Today, the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, by a series of happy coincidences is replaced by the Feast of the Presentation of the Baby Jesus in the Temple, which is also the “World Day for Consecrated Life.” The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple invites us to focus on Jesus, the source of our life and the Light of all Nations. This feast reminds us of our own consecration to the Lord on the day of our baptism. Like Jesus, we too, are expected to live in an attitude of constant self-offering in the service of the Kingdom. Like Jesus, we too are expected to appreciate life, do our best to promote it in all its potentials, and to protect it from whatever endangers or destroys it. The “presentation” of a male firstborn in the Temple was both an expression of gratitude for the sparing of the Jewish firstborns in Egypt, and a profession of faith in God as the source of all life. Strictly speaking, the presentation was a consecration of the child to the Lord. But the possibility of “redeeming” him through an offering, had made the rite just a little more than a pious formality. Not so in the case of Jesus. His presentation in the Temple was a solemn consecration and a real offertory. It expressed in a ritual manner the deepest reality of the purpose of Jesus’ very existence -to be totally devoted to the service of the Father. His “presentation” in the Temple was an anticipation/prophecy of his self-offering on Calvary for the salvation of all men. God, who had spared the Israelite firstborns in Egypt, would not spare His own Firstborn Son but would hand him over for us all. For her part, Mary, his mother, participated in that sacrificial offering not only in the Temple but also on Calvary, as Simeon prophesied: “Suffering, like a sword, will pierce your heart.”
The sword of suffering would pierce Mary’s heart also when she had to carry her child to safety in Egypt from Herod’s attempt to kill him and when she roamed for three days throughout Jerusalem in search of her lost Son. In this Eucharist, we renew our vow God and His people.
HOLY SPIRIT: INSPIRE US
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THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD: A LIFE VOWED TO GOD
