises. She is a model of godliness for all believers as we advance in age.  Advancing age and the disappointments of life can easily make us cynical and hopeless if we do not have our hope placed rightly. Anna's hope in God and His promises grew with age. She never ceased to worship God in faith and to pray with hope.  Her hope and faith in God's promises fueled her indomitable zeal and fervor in prayer and the service of God's people. We grow in hope by placing our trust in the promises of Jesus Christ and relying not on our own strength, but on the grace and help of the Holy Spirit. After completing the presentation and redemption of baby Jesus and the ritual purification of Mary and the meeting with Simeon and Anna, Joseph and Mary understood more fully their responsibility before God to protect the child as they return to Nazareth

Life messages : 1)  Every Holy Mass in which we participate is our presentation . Although we were officially presented to God on the day of our Baptism, we present ourselves and our dear ones on the altar before God our Father through our Savior Jesus Christ at every Holy Mass. Hence, we need to live our daily lives with the awareness both that we are dedicated people consecrated to God and that we are obliged to lead holy lives.

2) We need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to recognize the presence of Jesus in ourselves and in others: All those who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men's eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to others. In His plan of redemption, God makes use of these simple souls to do much good for all mankind. In other words, The Holy Spirit employs ordinary men and women with simple faith as His instruments to bear witness to Christ, His ideals and teachings, just as He used Simeon and Anna.  The Holy Spirit reveals the presence of the Lord to us when we are receptive and eager to receive Him.  Let us be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us to recognize the indwelling presence of the Lord with us and in others.  (Fr. Antony Kadavil)

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• The Deeper Meaning of the Presentation in the Temple

By Clement Harrold

For many Catholics, the fourth joyful mystery—the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple—can be a difficult scene to meditate on. What’s the episode about, anyway? And what might be its deeper meaning?

Beginning with the first question, it’s important to remember that the Presentation described in Luke 2:22-38 is not the circumcision of Jesus. That already took place eight days after His birth. Rather, the Presentation took place in order to fulfill two different dictates of the Mosaic Law.

The first of these, drawn from Leviticus 12, mandated that mothers needed to be purified forty days after giving birth to a male child. This is why the Presentation is celebrated in the Church’s calendar on February 2nd—also known as “Candlemas,” an allusion to Simeon’s words about the boy Jesus being “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Lk 2:32)—because the event takes place forty days after the nativity (counting December 25 as day one).

In order to make the purification, the mother in question was required to sacrifice a lamb as well as either a pigeon or a turtledove. The law made provision, however, for those families who were too poor to afford a lamb, in which case they could sacrifice two pigeons or two turtledoves instead. St. Luke goes out of his way to inform the reader that this is exactly what the Holy Family did, thereby reminding us of their material poverty (see Lk 2:24).

The second precept of the Mosaic Law which Mary and Joseph were following is the requirement from Exodus 13:2 that all firstborns be consecrated to God in a special way. More specifically, this ritual rested on the understanding that the firstborn naturally belonged to God, and so the child’s human parents were expected to “redeem” (from the Latin redimō , meaning to “buy back”) their child by paying five shekels to the priest.

All of this helps us to see that the Presentation in the Temple was about two important things: (1) the purification of Mary and (2) the redemption of baby Jesus. So far so good. But there are two other elements here which are worth paying attention to. For one thing, the Mosaic Law nowhere demanded that the purification or the redemption take place within the Temple. This means that the Holy Family was being extra devout by going to the Temple for this special day.

Additionally, there is one detail in the Presentation narrative which is startling for its absence. While St. Luke does mention that Mary and Joseph bought the two turtledoves, he never takes the time to mention the paying of the five shekels to redeem baby Jesus. In other words, he cites the redeeming-of-the-firstborns precept laid down in Exodus 13:2, but he leaves out a description of this redemption taking place. Why might that be?

For the late Pope Benedict XVI, in his Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives , the answer was obvious. St. Luke leaves a literary silence in the passage in order to drive home the point that the infant Jesus belongs to His Heavenly Father:

Evidently Luke intends to say that instead of being “redeemed” and restored to his parents, this child was personally handed over to God in the Temple, given over completely to God. . . . Luke has nothing to say regarding the act of “redemption” prescribed by the law. In its place we find the exact opposite: the child is handed over to God, and from now on belongs to him completely. (p. 3)

Understanding this detail can help us bring the fourth joyful mystery to life in a new way. The Presentation isn’t just another boring religious ritual. On the contrary, it is a deeply symbolic moment pointing to Jesus’s divine identity, and to Mary and Joseph’s perfect cooperation with His divine mission.

Further Reading:

http://jimmyakin.com/how-the-accounts-of-jesus-childhood-fit-together

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/whats-happening-at-the-presentation-of-the-lord

Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives (Image, 2012)

Clement Harrold is a graduate student in theology at the University of Notre Dame. His writings have appeared in  First Things ,  Church Life Journal ,  Crisis Magazine , and the  Washington Examiner . He earned his bachelor's degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2021.

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The liturgical year invites us to walk with Jesus through the most wonderful story ever told: the Gospel. In  Through the Year with Jesus: Gospel Readings and Reflections for Children , catechist and popular blogger Katherine Bogner reveals the rich mystery of the seasons we celebrate in the Church.

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• Presentation of Our Lord

POPE BENEDICT XVI: HOMILY ON THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE.

HOMILY 2 February 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s F east of Jesus’ Presentation at the temple 40 days after his birth places before our eyes a special moment in the life of the Holy Family:  Mary and Joseph, in accordance with Mosaic law, took the tiny Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem to offer him to the Lord (cf.  Lk  2: 22). Simeon and Anna, inspired by God, recognized that Child as the long-awaited Messiah and prophesied about him . We are in the presence of a mystery, both simple and solemn, in which Holy Church celebrates Christ, the Anointed One of the Father, the firstborn of the new humanity.

The evocative candlelight procession at the beginning of our celebration has made us relive the majestic entrance, as we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, of the One who is “the King of glory”, “the Lord, mighty in battle” ( Ps  24[23]: 7, 8). But who is the powerful God who enters the temple? It is a Child; it is the Infant Jesus in the arms of his Mother, the Virgin Mary. The Holy Family was complying with what the Law prescribed:  the purification of the mother, the offering of the firstborn child to God and his redemption through a sacrifice.

In the First Reading the Liturgy speaks of the oracle of the Prophet Malachi:  “The Lord… will suddenly come to his temple” ( Mal  3: 1). These words communicated the full intensity of the desire that had given life to the expectation of the Jewish People down the centuries. “The angel of the Covenant” at last entered his house and submitted to the Law:  he came to Jerusalem to enter God’s house in an attitude of obedience.

The meaning of this act acquires a broader perspective in the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews, proclaimed as the Second Reading today. Christ, the mediator who unites God and man , abolishing distances, eliminating every division and tearing down every wall of separation, is presented to us here.

Christ comes as a new “merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people” ( Heb  2: 17). Thus, we note that mediation with God no longer takes place in the holiness-separation of the ancient priesthood, but in liberating solidarity with human beings.

While yet a Child, he sets out on the path of obedience that he was to follow to the very end. The Letter to the Hebrews highlights this clearly when it says:  “In the days of his earthly life Jesus offered up prayers and supplications… to him who was able to save him from death…. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (cf.  Heb  5: 7-9).

The first person to be associated with Christ on the path of obedience, proven faith and shared suffering was his Mother, Mary . The Gospel text portrays her in the act of offering her Son:  an unconditional offering that involves her in the first person.

Mary is the Mother of the One who is “the glory of [his] people Israel” and a “ light for revelation to the Gentiles “, but also “ a sign that is spoken agains t” (cf.  Lk  2: 32, 34). And in her immaculate soul, she herself was to be pierced by the sword of sorrow, thus showing that her role in the history of salvation did not end in the mystery of the Incarnation but was completed in loving and sorrowful participation in the death and Resurrection of her Son.

Bringing her Son to Jerusalem, the Virgin Mother offered him to God as a true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. She held him out to Simeon and Anna as the proclamation of redemption; she presented him to all as a light for a safe journey on the path of truth and love. The words that came to the lips of the elderly Simeon:  “My eyes have seen your salvation” ( Lk  2: 30), are echoed in the heart of the prophetess Anna. These good and devout people, enveloped in Christ’s light, were able to see in the Child Jesus “the consolation of Israel” ( Lk  2: 25). So it was that their expectation was transformed into a light that illuminates history.

Simeon was the bearer of an ancient hope and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to his heart:  for this reason he could contemplate the One whom numerous prophets and kings had desired to see:  Christ, light of revelation for the Gentiles.

He recognized that Child as the Saviour, but he foresaw in the Spirit that the destinies of humanity would be played out around him and that he would have to suffer deeply from those who rejected him; he proclaimed the identity and mission of the Messiah with words that form one of the hymns of the newborn Church, radiant with the full communitarian and eschatological exultation of the fulfilment of the expectation of salvation. The enthusiasm was so great that to live and to die were one and the same, and the “light” and “glory” became a universal revelation.

Anna is a “prophetess”, a wise and pious woman who interpreted the deep meaning of historical events and of God’s message concealed within them. Consequently, she could “ give thanks to God “ and “[speak of the Child] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem ” ( Lk  2: 38). Her long widowhood devoted to worship in the temple, fidelity to weekly fasting and participation in the expectation of those who yearned for the redemption of Israel culminated in her meeting with the Child Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, on this Feast of the Presentation of the Lord the Church is celebrating the Day of Consecrated Life. This is an appropriate occasion to praise the Lord and thank him for the precious gift represented by the consecrated life in its different forms; at the same time it is an incentive to encourage in all the People of God knowledge and esteem for those who are totally consecrated to God.

Indeed, just as Jesus’ life in his obedience and dedication to the Father is a living parable of the “God-with-us”, so the concrete dedication of consecrated persons to God and to their brethren becomes an eloquent sign for today’s world of the presence of God’s Kingdom.

Your way of living and working can vividly express full belonging to the one Lord; placing yourselves without reserve in the hands of Christ and of the Church is a strong and clear proclamation of God’s presence in a language understandable to our contemporaries . This is the first service that the consecrated life offers to the Church and to the world. Consecrated persons are like watchmen among the People of God who perceive and proclaim the new life already present in our history.

I now address you in a special way, dear brothers and sisters who have embraced the vocation of special consecration, to greet you with affection and thank you warmly for your presence. I extend a special greeting to Archbishop Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and to his collaborators who are concelebrating with me at this Holy Mass.

May the Lord renew in you and in all consecrated people each day the joyful response to his freely given and faithful love. Dear brothers and sisters, like lighted candles, always and everywhere shine with the love of Christ, Light of the world. May Mary Most Holy, the consecrated Woman, help you to live to the full your special vocation and mission in the Church for the world’s salvation.

© Copyright 2006 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana   http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20060202_presentation-lord.html EMPHASIS MINE

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI St. Peter’s Basilica Saturday, 2 February 2013

In his account of the infancy of Jesus St Luke emphasizes how faithful Mary and Joseph were to the Law of the Lord. They fulfilled with profound devotion all the prescriptions prescribed following the birth of a firstborn male. Two of them were very ancient prescriptions: one concerns the mother and the other the newborn child. The woman was required to abstain from ritual practices for forty days, after which she was to offer a double sacrifice: a lamb as a burnt offering and a turtle-dove as a sin offering; but if she were poor, she could offer a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons (cf. Lev 12:1-8).

St Luke explained that Mary and Joseph offer the sacrifice of the poor (cf. 2:24) in order to emphasize that Jesus was born into a family of simple people, lowly but of steadfast faith: a family that belonged to the poor of Israel who form the true People of God. For the first-born male who, according to Mosaic Law, was set apart for God, redemption was prescribed instead, established as an offering of five shekels to be paid to a priest in any place . This was in everlasting memory of the fact that in the time of Herod God saved the firstborn of the Jews (cf. Ex 13:11-16).

It is important to note that these two acts — the purification of the mother and the redemption of the son — did not require a visit to the Temple. However, Mary and Joseph wished to fulfil all the prescriptions in Jerusalem, and St Luke shows us how the entire scene converges on the Temple and thus focuses on Jesus who enters it. And it is here, precisely through the prescriptions of the Law, that the principal event is transformed, namely, it becomes the “presentation” of Jesus in the Temple of God, which means the act of offering the Son of the Most High to the Father who sent him (cf. Lk 1:32, 35).

The Evangelist’s account is confirmed by the words of the Prophet Malachi which we heard at the beginning of the First Reading: “Behold”, says the Lord, “I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming… he will purify the sons of Levi…. Then the offering… will be pleasing to the Lord” (3:1, 3, 4).

These words clearly make no mention of a child and yet they are fulfilled in Jesus because, thanks to the faith of his parents, he was taken to the Temple “immediately”; and in the act of his “presentation”, that is, the “offering” of him in person to God the Father, the themes of sacrifice and of the priesthood clearly transpire, as in the passage from the prophet. The Child Jesus, who is immediately presented in the Temple, is the same person who, as an adult, would purify the Temple (cf. Jn 2:13-22; Mk 11:15, 19ff). Above all he would make himself the sacrifice and the High Priest of the new Covenant.

This is also the perspective of the Letter to the Hebrews, a passage of which was proclaimed in the Second Reading, to strengthen the theme of the new priesthood: a priesthood — inaugurated by Jesus — which is existential : “For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted ” (Heb 2:18). So it is that we also discover the topic of suffering, very pronounced in the Gospel passage in which Simeon imparts his prophecy concerning both the Child and the Mother: “Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and, [to Mary], a sword will pierce through your own soul also)” (Lk 2:34-35).

The “salvation” that Jesus brought to his people, and which he embodies in himself, passed through the Cross, through the violent death that he was to vanquish and to transform with the sacrifice of his life through love. This sacrifice was already foretold in the act of the Presentation in the Temple , an act without any doubt motivated by the traditions of the old Covenant, but that was deeply enlivened by the fullness of faith and love, which correspond to the fullness of time, to the presence of God and of his Holy Spirit in Jesus. Indeed, the Spirit moved over the whole scene of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and in particular over Simeon, but also over Anna .

The Spirit “Paraclete” brings consolation to Israel and motivates the steps and moves the hearts of those who await him. He is the Spirit who prompted the prophetic words of Simeon and Anna, words of blessing and praise of God, of faith in his Annointed One, of thanksgiving, for at last our eyes could see and our arms embrace “your salvation” (cf. 2:30).

“A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (2:32). With these words Simeon describes the Messiah of the Lord, at the end of his hymn of blessing. The topic of light, that reechoes the first and second songs of the Servant of the Lord in the Deutero-Isaiah (cf. Is 42:6; 49:6), is vividly present in this liturgy. It was in fact opened by an evocative procession, in which the Superiors and General Superiors of the Institutes of consecrated life represented here took part and carried lit candles. This sign, specific to the liturgical tradition of this Feast, is deeply expressive. It shows the beauty and value of the consecrated life as a reflection of Christ’s light; a sign that recalls Mary’s entry into the Temple. The Virgin Mary, the Consecrated Woman par excellence, carried in her arms the Light himself, the Incarnate Word who came to dispel the darkness of the world with God’s love.

Dear consecrated brothers and sisters, you were all represented in that symbolic pilgrimage, which in the Year of Faith expresses even better your gathering together in the Church to be strengthened in faith and to renew the offering of yourselves to God. I address my most cordial greetings with affection to each one of you and to your Institutes and I thank you for coming. In the light of Christ, with the many charisms of contemplative and apostolic life, you cooperate in the Church’s life and mission in the world.

In this spirit of gratitude and communion I would like to address three invitations to you, so that you may fully enter through that “door of faith” which is always open to us (Apostolic Letter,  Porta Fidei , n. 1).

I invite you in the first place to nourish a faith that can illuminate your vocation. For this I urge you to treasure, as on an inner pilgrimage, the memory of the “first love” with which the Lord Jesus Christ warmed your hearts, not out of nostalgia but in order to feed that flame. And for this it is necessary to be with him, in the silence of adoration; and thereb y reawaken the wish to share — and the joy of sharing — in his life, his decisions, the obedience of faith, the blessedness of the poor and the radical nature of love. Starting ever anew from this encounter of love, you leave everything to be with him and like him, to put yourselves at the service of God and your brothers and sisters (cf. Apostolic Exhortation  Vita Consecrata ,  n. 1).

In the second place I invite you to have a faith that can recognize the wisdom of weakness. In the joys and afflictions of the present time, when the harshness and weight of the cross make themselves felt, do not doubt that the  kenosis  of Christ is already a paschal victory. Precisely in our limitations and weaknesses as human beings we are called to live conformation with Christ in an all-encompassing commitment which anticipates the eschatological perfection , to the extent that this is possible in time ( ibid ., n. 16). In a society of efficiency and success, your life, marked by the “humility” and frailty of the lowly, of empathy with those who have no voice, becomes an evangelical sign of contradiction.

Lastly, I invite you to renew the faith that makes you pilgrims bound for the future. By its nature the consecrated life is a pilgrimage of the spirit in quest of a Face that is sometimes revealed and sometimes veiled: “ Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram ” (Ps 27[26]:8). May this be the constant yearning of your heart, the fundamental criterion that guides you on your journey, both in small daily steps and in the most important decisions.

Do not join the ranks of the prophets of doom who proclaim the end or meaninglessness of the consecrated life in the Church in our day; rather, clothe yourselves in Jesus Christ and put on the armour of light — as St Paul urged (cf. Rom 13:11-14) — keeping awake and watchful. St Chromatius of Aquileia wrote: “Distance this peril from us so that we are never overcome by the heavy slumber of infidelity. Rather may he grant us his grace and his mercy, that we may watch, ever faithful to him. In fact our fidelity can watch in Christ ( Sermon  32, 4).

Dear brothers and sisters, the joy of consecrated life necessarily passes through participation in the cross of Christ. This is how it ways for Mary Most Holy. Hers is the suffering of the heart that is one with the Heart of the Son of God, pierced by love. From this wound God’s light flows and also from the suffering, sacrifice and self-giving of consecrated people who live through their love for God and for others, that shines the very light that evangelizes nations. On this feast I express in a special way to you, consecrated people, the hope that your lives may always have the flavour of evangelical  parresia , so that in you the Good News may be lived, witnessed to, and proclaimed and may shine out as a word of truth (cf. Apostolic Letter  Porta Fidei ,  n. 6). Amen.

© Copyright 2013 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2013/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20130202_vita-consacrata.html Emphasis mine.

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Reflection for the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple - 2nd February 2021

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Liturgical time is a strange thing – we have gone from the infant in his mother’s arms to the adult Jesus bursting upon the world with signs and wonders in Galilee in the space of a few weeks, and now once more he is the babe in arms as he is presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth.

Perhaps this is a bit like the action replays you get when watching sports on TV – go back, watch that superb goal in slow motion, savour again and again the moment of victory. For us now at this Feast of the Presentation it’s an opportunity to go back after the glory and excitement of Epiphanytide and look again in more detail at what went before. Here in the temple, at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life, there are pointers to his earthly ministry of teaching and healing but also there are hints of what is to come beyond this. Any number of action replays cannot plumb the depths of the victory won for us by Jesus, God incarnate, but I share a few thoughts from pondering this feast.

It was a moment of joy for his parents, presenting their first-born son to God, and a moment of joy for Simeon who welcomed him in words recorded in the Gospel according to Luke Chapter 2:

“My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

But after these glorious words:

Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed — and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

I’ve heard it said that this feast of Candlemas is when we leave behind the joy of Christmas and turn towards Good Friday and Easter. Simeon speaks of an important dynamic of Jesus’ life and of our own lives as Christians – that the joy of salvation comes through embracing and transcending conflict and suffering.

In the Epiphanytide readings we have heard of Jesus’ healing ministry but also the questioning thoughts of those who encountered him. Where is all this coming from? Who does he think he is? We like to think that true love would be so obvious that we could not miss it, yet this open, inclusive love that welcomes the broken, the maimed and the outcasts can be very threatening to our tidy lives. Jesus is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” but light so often reveals things that we’d rather keep hidden. In the words of our Epiphanytide Lauds hymn:

Alive as early morning light Christ comes as daybreak to the world A shaft of shining clarity Revealing God’s pure holiness.

That pure holiness shines into our hearts to reveal both our glory and our sin. Yet it also reveals God’s infinite love for each one of us.

Our hymn continues:

May we with faith receive the Word, With love make answer to his love, Within the light of life now walk As children of the living God.

This Christmas season we have been pondering the way of peace. Simeon’s words touch on the paradox that this way of peace is also a way of conflict. In the words of St. Benedict, we are not to make a false peace but rather have the courage to confront the brokenness of life. At the beginning of Advent we stood with the prophet Anna, one who had been unafraid to embrace all that life brought to her. She still praised God in the midst of the suffering and humiliation of her people, and in the face of the tragedy of her own life. We now see God blessing her in her faithfulness and opening her eyes to the glory of the child who would be the redemption of Jerusalem.

The salvation that Anna and Simeon, and all of us, long for will be no easy answer to the mess and pain but it will be a source of great joy. May we have the courage to walk this journey to the cross, and thence to resurrection and new life in abundance.

As our hymn concludes:

With joy we worship Christ our Lord; May we embrace the life he brings, Reflect the glory of his face, Behold it for eternity.

Mother Anne - 2nd February 2021

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Presentation of Jesus in the Temple: New Priesthood and Pure Sacrifice

Homily for February 2: The Presentation of Our Lord

by Fr. Tommy Lane

The crèche in St. Peter’s Square in Rome is left in place until today (when this homily was delivered). This reminds us that the Christmas stories about Jesus in Luke come to an end today forty days after Christmas with the celebration of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:22-40).

The presentation of Jesus in the temple served two purposes: the first is the redemption of the first-born and the second is the purification of Mary. The first-born belonged to the Lord according to the Book of Exodus 13:1-2 but Numbers 18:15-16 tells us the first-born could be redeemed or bought back by paying five shekels. The purification of the mother in Jewish Law (Lev 12) was purification from ritual uncleanness after childbirth. Of course Our Lady did not need this purification because she was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus but she underwent it to fulfill the Law. The purification was normally performed in the local synagogue, but Mary and Joseph decided it should take place in the temple. If the family could afford it, they would offer a one-year-old lamb, but, if not, they would offer two young pigeons.

This is Jesus’ first visit of many to the temple. It is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi in the first reading: “suddenly there will come to the temple, the Lord whom you seek.” (Mal 3:1) The text in Malachi goes on to say that when the Lord enters the temple, he will purify and refine the Levites so that they will offer a pure sacrifice to the Lord and then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord (Mal 3:3-4). Malachi is saying that in the future when the Lord enters his temple, the sacrifice of the Levites—the sacrifice of the Old Testament priests—will be purified so that a pure sacrifice will be offered that can please God. So Malachi, even if unknown to himself, foresees Christ and his priests of the New Covenant first ordained during the Last Supper. The second reading today from Hebrews confirms that Jesus is the high priest of the New Covenant (Heb 2:17). Jesus, as high priest of the New Covenant, offered himself on the altar of Calvary, the only pure priestly sacrifice that could please God.

Earlier in Malachi, before our reading today, Malachi offered another fascinating prophecy: everywhere from east to west a sacrifice and pure offering would be offered to God (Mal 1:11). The early Christians, the Didache (14:1-3) tells us, saw Malachi’s prophecy of a pure sacrifice and offering from east to west as a prophecy of the sacrifice of the Eucharist. That interpretation found its way into the Magisterium when the Council of Trent ( Doctrine on the Sacrifice of the Mass ) also interpreted Malachi as prophesying the Eucharist. Those of you already studying theology know this is a case of sensus plenior . So Malachi prophesies that the Lord will enter his temple, there will be a renewed priesthood, and there will be a pure sacrifice—the Eucharist—offered worldwide pleasing to God. When Jesus was presented in the temple, everything foreseen in Malachi was already beginning to unfold and would be fully unfolded when Jesus would die on the cross and his priests of the New Covenant would continue to make that sacrifice present in the pure sacrifice of the Eucharist offered from east to west.

Therefore, Jesus is indeed the light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Israel as Simeon prophesied (Luke 2:32). Simeon was awaiting the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit enlightened him to know that the consolation was now beginning to occur with the birth of Jesus. The prophetess Anna was awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem, and she was also enlightened to know that this redemption was now beginning to occur in Jesus, and she spoke about Jesus to all awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38). Simeon awaiting the consolation of Israel and Anna awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem see their hopes fulfilled in Jesus.

Further events involving Jesus in the temple show Jesus as the consolation of Israel and redemption of Jerusalem (and that Jesus has replaced the temple).

When Jesus was presented in the temple, everything foreseen in Malachi was already beginning to unfold. Jesus replaced the temple and the feasts celebrated there. Jesus’ death on the cross would be the pure priestly sacrifice that would please God and when the priests of the New Covenant would make that sacrifice present during the sacrifice of the Mass, it would be the pure sacrifice from east to west that would please God.

Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 2010

This homily was delivered in Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Meeting Jesus like Simeon and Anna 2020

Jesus the fulfillment of Simeon’s and Israel’s hopes 2016

Related Homilies: Handing Jesus over to the Father in the temple 2023

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Presentation of the Lord

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Saint of the day for february 2.

The Story of the Presentation of the Lord

At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany, the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later. Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship. This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.

The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.

In Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Early references to the Roman feast dub it the feast of Saint Simeon, the old man who burst into a song of joy which the Church still sings at day’s end.

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Pope Francis' homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Salt + light media, tuesday, february 2, 2021.

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis

Feast of the presentation of the lord 25th world day for consecrated life tuesday, 2 february 2021.

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Preaching with Sciences

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

By con foley , february 02, 2023.

Lectionary 524:

Ps 24:7, 8, 9, 10

Heb 2:14-18

Luke 2:22-40 or 2:22-32

• Wisdom and spiritual insight in old age (example of Simeon and Anna)
• The Ancient Temple and the New Temple (Christ)
• Light to the Nations – allowing Christ’s light to shine through us (Candlemas)
• The Joy of Encountering Christ – Peace and Praise
• “He came in the Spirit into the temple.” Listening to the promptings of the Spirit.
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6128435/
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroplasticity
• Neuroplasticity also known as Brain Plasticity is a concept that refers to the brain’s capacity to be shaped and evolved in response to life experiences and activity. New neurons can be created, and new networks and connections can be built. Recent research reveals that the brain can refine its architecture, it can re-wire or re-route itself. The good news is that you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks . Recent advances in medical imaging techniques indicate that brain plasticity can be maintained into old age. Habits and behaviour can change, even in advanced age. This has important implications for a rapidly changing society – older people have the potential to adapt and flourish. They should be encouraged to play their part in society, even have new roles, and society needs to value their contribution.
• The Neuroscience of mindfulness meditation https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3916
• Religion and the Brain https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/parenting-neuroscience-perspective/201910/religion-and-the-brain

Homily Outline Combining Resources

Homily outline combining the scientific resources:

• The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is celebrated 40 days after Christmas Day. The Gospel of Luke recalls Mary and Joseph taking the child Jesus for his first visit to the temple in Jerusalem. This feast is also known as Candlemas because of the tradition of blessing and distributing candles and holding a candlelight procession on this day. These practices are drawn from Simeon’s words in the gospel for this feast, in which he prophesies that the child Jesus will become “ a light for revelation to the Gentiles .”
• In a sense, this feast celebrates the meeting point of the two “Testaments” for Catholic-Christians: the old and new. Jesus, who is the new temple of God, enters the ancient temple. Jesus, who ushers in the law of love, comes to visit his people in a place in which the law of sacrifice was fulfilled:
• thus, bringing to fulfilment obedience to the Law and ushering in the last times of salvation (Pope Benedict XVI).
• The Temple is where divinity and humanity embrace, and where the past and the future converge.
• Only Simeon and Anna, two elderly people, notice the Holy Family. They recognise a new and special presence. They find fulfilment from their watchfulness, and their long wait comes to a joyful end. Simeon and Anna’s active prayer life kept expanding their brains. Neuroplasticity is not just for children or young adults.  Anna “worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer” and Simeon was open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Their regular spiritual exercises resulted in what we might called “heightened neuroplasticity,” and a refreshed capacity to recognize something (impeding salvation) and to embrace someone (the unexpected Messiah) that no one had ever seen before.
• Even the commonness of Mary and Joseph displayed in their everyday poverty, and the deceptive ordinariness of the infant named Jesus – so similar to the untold hundreds of other infants they had seen before – did not blur the vision and insight of these fragile octogenarians. They did not make the common mistake, which S. Eliot ascribes to all of us, when he writes: “We had the experience but missed the meaning” ( Four Quartets: The Dry Salvages II:3).
• Old age can be a beautiful although admittedly challenging time of spiritual harvesting. This harvest can be shared with younger generations who speak digital when we speak analogue; who can connect all of our tv’s and computers, though they cannot always connect the dots of their own lives; who do not always understand where they are going, as we are coming to understand where we have been. The role of parents and grandparents, mentors and guides, uncles and godmothers needs to be encouraged for quietly handing on the faith in the families, as senior believers serve as spiritual companions, elders, and treasured catechists in local faith communities.
• Anna “spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem” and Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph, and his words amazed them. Who have been the Simeon and Anna’s to you? Who has seen through the ordinariness and unimpressive to reveal Christ to you? Who has quietly but unexpectedly amazed you with their mentoring in pointing out God’s love and the actions of the Holy Spirit in the everydayness of your existence?
• Not surprisingly, there are spiritual exercises and activities that can refine and reroute us – no matter what our age – so that we can maintain not only the neurological but also the “spiritual plasticity” to recognise the God of surprises in the temples we trod in our own daily life? Maybe it’s something as simple as a reinvigorated thoughtfulness in praying the rosary, or an Anna and Simeon style examination of conscience wondering about what glimpses of the Messiah we might have overlooked, or a new journey into scriptural reflection.
• Simeon and Anna are an example to those of us of every age that we can rewire our brains and our souls to put ourselves in the presence of God in our every day lives. In the ordinariness of our everyday temples of work and home and school and church, we can listen to the prompting of God’s Spirit, perceive God afoot in the mundane, and gracefully live in constant expectation of God adventing in our lives.  We can daily experience the power of Christ’s presence point Christ out to others: a candle loses none of its light when lighting another candle (even an old candle).

Related Homily Outlines

Dedication of the lateran basilica, 15th sunday of the year a, baptism of the lord, 26th sunday in ordinary time, year c, 21st sunday in ordinary time, year c, couldn’t find what you’re looking for, try searching with another filter.

Edward Foley, Capuchin Duns Scotus Professor Emeritus of Spirituality Professor of Liturgy and Music (retired) Catholic Theological Union Vice-Postulator, Cause of Blessed Solanus

Presentation of the Lord

Books of the bible index of homilies.

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Pope Francis

02.02.14 Vatican Basilica

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord - Year A

18th World Day for Consecrated Life

Luke 2: 22-40

The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is als o known as the Feast of the Encounter: the Liturgy says at the beginning that Jesus goes to meet his people. Thus, this is the encounter between Jesus and his people, when Mary and Joseph brought their child to the Temple in Jerusalem; the first encounter between Jesus and his people, represented by Simeon and Anna, took place.

It was also the first encounter within the history of the people, a meeting between the young and the old: the young were Mary and Joseph with their infant son and the old were Simeon and Anna, two people who often went to the Temple.

Let’s observe what the evangelist Luke tells us of them, as he describes them. He says four times that Our Lady and St Joseph wanted to do what was required by the Law of the Lord (cf. Lk 2:22, 23, 24, 27). One almost feels and perceives that Jesus’ parents have the joy of observing the precepts of God, yes, the joy of walking according to the Law of the Lord! They are two newlyweds, they have just had their baby, and they are motivated by the desire to do what is prescribed. This is not an external fact; it is not just to feel right, no! It’s a strong desire, a deep desire, full of joy. That’s what the Psalm says: “In the way of thy testimonies I delight…. For thy law is my delight” (119 [118]:14, 77).

And what does St Luke say of the elderly? He underlines, more than once, that they were guided by the Holy Spirit. He says Simeon was a righteous and devout man, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and that “the Holy Spirit was upon him” (2:25). He says that “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit” that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (v. 26); and finally that he went to the Temple “inspired by the Spirit “(v. 27). He says Anna was a “prophetess” (v. 36); that is she was inspired by God and that she was always “worshipping with fasting and prayer” in the Temple (v. 37). In short, these two elders are full of life! They are full of life because they are enlivened by the Holy Spirit, obedient to his action, sensitive to his calls....

And now there is the encounter between the Holy Family and the two representatives of the holy people of God. Jesus is at the centre. It is he who moves everything, who draws all of them to the Temple, the house of his Father.

It is a meeting between the young, who are full of joy in observing the Law of the Lord, and the elderly who are full of joy in the action of the Holy Spirit. It is a unique encounter between observance and prophecy, where young people are the observers and the elderly are prophets! In fact, if we think carefully, observance of the Law is animated by the Spirit and the prophecy moves forward along the path traced by the Law. Who, more than Mary, is full of the Holy Spirit? Who more than she is docile to its action?

In the light of this Gospel scene, let us look at consecrated life as an encounter with Christ: it is he who comes to us, led by Mary and Joseph, and we go towards him guided by the Holy Spirit. He is at the centre. He moves everything, he draws us to the Temple, to the Church, where we can meet him, recognize him, welcome him, embrace him.

Jesus comes to us in the Church through the foundational charism of an Institute: it is nice to think of our vocation in this way! Our encounter with Christ took shape in the Church through the charism of one of her witnesses. This always amazes us and makes us give thanks.

And in the consecrated life we live the encounter between the young and the old, between observation and prophecy. Let’s not see these as two opposing realities! Let us rather allow the Holy Spirit to animate both of them, and a sign of this is joy: the joy of observing, of walking within a rule of life; the joy of being led by the Spirit, never unyielding, never closed, always open to the voice of God that speaks, that opens, that leads us and invites us to go towards the horizon.

It’s good for the elderly to communicate their wisdom to the young; and it’s good for the young people to gather this wealth of experience and wisdom, and to carry it forward, not so as to safeguard it in a museum, but to carry it forward addressing the challenges that life brings, to carry it forward for the sake of the respective religious orders and of the whole Church.

May the grace of this mystery, the mystery of the Encounter, enlighten us and comfort us on our journey. Amen.

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Why do Catholics celebrate the feast of the Presentation?

This feast day celebrates both the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, as well as the Purification of Mary, which was required by the Mosaic Law forty days after the birth of a child.

The Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2, also called Candlemas for the custom of using lighted candles. In the early Church it was often celebrated on February 14th, 40 days after the Epiphany, in keeping with the practice of celebrating Christmas on that date in the East. Among the Orthodox it is known as the Hypapante (“Meeting” of the Lord with Simeon).

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The Holy Rosary is an amazing prayer, encouraged by popes, loved by saints, and prayed by the faithful. Many miracles have come from this beautiful devotion. At its heart, the Rosary is a meditation on Sacred Scripture, on the lives of Jesus and Mary.

Through this Scriptural Rosary, we hope that you will be able to better meditate on each Hail Mary and deepen your understanding of Sacred Scripture. Use the form below to get your free copy of, The Scriptural Rosary .

Why is the Presentation of Jesus important?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 529) teaches,

The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord. With Simeon and Anna, all Israel awaits its encounter with the Savior-the name given to this event in the Byzantine tradition. Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the “light to the nations” and the “glory of Israel,” but also “a sign that is spoken against.” The sword of sorrow predicted for Mary announces Christ's perfect and unique oblation on the cross that will impart the salvation God had “prepared in the presence of all peoples.”

It is also important to note that, as a poor family, the Holy Family gave an offering of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. However, the Lamb whom they brought to the Temple was the Lamb of God.

At what age was Jesus presented in the temple?

He was presented when He was still a newborn, only 40 days old.

“In the mysterious encounter between Simeon and Mary, the Old and New Testaments are joined. Together the aging prophet and the young mother give thanks for this Light which has kept the darkness from prevailing. It is the Light which shines in the heart of human life: Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, ‘a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of his people Israel.’” – Pope St. John Paul II

Who are Simeon and Anna in the Bible?

The Gospel of Luke 2:22-40 states:

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.” And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.” And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Regarding Simeon and Anna, Pope Benedict XVI said,

Even the priests proved incapable of recognizing the signs of the new and special presence of the Messiah and Saviour. Alone two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, discover this great newness. Led by the Holy Spirit, in this Child they find the fulfilment of their long waiting and watchfulness. They both contemplate the light of God that comes to illuminate the world and their prophetic gaze is opened to the future in the proclamation of the Messiah: “Lumen ad revelationem gentium!” (Lk 2:32). The prophetic attitude of the two elderly people contains the entire Old Covenant which expresses the joy of the encounter with the Redeemer. Upon seeing the Child, Simeon and Anna understood that he was the Awaited One.

“… while we are still at the dawn of Jesus’ life, we are already oriented to Calvary. It is on the Cross that Jesus will be definitively confirmed as a sign of contradiction, and it is there that his Mother’s heart will be pierced by the sword of sorrow. We are told it all from the beginning, on the 40th day after Jesus’ birth, on the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, so important in the Church’s liturgy.” - Pope St. John Paul II

What does the name “Simeon” mean?

This is a Hebrew name that means “he has heard” or “God has heard.”

When is St. Simeon’s feast day?

The Church celebrates his feast day on the day after Candlemas, February 3.

Was Simeon a prophet?

In Hebrew navi, a prophet is one who tells, a spokesperson of God, speaking divine truth, or foretelling what will be the consequences for the future. On both counts, Simeon was a prophet, who revealed the truth about who Jesus was, as well as the implications for Israel, for Jesus Himself and for Mary.

What does the name “Anna” mean?

Originally taken from the Hebrew name Hannah, it means “favor” or “grace.”

When is St. Anna’s feast day?

Anna the Prophetess shares a feast day with St. Simeon on February 3.

“In the encounter between the old man Simeon and Mary, a young mother, the Old and New Testaments come together in a wondrous way in giving thanks for the gift of the light that shone in the darkness and has prevented it from prevailing: Christ the Lord.” - Pope Benedict XVI

What did Simeon say when he saw Jesus?

St. Simeon offered this prayer,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32)

Called the Nunc Dimittis, for the first words in the Latin Vulgate, it is one of the three major Canticles used in the Church’s liturgy. It is said each evening at the end of Night Prayer, the last Divine Office of the Liturgy of the Hours, or Breviary. The other Canticles are that of Zechariah, used for Lauds or Morning Prayer, and of Mary (the Magnificat), used for Vespers or Evening Prayer.

What did Simeon say about Mary?

After speaking of Jesus, St. Simeon then spoke to Mary of her role of accompanying her Son in His redemptive suffering. Simeon reveals, as well, Mary’s own mission of intercession and compassion for us, her spiritual children.

Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35)

“This is the meeting point of the two Testaments, Old and New. Jesus enters the ancient temple; he who is the new Temple of God: he comes to visit his people, thus bringing to fulfilment obedience to the Law and ushering in the last times of salvation.” - Pope Benedict XVI

Who is Anna in the Bible?

Anna is the prophetess who saw the Holy Family at the Presentation of Jesus at the temple. The Gospel of Luke 2:36-38 tells us about Anna:

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

What does the Purification of Mary mean?

The purification was ritual, preparatory to worship, in this case after the momentous events of childbirth and the time of rest or “laying in” afterwards. Thus, the Jewish priest purified himself by bathing before entering the holy place, and, similarly, the priest at Mass washes his hands before beginning the Eucharistic Prayer and handing the Body and Blood of Christ.

Mary, although morally pure, fulfilled her religious obligations by being purified 40 days after Jesus’ birth. Throughout her life, the Blessed Mother was always obedient to God’s Will, in this case expressed through the laws given to Israel through Moses.

“Simeon’s words seem like a second Annunciation to Mary, for they tell her of the actual historical situation in which the Son is to accomplish his mission, namely, in misunderstanding and sorrow. While this announcement on the one hand confirms her faith in the accomplishment of the divine promises of salvation, on the other hand it also reveals to her that she will have to live her obedience of faith in suffering, at the side of the suffering Savior, and that her motherhood will be mysterious and sorrowful.” — Pope St. John Paul II

Why is it called Candlemas Day?

This is the day when candles are blessed in the Church and traditionally have been lit in celebration of the feast.

Pope St. John Paul II said, “Christian traditions of the East and West have been interwoven, enriching the liturgy of this feast with a special procession in which the light of candles both large and small is a symbol of Christ, the true Light who came to illumine his people and all peoples.”

How many days after Christmas is Candlemas celebrated?

Candlemas is celebrated 40 days after Christmas. According to Leviticus 12, women should be purified 40 days after a son’s birth (33 days after the boy’s circumcision) and 80 days after a daughter’s birth. The purification was ritual, and preparatory to worship, in this case after the momentous events of childbirth and the time of rest or “laying in” afterwards.

Is Candlemas the end of Christmas?

In the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite, the liturgical forms and calendar as revised after the Second Vatican Council, the last day of the Christmas Season is the Baptism of Our Lord, when His hidden life ended and His public ministry began.

However, the Church maintains an Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite which utilizes the forms and calendar in use prior to the Council. In this usage, the Christmas Season continues until the Feast of the Presentation. Many Catholics, therefore, maintain their Christmas decorations through Candlemas.

What is the significance of Candlemas Day?

Pope St. John Paul II said,

The prophetic words spoken by the aged Simeon shed light on the mission of the Child brought to the temple by his parents: “Behold this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against ... that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35). To Mary Simeon said: “And a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Lk 2:35). The hymns of Bethlehem have now faded and the cross of Golgotha can already be glimpsed; this happens in the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered. The event we are commemorating today is thus a bridge as it were, linking the two most important seasons of the Church's year.

What do you eat on Candlemas?

Pancakes are the traditional choice on Candlemas. In Mexico, people eat tamales on this feast day, and in France, they eat crepes.

What are the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary?

The Joyful Mysteries include:

• The Annunciation
• The Visitation
• The Nativity of Our Lord
• The Presentation in the Temple
• The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

What is the World Day for Consecrated Life?

The Presentation is celebrated in the Church as the World Day for Consecrated Life. Pope St. John Paul II instituted this annual celebration in 1997 as a day of prayer for religious men and women and other consecrated persons. This recalls the special offering which they have made to the Lord through their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In Rome, the Holy Father celebrates a special Mass for them at St. Peter’s, which the religious living in Rome attend.

Pope Benedict XVI said,

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is an eloquent image of the total gift of one’s life for all those, men and women, who are called to represent “the characteristic features of Jesus — the chaste, poor and obedient one” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consecrata, n. 1) in the Church and in the world, through the evangelical counsels. For this reason Venerable John Paul II chose today’s Feast to celebrate the Annual World Day of Consecrated Life.

Preaching Grace on the Square

Scripture, tradition, theology, random thoughts from capitol square in madison, wi.

The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple: A sermon

Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (detail), Andrea Mantegna, c. 1455

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. It’s a major feast in our calendar but one we observe at Grace only when it falls on a Sunday. It commemorates the events recorded by Luke in today’s gospel reading. Jesus’ parents Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple forty days after his birth to conform to Jewish ritual obligations—the presentation of the first-born to God; and the purification of a woman after giving birth.

It’s a bit disorienting to read this gospel today, to commemorate the Feast of the Presentation, because it draws our attention backwards, to Christmas. In a very real sense, it is the final observance of the Christmas season, which explains why in many traditional Christian churches, the Christmas decorations, especially the creche remain until this day. Our attention is drawn back to Christmas, to the birth of Christ, and to his family. And even as our lives have moved on, and the world is not paying attention, the church allows us one last glimpse of the joy of Christmas.

It is a story full of joy—the joy of parents who are faithfully fulfilling the practices of their faith—and especially the joy of two elderly people who see the identity of the baby and testify to his world-historical significance.

Luke is keen to show Jesus’ parents obeying Jewish law, mentioning it no fewer than five times in this brief passage. He is also concerned to show them as observant Jews. He will do the same when he depicts Jesus. In addition, the temple is a focal point. Joseph and Mary bring Jesus here twice, now forty days after his birth. They will bring him again when he is twelve years old, an incident related only by Luke in the very next verses. Jesus will remain behind at the temple after his parents leave; when they discover he is not with the group returning to Nazareth, they return to the temple and find him in conversation with religious leaders about scripture.

Jesus will return to the temple when he comes to Jerusalem just before his crucifixion and the temple will continue to be a focal point for his disciples after his ascension. In fact, Luke’s description of them at the end of the gospel, calls to mind his description of Anna, “They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” (24:53)

In addition to the prominent role of the temple throughout Luke and Acts, this story emphasizes other themes central to Luke’s telling. The presence of Simeon and Anna, two aged people who testify to the baby’s identity link this story to models in Hebrew scripture and also appeal to the prophetic tradition. Anna is explicitly identified as a prophetess while Simeon offers prophecy as well as song when he encounters Jesus.

Simeon’s is not the first song Luke records in the gospel. The nativity story is accompanied by hymns: that of Zechariah, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people.” He sang it when his voice returned after the birth of his son John the Baptist. There’s Mary’s song, the Magnificat, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” There’s the song the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.” And there is this one, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.” These are the church’s songs, sung for nearly two thousand years and sung or chanted during the daily office.

While emphasizing tradition, the law and the prophets, and these two elderly witnesses, Luke also emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit, mentioning her movement three times in describing Simeon. Simeon was righteous and devout and looking forward to the consolation of Israel. His song is one of benediction and leave-taking. But Simeon has more to say and turns to ominous prophecy: “this child is destined for the rising and the falling of many in Israel … and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.” Unfortunately, Luke doesn’t tell us what Anna said instead only leaves us with the image of an elderly woman who spent all of her time in the temple speaking about Jesus to everyone in the temple “who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

On the surface this episode that brings to an end Luke’s infancy narrative is little more than confirmation of what has gone before—the birth of the Son of God in keeping with scripture and witnessed by people who were able to testify to its importance. But when you step back a moment to reflect, it opens up great depths of meaning.

Think again about the temple’s significance. It plays an important role in this episode as it does throughout Luke and Acts. Yet by the time Luke was writing, the temple lay in ruins. In fact, it may have been destroyed two generations before he wrote. So, Luke’s readers could not have imagined the scene. They had no reference points for it.

And think about those two elderly people who express their joy, of Simeon who sings “my eyes have seen my salvation.” But the sort of hopes expressed in this text, the consolation of Israel, the redemption of Jerusalem had not been accomplished and may have seemed further away than ever before. Would Simeon and Anna been able to hold on to their hope if they knew what the future held?

And even in this story of faith, hope, and joy, there is an ominous note. In his blessing, Simeon speaks of the falling and rising of many in Israel, of opposition and division, and most of all, of a sword that will pierce Mary’s soul. Even here in the joy of incarnation, the shadow of the cross looms. Perhaps that’s why Mantegna, in the painting reproduced on the service bulletin’s cover, seems to have Jesus wrapped, not in swaddling clothes but in what looks like burial wrappings.

We hear this story today, forty days after Christmas, when the joy of that season has long since left us, cooled by endless gray days, by the relentless cycle of news that wears us down and grinds our hope into despair. We hear this story when our attention is fleeting perhaps diverted momentarily by national spectacle like the Super Bowl or the silly rituals of Groundhog Day.

Can we appreciate the power of the story that Luke has crafted, a story of long waits, expectation and hope in the midst of disappointment? Can we see ourselves in the aged Simeon and Anna, whose faith did not falter through years of struggle and disappointment?

This is the Feast of the Presentation. Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple. Our cover image shows Mary doing just that. But it also shows Simeon’s outstretched hands. While our translations says that Simeon “took” the baby, a better translation would be that “he received him. Indeed, Simeon didn’t just see Christ, as my friend Chris Bryan has written,

he touches him, holds him, embraces him؛†and given that Jesus comes to Simeon in the weakness of babyhood, for this moment Simeon actually carries him, as the stronger carries the weaker. Simeon has waited faithfully upon God, and the reward of his faithfulness is that for just a moment he becomes the hearer of Christ.

Mary and Joseph presented Christ in the temple; they presented him to Simeon and Anna. Yet Simeon’s and Anna’s confessions make clear who Jesus is: our salvation, our redemption, the Son of God. The collect for the day reminds us that Christ presents us to God, and in a real sense that is what was happening here; Jesus was presenting his parents to God, to Simeon and Anna.

We make Christ present on this altar, recalling his life, death, and resurrection. But the fact of the matter is that in a deeper sense, Christ is presenting us. We approach his table hand in hand with him, carried by him.

May we, like Simeon and Anna, proclaim our faith in Christ, may we see him here, on the altar, in our lives and in the world around us. May we sing with Simeon:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

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Gary Neal Hansen

Theology. It's good for you.

The Presentation of Jesus — Luke 2:22-40

December 21, 2020 by Gary Neal Hansen Leave a Comment

On the First Sunday after Christmas, the Revised Common Lectionary offers us the text known as “The Presentation of Jesus.” It’s Luke 2:22-40 and comes in four distinct scenes.

The Presentation

The scene is set for the Presentation with references to the Holy Family and the law of God.

We tend to picture just three people: Mary, Jesus, and Joseph. Tradition has Joseph older, a widower, with children from his first marriage who will, in the Gospels, be called Jesus’ siblings.

The number is not so important. The text emphasizes their Jewish faithfulness. With no fewer than three references to the requirements of the law, they are shown coming to the temple, ready to observe the rites of purification.

It is easy to forget their Jewishness somehow. But this Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, born to a Jewish family in a Jewish land, practicing the Jewish religion. That’s our savior.

The Song of Simeon

To me the heart of the Presentation is the Song of Simeon:

Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. Luke 2:29-32, NRSV

I really love this text. I’ve said or sung it so many times in Episcopal Evening Prayer or Compline services, on retreat at Roman Catholic Benedictine monasteries, and at Wednesday and Saturday Orthodox Vespers services.

And I love the story around it:

Old Simeon, promised by the Spirit (he was sure it was the Spirit… it couldn’t have been his imagination, just a longing heart’s pious wish…) that he would live to see the promised Messiah.

But he was so very old. He felt like it was time to go, to leave this world for — well, for whatever it was that God had in store for those who loved and served him. He was tired, so very tired. He was weak, and he was ill. Would the promise be fulfilled?

Then one day, a day like any other, really, into the Temple walks a family: young mother, older man, babe in arms. Maybe some older kids.

Somehow he knew this was The One. (It had to be… he could just tell… there was that nudge inside, that whisper again…) This baby was the Messiah he had waited so long to see.

So he approached them. He reached out to the woman, wordlessly asking to hold her baby. She didn’t turn away — maybe she knew that this stranger was alright, someone who would be safe with the child. She let him take the boy in his arms.

The look on his face seemed to communicate a blessing. He turned his eyes to heaven and — he sang.

He sang about the end of his life; that he had fulfilled his purpose somehow, having seen and held this child. It sounded as if God were giving him permission to die. But what had he seen?

“My eyes have seen your salvation” he sang. Jesus, as an infant in swaddling cloths, is salvation. Not just Simeon’s personal salvation. God’s gift of salvation, coming to all the world, as the song goes on to say.

Again in this song we have the theme of all Luke’s songs: salvation is not something that will start 33 years in the future, when Jesus is grown, has taught and healed and called disciples, when he finally is crucified. In the very fact of Jesus being born, salvation has come.

In this little child, God is with us. The holy God, the very Image of the Father, has taken up human flesh, become truly human in the womb of Mary. Now human flesh, all humanity, begins the process of being restored to the image of God, renewed in the very likeness of God.

• The process is not complete in any of us.
• But it has begun for all of us.
• And it cannot be stopped, or assumed to be nullified, in even one of us.

I pray for the continued effect of this salvation in me, in my family, in the Church, and throughout the world. I pray for the ability to see and know what Simeon saw and knew and sang of so long ago.

In contemplation I gaze at this child, at the scene with this old man, and at the God who answers my prayer.

Simeon’s Warning

But the Presentation doesn’t end with the Song of Simeon. He pauses to give Mary a bit of prophetic insight.

Jesus, this tiny baby, will be like a big old rock in the path — a rock of ages, perhaps, Some will step up higher by standing on him, and others will trip and fall over him.

And Mary herself gets a bit of a warning. She had just let the excitement of new motherhood take root, displacing the fear and trembling of being pregnant via the Holy Spirit . Now this strange man in the temple tells her a sword will pierce her soul because of her baby boy.

She probably wondered whether it was a mistake to let the old guy hold Jesus a minute or two before.

The Prophet Anna

The last part of the Presentation is so very lovely that it’s a shame it doesn’t get more attention.

It turns out Simeon is not the only elderly person hanging out in the Temple. Anna, an 87 year old prophet, is basically living there.

She worships. She fasts. She prays. She never leaves.

I’d say she embodies those lines in the Psalms, where it says that

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3 NRSV

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness. Psalm 84:10 NRSV

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. Psalm 23:6 NRSV

I’m a little peeved that Luke didn’t record any of her actual words. All he says is that she

…began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:38 NRSV

I bet she sang.

I mean everybody here sang. Luke 1-2 is basically a musical to which the tunes have been lost.

• Gabriel sang.
• Zechariah sang.
• When Elizabeth spoke to Mary it really sounds a bit like a song too.
• Old Simeon sang up a storm.

But Anna? No song.

She just heads out from the temple to do the work of a prophet at 87.

Personally? That makes me want to sing.

++++++++++++

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Catholic For Life

Preaching the Santity of Human Life and the Gospel Message

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD (2)

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

HOMILY THEME: THE PRESENTATION OF THE OMBUDSMAN (THE FEAST OF PRESENTATION OF THE LORD)

BY: Fr. Livinus Igbodekwe

“Ethical pollution”, according to Archbishop Fulton J. sheen, “demands a solution. It needs an “Ombudsman””. In the fullness of time both the Steward (man) and the Garden (Earth) became contaminated with evil giving rise to ceaseless acts of wickedness. Every known option was exhausted like provision of judges, kings, prophets, priests and animal sacrifices.

The Almighty had another plan – the sending down of the “Ombudsman” ( a victim, a scapegoat) who now would possess what lacked in the previous options. These requirements include:

A. Birth: he had to be our kinsman in the flesh given to necessities and temptations except commitment of sin so that He would be a merciful high priest to us, sinners (Heb 2:14-18)

B. Innocence: He must be an unblemished victim (2 Cor 5:21), in order to take away, not His sins, but those of the world (Jn 1:29). This innocence is symbolised by the two doves or pigeons in the Gospel of today.

C. Refiner: He must play a refinery role just as a blacksmith or a goldsmith sits by the fire to refine metals, so shall He sit to refine Jerusalem and Judah to make them and their offerings acceptable to Yahweh (Mal 3:1-4).

D. Transference: our sins must be transferred upon Him as our Ombudsman and victim to suffer the rejection, the pain and the death meant for us. This is the way the old Seer, Simeon sees Him in the Gospel – a sign of contradiction for many and as a Saviour for Israel.

So, friends, today our “Substitution” is presented in the temple of Jerusalem for official certification and cleansing by the high priest Simeon to identify with our unclean state. The ceremony was called “Purification”. In the same way Jesus is being presented today in the temple of our hearts. How purified are our hearts. Even if our hearts are full of wickedness, unforgiveness, and all sorts of sin let us welcome Him today for these roles of our “Ombudsman”, Jesus to play out in our hearts.

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Anna and Simeon, the Presentation of Jesus

To listen to the sermon click here.

Today we celebrate the presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. Forty days have passed since his birth. Mary has recovered a bit, and because they are in Bethlehem, just four or five miles from Jerusalem, they have the option of having Jesus presented there in the Temple.

So, they get on the donkey and trot down the road to (air-quotes) – “present Jesus to the Lord.” These are particular words. They come from the Book of Exodus, and state, as law, that the firstborn male child is to be “consecrated to the Lord.” (Exo. 13:2)

To understand what this means, we need a little background.  The early Hebrews believed that the first-born male of humans and animals was a first fruits tithe to God (Exo 13:1); For animals, this meant being given as a sacrifice, and then supper for the people who worked in the Temple. But since human sacrifice was abhorrent to the God of the Hebrews, God made a pact with Moses saying: “I have taken the Levites from among the tribes of the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman.  The Levites are mine, because all first born are mine,” saith the Lord. (Num 13:11-12).

But God, if not Moses, was practical, and as a way of supporting the work of the Levites as priests, another law was written that the firstborn of all non-Levites had a redemption prices of five shekels (Num 3:46-47, 8:16-18), to be paid when they were presented forty days after their birth at the Temple, or a local synagogue.

But what happens instead is they met two interesting characters Simeon and Anna, and these people, it seems, alter the course of that day (and indeed, the course of history); for instead of Jesus being redeemed and five shekels paid, he is called out as the Messiah, and this unleashes a wave of consolation and redemption that continues to wash through creation to this very day.These two waves, consolation and redemption, become big rocks (to mix my metaphors) in the riverbed of Christian theology.

And so, what I want to do today is take a look at Simeon and Anna to see how they unveil for us the consolation and redemption of God.

We begin with Simeon. He was a righteous and devout man who will be known for all time for giving us the Nunc Dimittis , which is Latin for “Now Let Us Depart.” Some of you may know it as the Song of Simeon. It goes like this: “Lord you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised. For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior who you have prepared for all the world to see .  A light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” Are some of you familiar with this?

It is probably because this piece of scripture is woven into the liturgies of Evensong and Compline. It was placed in these end of the day services as a universal reminder that God seeks to console each and every human heart. You see, in the days of Simeon, the people of Israel were under the occupation of Rome, and there was no end in sight. This reality created a persistent, low grade anxiety among the people. And so, many put their hope in the legend of the Messiah, who would come and reestablish the nation of Israel as in the days of King David. 

Simeon held longingly to this hope like everyone else. And more so, because at some point in his life the Holy Spirit came upon him and with clarity told him he would not die before he laid eyes on the Messiah. Then one day he woke up and felt guided by the Holy Spirit to go to the Temple; and there he laid eyes on Jesus, and knew, instantly, that he had been set free. 

But the freedom he articulates when he holds the baby Jesus in his arms is not one of military victory over Rome, but rather, one of human unity under God. And the words that spill forth from his mouth  are drawn from the prophecy of Isaiah which claimed: “A light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” These words unleash a wave of consolation in Simeon’s heart; a consolation not of hierarchical supremacy, as the people of Israel so imagined, but a consolation of united community and world unity; and in this unity the implicit acknowledgement that all people are God’s people.

The Song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis is a canticle of trust, said daily to remind us that God has us, that God loves us, all of us, Gentiles included and with knowledge we can rest easily at the end of the day. This consolation, found in God’s universal love, is the first big theological point we celebrate today, thanks to Simeon.

The second big theological point is unveiled for us by Anna. She is a bit more mysterious, sort of a master, like a Jedi master, like Rey from The Force Awakens. Anna fasts and prayers like a warrior, strong and indominable, and her mastery of the spiritual exercises, gives her access to the mind of God.  And so, she sees quickly and clearly that the child, Jesus, is the salvation of Israel. And so, without inhibition or hesitation she announces that he is the redemption of the nation. 

Her proclamation is interesting, because, as you recall, Mary and Joseph had come to the Temple to pay their 5 shekels to redeem Jesus and do their part to support the Levites. Instead, Jesus BECOMES the tax paid by God to redeem all the people of Israel…and more than that, all of humanity.

Now this idea of redemption is a little bit complicated, so, let me spend a minute here. The way it worked before Jesus was that if you broke one of the 613 laws of the Old Testament you were considered unclean and could not participate in the regular activities of the community. And so, you’d trod off the Temple, buy a pigeon or goat, have it slaughtered, and this would redeem you, and return you to right relationship with God and with your community. That was the idea of redemption in the Old Testament, and it was a pretty good business model for the Temple.

Then Jesus comes along, and in him Anna realizes that the redemption model has changed.  That in this little child the price has been paid. Now this idea of Jesus “paying for our sins” is a theology some of you may be familiar with. There is a long tradition within the Protestant brand of Christianity that claims a blood sacrifice was made by God, in the person of Jesus to, once and for all, pay for our sins. I don’t believe that. 

I believe humanity killed Jesus on the cross, without God’s consent or complicity. Our redemption came through the resurrection of Jesus. The redemption came when God said: “You can kill me, but you can’t get rid of me. I am here, this near, with you, always, because I love you more than you could ever hate me.” That is what resurrection means.

Jesus’s incarnational presence 2000 years ago allowed him to be alive in a way that allowed him to die; which was important, for without death there could be no resurrection; and resurrection is what allows Jesus to be permanently available to you and to me, without the intercessory requirements of animal sacrifice or priestly prayers.

This new redemption model is prophesized by Anna, and then spoken by her over and over again. The way it is written in Greek, her speaking about Jesus is not a one-time occurrence, but an on-going action that becomes a reality when Jesus is raised from the dead.

It is interesting to note that it is women who God trusts with this new vision of redemption. Anna is the prophet, and it is the women who discover the empty tomb that continue this message forward, as an on-going action.

And so, in closing, let’s review the big rocks of this sermon: consolation and redemption. Simeon redefines for us the consolation of God, transforming it from hierarchical supremacy  to world unity. The Nunc Dimittis is our daily reminder of this truth. And Anna, for her part, predicts Jesus’s redemption of the world, not by death, but by resurrection.

Our redemption comes from a God that is right here, this near, always ready to embrace us when we turn and accept God’s love. We were created for these very things: to love God; to trust God; to be in right relationship with God, so, we can have right relationship with one another.

Consolation and redemption. Simeon and Anna. That is what we celebrate today. 

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Dr. Justin Imel, Sr.

Sermon on the Gospel according to John | Backsliding | John 6:56-69

Backsliding (John 6:56-69)

One of my mentors came to host a gospel meeting, and the Saturday before the meeting started, the congregation door knocked. We met a lady who was very interested—in fact, she was participating in World Bible School courses with a teacher in Tennessee. Connie came that Sunday, and she soon was coming every Sunday. She went to Tennessee one weekend to visit her World Bible School teacher; while she was on that trip, Connie sent a text saying that she had been baptized into Christ. We were so thrilled!

Over the next year, Connie became an important, active member of the church. If you needed help, you could call Connie, and she would be there to support you. However, Connie began to learn some truths that made her uncomfortable. One afternoon, Connie came by the office and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I love this church, but it’s just too difficult,” gave me her church key, and walked out the door. We never saw Connie again.

You could likely tell nearly identical stories about people you’ve known. You’ve likely seen people come to Jesus and people leave Jesus. Look around this morning—how many people can you name right now who used to sit in this assembly but have left Jesus? Is it even the case that you backslid for a while—maybe several years—and you’ve now come back to Jesus.

When Jesus said some hard truths, many disciples deserted him. As we examined last week , Jesus had been speaking about the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The people didn’t understand anything about the Lord’s Supper, and they thought Jesus was talking about cannibalism, so they left.

Jesus then turned to the Twelve to see if they were going to leave, too. Simon Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). Peter’s refusal to leave Jesus because he alone has the words of eternal life teaches an important lesson: “ Turning from Jesus brings death. ”

Scripture (John 6:56-69)

verses 56-58 :

Since we discussed these verses last Sunday, I’ve included them here only so we can recall the full context.

verses 60-61 :

The disciples’ grumbling recalls how the Israelites grumbled against Moses. The word “offense” in the English Standard Version was a common figure of speech which meant “to sin” or “to fall away.” Jesus asked these disciples if they would leave him because of what he had said.

Jesus used a “how much more” argument here. If Jesus’s disciples had trouble understanding eating his flesh and drinking his blood, the resurrection and ascension would blow their minds.

Jesus said he wasn’t speaking literally—he wasn’t talking about cannibalism; he was speaking spiritually—he was talking about the Lord’s Supper.

verses 64-66 :

Some people, though, didn’t believe Jesus, and they chose to turn back from following him because he spoke hard truths.

verse 67-69 :

Jesus asked the Twelve if they wished to leave, too. Instead of leaving, Peter spoke the to this morning’s vital point. The Twelve couldn’t go anywhere, for Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. Think about the full import of Peter’s words: Leaving Jesus leaves you without the words of eternal life, and eternal death naturally follows losing eternal life.

The Twelve had come to believe and to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God. Both verbs “believe” and “know” are in the perfect tense. The idea is that the Twelve believed in the past that Jesus is the Holy One of God, and they have continued in that belief. They were in a state of believing and knowing Jesus’s true identity.

Application

“ Turning from Jesus brings death. ” Jesus has the words of eternal life, and if you leave him, you’re without the words of eternal life. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62). “My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him” (Heb 10:38). “If, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first” (2 Pet 2:20).

You don’t want to turn back from Jesus; turning back brings hell. How can you stay with Jesus instead of backsliding?

Admit that Jesus said some Hard things. Most of Jesus’s disciples rejected him because they didn’t like what he said. Let’s face it: Throughout the Gospels Jesus announced some Hard truths. What about loving Jesus more than your family? What about loving money? What about marriage, divorce, and remarriage? Not everything Jesus said fits what we wish he had said.

Sit down with the Sermon on the Mount, because Jesus said some Hard truths in that passage. Go through the Sermon and identify what for you personally are Hard truths. What is hard for you to practice? What do you wish Jesus had said differently? What do you wish he hadn’t said at all?

Understand Jesus called you to a life of sacrifice, and he called you to a life of putting his will over your will. Recognize that being a disciple of Jesus is no easy task.

Recognize that Jesus spoke hard truths, but you must still Hear Jesus. Jesus has the words of eternal life; Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). Jesus’s words are life: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (Jn 6:63). Jesus’s words give eternal life: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (Jn 8:51).

Go back to the Sermon on the Mount with all its hard truths. Understand those hard truths are words of eternal life. If you need to do so, write beside truths you find difficult: “Words of eternal life.” Obeying those words is the difference between heaven and hell. Hear those words!

Three: Hold

Hold the same truth as the Twelve: “We have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:69). Peter said the Twelve wouldn’t leave Jesus because of hard truths because they knew who Jesus was. Since Jesus is the Holy One of God, the Twelve didn’t need to understand or like everything he said.

To stay firm in the faith, Hold in your heart and in your soul and in your mind that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God. Spending time in the Gospels is how you develop that faith: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:30-31). Read through the Gospels—see Jesus’s miracles, hear his teaching, witness his death, rejoice over his resurrection, and Hold that he is the “Holy One of God.”

What if people truly understood that “ Turning from Jesus brings death? ” They would stick with Jesus regardless of how much they disliked what he said. They would commit to hear Jesus since his words bring eternal life. They would spend time in the Scriptures to increase their faith in Jesus as the Holy One of God.

What about you? How is your faith? Are you turning to Jesus for life, or are you turning from him for death?

This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr. , at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD IN THE TEMPLE

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II

Friday, 2 February 2002

1. "Lumen ad revelationem gentium" (A light for revelation to the Gentiles).

The liturgy of today's feast recalls, in the first place, the words of the Prophet Malachi: "the Lord whom you s eek will suddenly come to his temple... behold, he is coming." These words, in fact, come true at this moment: there enters his temple for the first time he who is its Lord. It is a question of the temple of the Old Covenant, which was the preparation for the New Covenant. God makes this New Covenant with his people in him whom "he anointed and sent into the world", that is, in his Son. The temple of the Old Covenant waits for that Anointed one, the Messiah. The reason for its existence, so to speak, is this waiting.

And here he enters. Brought by the hands of Mary and Joseph. He enters as an infant, forty days old, in order to meet the requirements of Mosaic law. He is brought to the temple like so many other Israelite children: the child of poor parents. So be enters unobserved and

Although everything seems to indicate that here, at this moment, no one is expecting him and no one notices him, actually it is not so. The aged Simeon goes up to Mary and Joseph, takes the child in his arms, and utters the words that are a living echo of the prophecy of Isaiah:

"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel" (Lk 2:29-32; cf. Is 2:2-5; 25:7).

These words are a synthesis of the whole expectation, a synthesis of the Old Covenant. The man who utters them, does not speak by himself. He is a prophet: he speaks from the depth of the Revelation and of the faith of Israel. He announces the fulfilment of the Old and the beginning of the New.

2. The light.

Today the Church blesses the candles which give light. These candles are, at the same time, a symbol of the other light, the light that is Christ. He began to be light from the moment of his birth. He was revealed as light to the eyes of Simeon on the fortieth day after his birth. Then he remained as light for thirty years in the hidden life of Nazareth. Subsequently, he began to teach, and the period of his teaching was a short one. He said: "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12). When he was crucified "there was darkness over all the land" (Mt 27:45 and sim.), but on the third day this darkness made way for the light of the resurrection.

The light is with us!

What does it illumine?

It illumines the darkness of human souls. The darkness of existence. Man makes a perennial and immense effort to open up a way and arrive at light; the light of knowledge and existence. How many years does not man at times dedicate to clarifying some fact for himself, to finding the answer to a given question! And how much personal toil it costs each of us in order that

If we ask what is illumined by this light, recognized by Simeon in the Child forty days old, the answer is as follows: it is the answer of the interior experience of so many men who have decided to follow this light. It is the answer of your life, my dear Brothers and Sisters, men and women religious who take part today in the Liturgy of this feast, holding a lighted candle in your hands. It is, as it were, a foretaste of the paschal vigil when the Church, that is each of us, holding high the lighted candle, will cross the threshold of the temple, singing "Lumen Christi". It is particularly in depth that Christ illumines the mystery of man. Particularly and deeply, and with what delicacy, he descends into the secret recesses of souls and of human consciences. He is the Master of life, in the deepest sense. Yet just he, he, the only one, has revealed to each of us, and always reveals to so many men, the truth that "man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself (cf. Lk 17:33)" ( Gaudium et Spes , 24).

Let us give thanks today for the light that is in the midst of us. Let us give thanks for everything that, by means of Christ, has become light in ourselves; has ceased to be "darkness and the unknown".

3. Finally, Simeon says to Mary, first with regard to her Son: "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against." Then with regard to herself: "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk 2:34-35).

This day is his feast; the feast of Jesus Christ, on the fortieth day of his life, in the temple of Jerusalem according to the provisions of the law of Moses (cf. Lk 2:22-24). And it is also her feast: Mary's.

She carries the Child in her aims. He, even in her hands, is the light of our souls, the light that illumines the darkness of knowledge and of human existence, of the intellect and the heart.

The thoughts of so many hearts are revealed when her mother's hands carry this great divine Light, when they bring it closer to man.

Hail, you who became Mother of our light at the cost of the great sacrifice of your Son, at the cost of the motherly sacrifice of your heart!

4. And, finally, allow me, today, on the day after my return from Mexico, to thank you, O Lady of Guadalupe, for this Light which your Son is for the sons and daughters of that country and also of the whole of Latin America, The third General Conference of the Episcopate of that Continent, which began solemnly at your feet, O Mary, in the Sanctuary of Guadalupe, has been carrying out its work in Puebla since 28 January on the subject of the evangelization of Latin America in the present and in the future. It is endeavouring to show the ways along which the light of Christ must reach the contemporary generation in that great and promising continent.

Let us recommend this work in prayer, looking today at Christ carried in his Mother's arms, and listening to Simeon's words: "Lumen ad revelationem gentium".

© Copyright 1979 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana