homily on the presentation of jesus in the temple

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

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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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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What moves me? Pope’s homily for Feast of Presentation (full text)

REMO CASILLI / POOL / AFP

On February 2, the World Day for Consecrated Life and the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Here is a Vatican translation of the full text of his homily (emphases ours):

Two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, await in the Temple the fulfilment of the promise that God made to his people: the coming of the Messiah. Yet theirs is no passive expectation, it is full of movement. Let us look at what Simeon does. First,  he is moved  by the Spirit; then  he sees  salvation in the Child Jesus and finally  he takes him  into his arms (cf.  Lk  2:26-28). Let us simply consider these three actions and reflect on some important questions for us and in particular for the consecrated life.

First,  what moves us?  Simeon goes to the Temple, “moved by the spirit” (v. 27). The Holy Spirit is the protagonist in this scene. He makes Simeon’s heart burn with desire for God. He keeps expectation alive in his heart: He impels him to go to the Temple and he enables his eyes to recognize the Messiah, even in the guise of a poor little baby. That is what the Holy Spirit does: he enables us to discern God’s presence and activity not in great things, in outward appearances or shows of force, but in littleness and vulnerability. Think of the cross. There too we find littleness and vulnerability, but also something dramatic: the power of God. Those words “moved by the spirit” remind us of what ascetic theology calls “movements of the Spirit”: those movements of the soul that we recognize within ourselves and are called to test, in order to discern whether they come from the Holy Spirit or not. Be attentive to the interior movements of the Spirit.

We can also ask, who mostly moves  us ? Is it the Holy Spirit, or the spirit of this world? This a question that everyone, consecrated persons in particular, needs to ask. The Spirit moves us to see God in the littleness and vulnerability of a baby, yet we at times risk seeing our consecration only in terms of results, goals and success: we look for influence, for visibility, for numbers. This is a temptation. The Spirit, on the other hand, asks for none of this. He wants us to cultivate daily fidelity and to be attentive to the little things entrusted to our care. How touching is the fidelity shown by Simeon and Anna! Each day they go to the Temple, each day they keep watch and pray, even though time passes and nothing seems to happen. They live their lives in expectation, without discouragement or complaint, persevering in fidelity and nourishing the flame of hope that the Spirit has kindled in their hearts.

Brothers and sisters, we can ask, what moves  our days ? What is the love that makes us keep going? Is it the Holy Spirit, or the passion of the moment, or something else? How do we “move” in the Church and in society? Sometimes, even behind the appearance of good works, the canker of narcissism, or the need to stand out, can be concealed. In other cases, even as we go about doing many things, our religious communities can appear moved more by mechanical repetition – acting out of habit, just to keep busy – than by enthusiastic openness to the Holy Spirit. All of us would do well today to examine our interior motivations and discern our spiritual movements, so that the renewal of consecrated life may come about, first and foremost, from there.

A second question:  What do our eyes see?  Simeon, moved by the Spirit, sees and recognizes Christ. And he prays, saying: “My eyes have seen your salvation” (v. 30). This is the great miracle of faith: it opens eyes, transforms gazes, changes perspectives. As we know from Jesus’ many encounters in the Gospel, faith is born of the compassionate gaze with which God looks upon us, softening the hardness of our hearts, healing our wounds and giving us new eyes to look at ourselves and at our world. New ways to see ourselves, others and all the situations that we experience, even those that are most painful.  This gaze is not naïve but sapiential. A naïve gaze flees reality and refuses to see problems. A sapiential gaze, however, can “look within” and “see beyond”. It is a gaze that does not stop at appearances, but can enter into the very cracks of our weaknesses and failures, in order to discern God’s presence even there.

To have the wisdom to look at things – this is a gift of the Spirit – to look at things well, to see them in perspective, to grasp reality.

The eyes of the elderly Simeon, albeit dimmed by the years, see the Lord. They see salvation. What about us? Each of us can ask: what do our eyes see? What is our vision of consecrated life? The world often sees it as “a waste”: “look at that fine young person becoming a friar or a nun, what a waste! If at least they were ugly… but what a waste”! That is how we think. The world perhaps sees this as a relic of the past, something useless. But we, the Christian community, men and women religious, what do we see? Are our eyes turned only inward, yearning for something that no longer exists, or are we capable of a farsighted gaze of faith, one that looks both within and beyond? To have the wisdom to  look at things  – this is a gift of the Spirit – to look at things well, to see them in perspective, to grasp reality. I am greatly edified when I see older consecrated men and women whose eyes are bright, who continue to smile and in this way to give hope to the young. Let us think of all those times when we encountered such persons, and bless God for this. For their eyes are full of hope and openness to the future. And perhaps we would do well, in these days, to go make a visit to our elderly religious brothers and sisters, to see them, to talk with them, to ask questions, to hear what they are thinking. I consider this a good medicine.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord never fails to give us signs that invite us to cultivate  a renewed vision  of consecrated life. We need to do this, but in the light of the Holy Spirit and docile to his movements. We cannot pretend not to see these signs and go on as usual, doing the same old things, drifting back through inertia to the forms of the past, paralyzed by fear of change. I have said this over and over again: nowadays the temptation to go back, for security, out of fear, in order to preserve the faith or the charism of the founder… is a temptation. The temptation to go back and preserve “”traditions” with rigidity. Let’s get this into our head: rigidity is a perversion, and beneath every form of rigidity there are grave problems. Neither Simeon or Anna were rigid; no, they were free and had the joy of celebrating: Simeon by praising the Lord and prophesying with courage to the child’s mother. Anna, like a good old woman, kept saying: “Look at them!” “Look at this!” She spoke with joy, her eyes full of hope. None of the inertia of the past, no rigidity. Let us open our eyes: the Spirit is inviting us amid our crises – and crises there are –, our decreasing numbers – “Father, there are no vocations, now we will go to some island of Indonesia to see if we can find one” – and our diminishing forces, to renew our lives and our communities.

Brothers and sisters, let us not waste today by looking back at yesterday, or dreaming of a tomorrow that will never come; instead, let us place ourselves before the Lord in adoration and ask for eyes to see goodness and to discern the ways of God.

And how do we do this? He will show us the way. Let us open our hearts, with courage and without fear. Let us look at Simeon and Anna: although they were advanced in years, they did not spend their days mourning a past that never comes back, but instead embraced the future opening up before them. Brothers and sisters, let us not waste today by looking back at yesterday, or dreaming of a tomorrow that will never come; instead, let us place ourselves before the Lord in adoration and ask for eyes to see goodness and to discern the ways of God. The Lord will give them to us, if we ask him. With joy, with courage, without fear.

Finally, a third question:  what do we take into our own arms ? Simeon took Jesus into his arms (cf. v. 28). It is a touching scene, full of meaning and unique in the Gospels. God has placed his Son in our arms too, because embracing Jesus is the essential thing, the very heart of faith. Sometimes we risk losing our bearings, getting caught up in a thousand different things, obsessing about minor issues or plunging into new projects, yet the heart of everything is Christ, embracing him as the Lord of our lives.

Sometimes we risk losing our bearings, getting caught up in a thousand different things, obsessing about minor issues or plunging into new projects, yet the heart of everything is Christ, embracing him as the Lord of our lives.

When Simeon took Jesus into his arms, he spoke words of blessing, praise and wonder. And we, after so many years of consecrated life, have we lost the ability to be amazed? Do we still have this capacity? Let us examine ourselves on this, and if someone does not find it, let him or her ask the grace of amazement, amazement before the wonders that God is working in us, hidden, like those in the temple, when Simeon and Anna encountered Jesus. If consecrated men and women lack words that bless God and other people, if they lack joy, if their enthusiasm fails, if their fraternal life is only a chore, if amazement is lacking, that is not the fault of someone or something else. The real reason is that our arms no longer embrace Jesus. And when the arms of a consecrated man or woman do not embrace Jesus, they embrace a vacuum which they try to fill with other things, but it remains a vacuum. To take Jesus into our arms: this is the sign, the journey, the recipe for renewal. When we fail to take Jesus into our arms, our hearts fall prey to bitterness. It is sad to see religious who are bitter: closed up in complaining about things that do not go like clockwork. They are always complaining about something: the superior, their brothers or sisters, the community, the food… They live for something to complain about. But we have to embrace Jesus in adoration and ask for eyes capable of seeing the goodness and discerning the ways of God. If we embrace Christ with open arms, we will also embrace others with trust and humility. Then conflicts will not escalate, disagreements will not divide, and the temptation to domineer and to offend the dignity of others will be overcome. So let us open our arms to Christ and to all our brothers and sisters. For that is where Jesus is.

When we fail to take Jesus into our arms, our hearts fall prey to bitterness.

Dear friends, today let us joyfully renew our consecration! Let us ask ourselves what “moves” our hearts and actions, what renewed vision we are being called to cultivate, and above all else, let us take Jesus into our arms. Even if at times we experience fatigue and weariness – this too happens – let us do as Simeon and Anna did.  They awaited with patience the fidelity of the Lord and did not allow themselves to be robbed of the joy of the encounter with him. Let us advance to the joy of the encounter: this is beautiful! Let us put the Lord back in the centre, and press forward with joy. Amen.

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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 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

on the Holy Family The Holy Family

Catholic Daily Readings

Catholic readings, daily reflections, bible verse of the day, healing prayer, morning prayer, saint of the day, feast of the presentation of the lord at the temple – luke 2:22-40, translate to your language.

February 2 2024: Bible Verse of the Day – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple, Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas – Luke 2:22-40

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” – Luke 2:22-40

Catholic Readings For Today

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Today’s Morning Prayer

Today’s Bible Verse of the Day Reflections

We celebrate, today, the glorious event of Jesus being presented in the Temple by Mary and Joseph. Simeon, a “righteous and devout” man, had been waiting for this moment throughout his life. The passage above is what he spoke when the moment finally arrived.

This is a profound statement that came from a humble and faith-filled heart. Simeon was saying something like this: “Lord of Heaven and earth, my life is now complete.

I’ve seen Him. I’ve held Him. He is the one. He is the Messiah. There is nothing more I need in life. My life is fulfilled. I am now ready to die. My life has reached its purpose and culmination.”

Simeon, like any other ordinary human being, would have had many experiences in life. He would have had many ambitions and goals.

Many things he worked hard for. So for him to say that he was now ready to “go in peace” simply means that the purpose of his life was fulfilled and that all he has worked for and striven for has come to culmination in this moment.

That’s saying a lot! But it’s really a great witness for us in our daily lives and gives us an example of what we should strive for.

We see in this experience of Simeon that life must be about encountering Christ and fulfilling our purpose in accordance with God’s plan.

For Simeon, that purpose revealed to him through the gift of his faith, was to receive the Christ Child in the temple at His presentation and to then consecrate this Child to the Father in accordance with the law.

What is your mission and purpose in life? It will not be the same as Simeon but it will have similarities. God has a perfect plan for you that He will reveal to you in faith.

This calling and purpose will ultimately be about you receiving Christ in the temple of your heart and then praising and worshiping Him for all to see.

It will take on a unique form in accordance with the will of God for your life. But it will be as significant and important as Simeon’s calling and will be integral to the entire divine plan of salvation for the world.

Reflect, today, upon your own calling and mission in life. Don’t miss your call. Don’t miss your mission.

Continue to listen, anticipate, and act in faith as that plan unfolds so that you, too, may one day rejoice and “go in peace” confident that this calling has been fulfilled.

Prayer: Lord, I am Your servant. I seek Your will. Help me to respond to You in faith and openness and help me to say “Yes” to You so that my life will achieve the purpose for which I was made. I thank You for the witness of Simeon and pray that I, too, will one day rejoice that my life has been fulfilled. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.

Bible Verse of the Day in Pictures

Related Links

• Catholic Daily Readings for The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2nd February 2020, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Sunday Homily
• Catholic Daily Mass Readings for February 2 2024, Friday, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – Homily
• 2nd February 2019: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Year C
• The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast Day – November 21 2023
• The Feast of Presentation of the Lord – February 2

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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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Indian Catholic Matters

A New Home for the Community!

Homily: Presentation of Our Lord

By Fr. Eugene Lobo, SJ –

Mal. 3:1-4, Heb. 2:10-11, 13b-18; Luke. 2:22-40

Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the feast of Purification of our Lady in the Temple at Jerusalem. Their offering was later to find complete and perfect fulfilment in the mystery of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord. The liturgy of the day opens with the blessing of the candles and the procession to the altar to meet Christ and to recognize him “in the breaking of the bread” until he comes again in glory.

While today’s readings echo both, the Presentation of the Lord to the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, in its wisdom, the Catholic Church deemed it more praiseworthy to place emphasis on the Feast of the Lord Jesus. Our sanctification was constantly on the mind of Jesus. It was on His mind during His ministry. And it was on His mind when He prayed after the Last Supper. In His words, while praying to the Father, Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Today is also the day of consecrated life which necessarily passes through participation in the cross of Christ. This is how it seeks out Mary Most Holy. Hers is the suffering of the heart that is one with the Heart of the Son of God, pierced by love.

This feast proclaims Christ as the Light of the World. The event we are celebrating today takes us back to what Mary and Joseph did when, 40 days after the birth of Jesus when they presented their child to God as their firstborn son, complying with the Law of Moses. At the presentation in the Temple, Mary, the faithful Virgin who took part with him in the eternal plan of salvation, was with him as she was on Calvary.

The traditional liturgy for the day is called 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. On this day the Church celebrates the Day of Consecrated Life in this setting of light, faith and hope. All those who have offered their life to Christ for ever for the coming of the Kingdom of God are invited to renew their “yes” to the special vocation they have received. The entire Ecclesial Community, however, also rediscovers the riches of the prophetic witness of consecrated life in the variety of its charisms and apostolic commitments.

Two Purposes

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 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 went through this purification process to fulfil 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 they would offer a one year old lamb, but if not they would offer two young pigeons. Joseph offered two young pigeons indicating the poverty experienced by the family and their inability to make a greater offering. Yet they show their total submission to Law and obey the norms prescribed by the Old Testament. It was the moment the baby Jesus who visited the Temple for the first time offered himself to the Father to fulfil the call of obedience. Mary offers herself to God as an act of thanksgiving for the choice God made of her as the mother of His only Son and thus fulfils her “yes” of the Annunciation.

In today’s First Reading we have the God’s word to prophet Malachi, who said that he was sending his messenger to prepare his way. God promised Malachi that the Leader whom the people were seeking would suddenly come to his Temple. So Malachi makes his prophecy that the Lord will enter his temple, there will be a renewed priesthood, and there will be a pure sacrifice offered worldwide pleasing to God. The Prophet then goes on to say that when the Lord enters the Temple he will purify everything sacred 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.

In other words the presence of the person of Lord who will be shining forth like a bright light and burning fire to purify like the goldsmith or the silver refinery would do. This purification will take place until they present offerings to the Lord in a spirit of justice and righteousness. The Prophet remembers the glory of the past when the offerings made by the people of Israel were perfect before God and Yahweh accepted them with love. Similarly the offerings made by the Lord who is purified in the Temple will be like the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Today’s Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews teaches us that Jesus had to become like His brothers and sisters in every respect. To bring us to glory, Jesus was made our source of perfect salvation through sufferings. As we suffer in life, he suffered for our sake. Jesus was rejected by most of his own people. And he was even accused of being possessed by evil spirit. All of this he wholeheartedly endured for us.

The Letter tells us that the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus was not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters, saying, “Here am I, and the children whom God has given me.” As our Saviour Jesus emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the evil one. Through this tremendous act of love, He freed all of us who were held in slavery by the fear of death. When Jesus came into this world, he did not come to save the angels. He came to save the spiritual children of Abraham, all of us who believe in Him. For the sins of the people, Jesus made the perfect sacrifice of atonement to God, the self-sacrifice of every spark of life that was within Himself. As a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God who has been tested by what he has suffered, he is now able to help us who are being tested.

In the Gospel of today we have the persons of the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and Jesus going to Jerusalem where they have to ritually redeem Jesus who was the first born in the family and where Mary herself will have to be ritually purified. The Gospel tells us of the prophesy and blessing of Simeon the Prophet. Today these three persons are given to us an example for all Christian families to look towards this earthly trinity as an example, inspiration and encouragement. We find all the three aspects in today’s Gospel.

Whenever a Jewish couple became parents of a firstborn son, two ritual acts were required. First, they had to redeem the firstborn son or buy him back from the Lord because it was rightly to the Lord he belonged. The second ritual was the purification of the mother, which was aimed at making her ritually clean. Luke does not give us how these rituals were performed in the Temple. He shows their humble unquestionable obedience to the Mosaic Law, a law to which they were not really bound, is an example and encouragement to all. Mary because of the virginal conception and the birth of Jesus the Son of God did not need the legal purification. Jesus himself being the divine person did not have to be redeemed or purchased from God. His whole life on earth was going to be uninterrupted service of God. Joseph as Father and Head of the Family silently accompanies Mary and the child to Jerusalem. They perform the rights that were asked of them.

Luke in the gospel intends to show us that 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 fact that they were poor can be deduced from the detail that their sacrificial offering was the lowest required: a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. The common offering would be a lamb but exceptions were made for those who could not afford it.

The Perfect Offering

The Gospel tells us of the silent offering of the three persons of themselves to God, was a perfect offering. After this they returned to Nazareth to live a life of obscurity and poverty for the next thirty years. They were probably often short of necessities of life, the earnings of Joseph as a village carpenter may not have been high. They willingly accepted the simple ordinary life in a remote village, living in harmony, observing the laws prescribed, visiting the Temple and Synagogue and living an exemplary life. They indeed accepted God’s will and having understood partially at least the salvific role of Jesus, they were ready to accept the suffering and pain that came along the way. They are for us a true example of what a family life should be here on earth.

Today’s gospel speaks of two other persons Simeon and Anna, who are characterized as being lifelong righteous and devout Jews, who encounter Jesus, Mary and Joseph during their ritual visit in the Temple. Their purpose is simply to point out who Jesus really is and his destiny is going to be the salvation of Israel.

There is dark and painful side of the Prophesy in that Simeon indicates that Jesus will run into many obstacles and Mary herself will have to suffer on his account. Simeon spoke guided by the Holy Spirit and this in reality was God’s greater plan. The old woman Anna, too, on seeing the child, breaks into praising God. And she spoke of him to all who looked forward to the liberation of Jerusalem. She gives her silent witness to the world’s longing for salvation through him. We look at the response of Mary and Joseph towards this sudden encounter. They were totally amazed by what these two prophets had to say. They are portrayed as being unaware that their son was anything other than ordinary first born son. Perhaps this was the time for Mary to ponder once more the Annunciation scene where the angel had told her that he would be king. Certainly it was time for Joseph and Mary to understand more fully their responsibility before God to protect the child and they return to Nazareth unfazed by all this. The Gospel tells us that in Nazareth Jesus grew into adulthood and grew in wisdom, while God’s favour was with him.

Perfect Model

Mary, Joseph and Jesus model for us the life of the Holy Family. Joseph exhibited great trust in God and demonstrated intense devotion and love in caring for Mary and Jesus. Scripture does not quote a single word of Joseph, and yet his actions speak volumes of a strong man devoted to God and family. Mary, too, showed tremendous faith in God and trusted in God’s love for her. As wife, she helped Joseph in his quest for holiness. As mother, she cared for Jesus with great love and tenderness.

Both Mary and Joseph created the environment which allowed Jesus to grow in wisdom and age and favour before God and man. Jesus, for his part, was obedient to Mary and Joseph and obviously loved them both very much. Out of great love for his Father and for us, he was obedient to all that God asked of him, including death on a cross. This type of sacrificial love for the other defines a significant attribute of a holy family– a love that allows all in the family to flourish in their quest for holiness.

While today’s readings echo both, the Presentation of the Lord to the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, in its wisdom, the Catholic Church deemed it more praiseworthy to place emphasis on the Feast of the Lord Jesus. The Gospel presents us with the offering of Mary and Joseph of Jesus to God and Mary offering herself for the salvation of humanity.

The challenge for us is to adopt the spirit of Simeon and Anna – to not be afraid of what lies ahead because we have a God who surely hears our prayers and comes to our assistance in ways beyond our imagining. We should all pray to have this wonderful trust that inspires the dying Simeon to say, “Now, Master, your servant can go in peace for I have seen the salvation our people – the salvation that you promised us.” Again, more importantly we turn our attention to Mary, who carries our Lord, still an infant, into the Temple. It won’t be the first time that we will see Mary and Jesus in the Temple – we will see them again when Jesus is about twelve and Mary and Joseph go to find Him in the Temple, arguing with the Jewish elders.

Finally, we will see the Temple of our Lord’s body being broken at Calvary, this time just yards outside of Jerusalem – Mary, this time – at the foot of the Cross. And so, let us briefly examine these three scenes: First, the infant Jesus in the Temple for the Presentation. In this second scene, the infant Jesus is now a child – full of zeal for His Father’s house that He is about His Father’s business. Finally, the third scene – this time, the Temple is the body of Jesus being broken on the Cross. These are some the mysteries of our Faith. Let us find great comfort and great confidence in knowing that the very mother, who willed to present Jesus to the Father, now stands ready, to present us in the same way. May the hope that is grounded in our faith inspire us to continue to trust that peace in the world and in our land can be ours if we consent, like Mary, to greater obedience to the will of the Father.

Gopal Mukherjee was a young little boy fond of reading books and learning new things in life. He was extremely quiet by nature but was always prayerful since his young days. One day when he busy reading a book and enjoying it his mother called him out and said, Gopal, I want you go out and meet the man there. The young boy in curiosity went out and there what he saw surprised him. There was a Holy Man, a mendicant who was doing acrobatic tricks and somersaults to amuse the village kids.

Gopal went and stood close to him as his mother asked him. The man asked the young boy, son what you want to do. Gopal replied, sir, I want to play. The man said, look, do you want to play with God. The boy kept quiet. The man continued, look, everyone takes God seriously and no one wants to play with him. Will you play with God? Gopal says in his later writings that this word changed his life that he could play with God.

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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.

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

This year Mark is the main Gospel in the Revised Common Lectionary. Want a great way to creatively engage with each Sunday’s text? Want something to keep your kids on-topic during the sermon on Sunday? Try my Illuminate-You-Own Gospel of Mark. Each story is on a page of its own, with a blank facing page for doodles, prayers, sermon notes, or journal entries. Click the image below to check it out on Amazon. (It’s an affiliate link.)

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Luke 2:22-40 New International Version

Jesus presented in the temple.

22  When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, ( A ) Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord” [ a ] ), ( B ) 24  and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” [ b ] ( C )

25  Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. ( D ) He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, ( E ) and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26  It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27  Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ( F ) 28  Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29  “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, ( G )      you may now dismiss [ c ] your servant in peace. ( H ) 30  For my eyes have seen your salvation, ( I ) 31       which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32  a light for revelation to the Gentiles,      and the glory of your people Israel.” ( J )

33  The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34  Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ( K ) “This child is destined to cause the falling ( L ) and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35  so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36  There was also a prophet, ( M ) Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37  and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. [ d ] ( N ) She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ( O ) 38  Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. ( P )

39  When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ( Q ) 40  And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. ( R )

• Luke 2:23 Exodus 13:2,12
• Luke 2:24 Lev. 12:8
• Luke 2:29 Or promised, / now dismiss
• Luke 2:37 Or then had been a widow for eighty-four years.

Cross references

• Luke 2:22 : Lev 12:2-8
• Luke 2:23 : Ex 13:2, 12, 15; Nu 3:13
• Luke 2:24 : Lev 12:8
• Luke 2:25 : Lk 1:6
• Luke 2:25 : ver 38; Isa 52:9; Lk 23:51
• Luke 2:27 : ver 22
• Luke 2:29 : ver 26
• Luke 2:29 : Ac 2:24
• Luke 2:30 : Isa 40:5; 52:10; Lk 3:6
• Luke 2:32 : Isa 42:6; 49:6; Ac 13:47; 26:23
• Luke 2:34 : S Mt 12:46
• Luke 2:34 : Isa 8:14; Mt 21:44; 1Co 1:23; 2Co 2:16; Gal 5:11; 1Pe 2:7, 8
• Luke 2:36 : S Ac 21:9
• Luke 2:37 : 1Ti 5:9
• Luke 2:37 : Ac 13:3; 14:23; 1Ti 5:5
• Luke 2:38 : ver 25; Isa 40:2; 52:9; Lk 1:68; 24:21
• Luke 2:39 : ver 51; S Mt 2:23
• Luke 2:40 : ver 52; Lk 1:80

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.

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Wednesday 2 February 2022: Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Following the light malachi 3:1-5; luke 2:22-40.

By Jessica Horsfall Member of the Anglican Benedictine Community at Mucknell Abbey, UK

Context: a Eucharistic service attended by about 20 adults, made up of the monastic community and retreat guests, along with local ‘regulars.’ Mostly well-educated and with an interest in monastic spirituality

Aim: to encourage openness to God in our lives

Today’s feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple is often also called Candlemas, stemming from a tradition whereby the candles to be used in church for the coming year would be blessed on this day; it was this aspect that I used to focus on when I taught classes of seven and eight-year-olds about this event from Jesus’ life. We would make ‘stained glass’ candles from black sugar paper and white, orange and yellow tissue paper – simple, effective, and a good reminder of a phrase they heard often: ‘Jesus is the light of the world’.

This was a familiar phrase for the children, as it was the response to the question they were asked at the beginning of almost every school assembly: ‘why do we light this candle?’ Candles and the light they symbolise are both a familiar and important part of our worship. Some versions of the Exultet, often sung at the Easter Vigil, include a line giving thanks to the bees for the wax that has created the Paschal Candle.

Light is a potent symbol of so many things: resurrection, life, healing, joy, surprise, dawn, newness. The opportunities for exploration and meditation are almost endless, but I’d like to focus today on just two aspects of light: its power to illuminate and its power to guide.

AN ILLUMINATING LIGHT

Have you ever seen an illuminated manuscript, or a picture of one, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, or the Book of Kells? They are beautiful to look at, and the artistic skill on display is truly awesome in its intricacy and attention to detail. Such beauty is part of God’s plan for our lives, too: as we abide in the light of Christ, spending time with God in prayer, in worship, in scripture and in sacrament, we will find that we are slowly being changed, decorated, awakened. Living in the light of Christ frees us to become all that we were made to be, and I sometimes imagine this process by picturing an initial letter – in my case a J – being slowly painted in and decorated, being brought to life by God my creator, so that I too may shine as a light in the world, resplendent with the beauty that comes from God.

Illumination, though, does not come with a guarantee of comfort, and we get a hint of that both in Simeon’s words to Mary: ‘a sign that will be opposed, so that the inner thoughts of many may be revealed’, and also in our reading from Malachi, with its talk of refiner’s fire. Sometimes becoming who God made us to be, means being open also to purification and purging, allowing Jesus’ light to reveal our inner thoughts and outer actions that mar his image in us. Everything precious goes through this, and we should not be discouraged when God’s light acts in this way in our lives.

A GUIDING LIGHT

Even when life does get a bit uncomfortable, we can trust in God’s light as a guide for our lives. This light is always leading us home, always leading us back to Jesus, just as it did for Simeon and Anna. It’s clear from the text that their lives hadn’t been straightforward: the years of waiting for Simeon, the widowhood of Anna. And yet in another sense, their lives had been incredibly straightforward: they were both so wholly devoted to the things of God that when the moment came, they were ready to be guided by God, as they had been for so much of their lives, and as they followed God’s guidance, Jesus came right into their waiting arms.

It can be the same for us. Obviously, we’re not going to end up in the temple in Jerusalem holding the actual baby Jesus, but the same light that drew Anna and Simeon to Christ still shines in our world today. It’s there in everyone we meet, from our most cherished relatives to our least cherished work colleagues, and in total strangers too. That light can, if we allow it to, guide us deeper into generosity, love, and forgiveness, and the more we are so guided, the more Christ’s light shines within us, too, bringing the good news of God to a waiting world.

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FRIDAY HOMILY: It's Time to Cleanse the Temple

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In our Gospel today, Jesus cleanses the temple in Jerusalem. His actions and words betray his fundamental concern - that the temple be used for its intended purpose, being house of prayer. While there are passages dealing with areas of physical health, how much more our Lord is concerned with what we put in our soul. The cleansing here speaks of more than just the Jerusalem center of worship. The temple of our body is obviously much more important than anything made out of blocks and boards. The psalmist writes, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made."

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Keywords: Temple , cleansing , purity , commitment , Lordship , Jesus Christ , Fr. Randy Sly

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Mayor Bloomberg has been in the news a lot in the last few years. He wants to be sure his city doesn't get fat. New York has had a ban on trans-fat since 2006 and recently instituted a ban on sugary soft drinks that are larger than 16 ounces.

His latest crusade targets hospitals, which involves removing candy from vending machines and deep fried food from their cafeterias. Certainly, we can see that the mayor wants to make sure the citizens of the Big Apple take care of the temple of their body.

How ironic that the city's soul is not also a target for healthy food. Such annual attractions as Folsum Street East, where every kind of fetish, homo-erotic and perverse behavior is exhibited, underscore a contrary commitment. While New Yorkers are restricted in what they take into their bodies, they are free to do whatever they want with them!

In our Gospel today, Jesus cleanses the temple in Jerusalem. His actions and words betray his fundamental concern - that the temple be used for its intended purpose, being house of prayer.

While there are passages dealing with areas of physical health, how much more our Lord is concerned with what we put in our soul. The cleansing here speaks of more than just the Jerusalem center of worship. The temple of our body is obviously much more important than anything made out of blocks and boards. The psalmist writes, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made."

As we approach Advent, we are coming into a season of preparation; what the Eastern Churches call a "Little Lent." This is a time of self-examination and repentance in preparation for two major events - the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord and the Second Coming. This is why Advent is often called the "Season of the Already-Not Yet."

We are living in between these two events of earth-changing import. While the size of our sodas can make a temporal difference to some extent, how much more our soul needs a great deal of scrutiny. St. Paul told his son-in-the-faith Timothy, "While physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future."

Advent is a good time for a good personal temple-cleansing.

In Jerusalem, our Lord was quite thorough about this. St. Luke states that "Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, 'It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.'" (Lk. 19:45,46)

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St. Matthew's Gospel goes into a bit more detail saying, "Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those engaged in selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he said to them, "It is written: 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den of thieves." The blind and the lame approached him in the temple area, and he cured them." (Mt. 21:12-14)

If Jesus is Lord of your life, He must be Lord of your temple.

Obviously, this cleansing was not a case where Jesus felt that he just needed to quietly ask the "poachers" to leave. He overturned tables, drove out those engaged in unauthorized activities and generally caused a huge uproar. The chief priests, scribes and other leaders already had His death as their major goal by this point. This, then, had added insult to injury.

The presence of money changers and sellers of sacrifice was not only improper; it had also become too familiar! No one seemed to take issue with their presence, which in itself is a bit disconcerting. The meaning of the temple had been compromised.

If you are like me, there are familiar places of compromise in my personal temple. As a temple of the Holy Spirit - a descriptive given to us by St. Paul - I should also see myself primarily as a house of prayer. a house given to the Lord.

Pope Benedict underscored this as the root of our Lord's actions in his second volume of "Jesus of Nazareth."

"According to his own testimony," the Holy Father writes, "this fundamental purpose is what lies behind the cleansing of the Temple: to remove whatever obstacles there may be to the common recognition and worship of God - and thereby to open up a space for common worship."

Compromises are easy to spot, especially when we have something to which they can be compared. Again, Paul to the rescue with a list:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil 4:7)

Given the variety of gates into the soul - particularly through the eyes and ears - this list is compromised over and other again, especially in our world of media saturation.

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The computer, in particular, has raised the stakes considerably when it comes to purity. Folsum East type of experience needs no block party. Perversion and pornography are only a keystroke away.

Do what you did at first

In these last days of Ordinary time, the Daily Mass readings have given us an opportunity to read someone else's mail - the seven churches of Revelation. One letter in particular - the one to the Church in Ephesus - shares some rather startling insight: they had lost their first love.

Jesus had made it clear that they were keeping the externals of the church in order and were preventing false prophets from invading. Yet they had abandoned the intimacy of relationship which is the reason they were gathered together in the first place. While the Church may not have included a den of thieves it may not have truly been a house of prayer.

I love the remedy that our Lord gives the Ephesians - "do the things you did at first." Just like any stalled relationship, it is time to re-kindle the old flames that first ignited within the Ephesian believers toward their Lord and Savior. It's time to return to the simple things that enabled me to get to know Him intimately.

Many years ago I heard a story about the famous Protestant theologian Karl Barth, who was asked, during a lecture tour of the United States, to summarize what was contained in his four-volume masterpiece, "Church Dogmatics." His answer came almost immediately, "Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so."

How often we try to complicate our relation with God. We add too many components and getting lost in the doing. Normally, a simple re-building of the basics is the best direction.

For example, Advent is a great time to hold a good examination of conscience, followed by the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Be ruthless in looking at yourself. What is in you that is not pleasing to God? Find a good tool for this examination and then make a good confession.

I would also suggest you dust off your Bible and dig back into those wondrous pages, especially the Gospels where you can again learn about Him. It's a great time to read the Infant Narratives of St. Luke's Gospel or daily read through the Gospel of St. John.

Have you fallen off on your disciplines of daily prayer? Simply pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on track. Time in the morning sets a great direction for the day and prayer in the evening settles the heart and mind for restful sleep.

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Setting a schedule for daily prayer can be well supported by using the Liturgy of the Hours or one of its leaner companions, Christian Prayer or Shorter Christian Prayer. Other great resources, such as "Magnificat" also do a wonderful job aiding our journey.

This is also good time in the Christian year (although anytime is a good time.) to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. If your parish has a specific time for Adoration, all the better! Many parishes also have perpetual adoration chapels that give you opportunity to spend an extended amount of time in prayer and contemplation.

Time the open the door of your heart

In the mid-1950's a Presbyterian minister by the name of Robert Boyd Munger wrote a little booklet entitled "My Heart Christ's Home." This timeless tract has been an inspiration to Christians from all confessions, encouraging them to invite Christ to examine every room in their heart.

From the Library, where we offer to Christ all that we are reading and taking in through the media, He travels to the Dining Room, to see what our appetites savor - the accomplishments and notices of this world. Also there are visits to the Living Room, Work Room and Rec Room, as He is offered a complete tour of the heart He inhabits.

Then comes the Hall Closet. There we keep our most private and secret things behind lock and key. Munger writes that a particularly bad odor is emanating from the other side of the door. Our Lord wants to deal with the secret sins we share with no one but cause our walk to remain stalled and "stinky."

In this little booklet, not only does our Lord want a tour, He wants the title! He wants to ability to clean up the rooms, throw out what is not pleasing to Him and replenish with those things in Paul's list from Philippians we quoted earlier.

Pope Benedict XVI begins his apostolic letter, "Porta Fidei," regarding the Year of Faith we have just entered, with the following words: "The 'door of faith' (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace."

We have a lot of doors in front of us now. This is the season to throw open the door of our heart, letting our Lord cleanse us of those things which keep us distant from Him.

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Having allowed Him to purify us, we not only can walk through the door of faith into the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity, but also into everyday life. We will be able to live the Gospel out loud before the world, which desperately needs to see His love in action.

-----   Father Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and a priest with the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (http://usordinariate.org) established by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, through the Apostolic Constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus."

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Put Ye On the Lord Jesus Christ

By Sister J. Anette Dennis

First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

Through honoring our covenants, we enable God to pour out the multitude of promised blessings associated with those covenants.

As my two youngest children were growing, I discovered books that were entertaining and engaging but also used symbolism in their stories. As we read together in the evenings, I loved helping my children understand the symbolism the author was using to teach deeper principles, even gospel principles.

I knew this was sinking in one day when my younger son was in his early teens. He had started a new book and just wanted to enjoy the story, but his mind kept trying to find the deeper meaning in everything he was reading. He was frustrated, but I was smiling inside.

Jesus taught through stories and symbols 1 —a mustard seed to teach the power of faith, 2 a lost sheep to teach the worth of souls, 3 a prodigal son to teach the character of God. 4 His parables were symbols through which He could teach deeper lessons to those who had “ears to hear.” 5 But those not seeking the deeper meaning would not understand, 6 just as many who read those same books I read to my children never knew there were deeper meanings and so much more to get out of those stories.

When God the Father offered His Only Begotten Son as a sacrifice for us, Jesus Christ Himself became the highest symbol of our Father in Heaven’s undying love for each of us. 7 Jesus Christ became the Lamb of God. 8

We have the privilege and blessing of being invited into a covenant relationship with God, in which our own lives can become a symbol of that covenant. Covenants create the kind of relationship that allows God to mold and change us over time and lift us to become more like the Savior, drawing us closer and closer to Him and our Father 9 and eventually preparing us to enter Their presence.

Each person on earth is a beloved son or daughter of God. 10 When we choose to be part of a covenant, it enhances and deepens our relationship with Him. President Russell M. Nelson has taught that when we choose to make covenants with God, our relationship with Him can become much closer than it was before our covenant, and it enables Him to bless us with an extra measure of His mercy and love, a covenantal love referred to as hesed in the Hebrew language. 11 The covenant path is all about our relationship with God—our hesed relationship with Him. 12

Our Father wants a deeper relationship with all His sons and daughters, 13 but it is our choice. As we choose to draw nearer to Him through a covenant relationship, it allows Him to draw nearer to us 14 and more fully bless us.

God sets the conditions and obligations of the covenants we make. 15 When we choose to enter into that relationship, we witness to Him, through the symbolic actions of each covenant, that we are willing to abide by the conditions He has set. 16 Through honoring our covenants, we enable God to pour out the multitude of promised blessings associated with those covenants, 17 including increased power to change and become more like our Savior. Jesus Christ is at the center of all covenants we make, and covenant blessings are made possible because of His atoning sacrifice. 18

Baptism by immersion is the symbolic gate through which we enter into a covenant relationship with God. Being immersed in the water and coming up again is symbolic of the Savior’s death and Resurrection to new life. 19 As we are baptized, we symbolically die and are born again into the family of Christ and show we are willing to take His name upon us. 20 We ourselves embody that covenant symbolism. In the New Testament we read, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” 21 With our baptism we symbolically put on Christ.

The ordinance of the sacrament also points to the Savior. The bread and water are symbolic of Christ’s flesh and blood shed for us. 22 The gift of His Atonement is symbolically offered to us each week when a priesthood holder, representing the Savior Himself, offers us the bread and water. As we perform the action of eating and drinking the emblems of His flesh and blood, Christ symbolically becomes a part of us. 23 We again put on Christ as we make a new covenant each week. 24

As we make covenants with God in the house of the Lord, we further deepen our relationship with Him. 25 Everything we do in the temple points to our Father’s plan for us, at the heart of which is the Savior and His atoning sacrifice. 26 The Lord will teach us line upon line 27 through the symbolism of the ordinances and covenants as we open our hearts and prayerfully seek to understand the deeper meanings.

As part of the temple endowment, we are authorized to wear the garment of the holy priesthood. It is both a sacred obligation and a sacred privilege.

In many religious traditions, special outer clothing is worn as a symbol of a person’s beliefs and commitment to God, 28 and ceremonial clothing is often worn by those leading worship services. Those sacred vestments carry deep meaning for those who wear them. We read in scripture that in ancient times, sacred ceremonial clothing was also worn in conjunction with temple rituals. 29

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, those of us who have chosen to make covenants with God in the house of the Lord wear sacred ceremonial outer clothing during temple worship, symbolic of the clothing worn in ancient temple rituals. We also wear the garment of the holy priesthood, both during temple worship and in our everyday lives. 30

The garment of the holy priesthood is deeply symbolic and also points to the Savior. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and had to leave the Garden of Eden, they were given coats of skins as a covering for them. 31 It is likely that an animal was sacrificed to make those coats of skins—symbolic of the Savior’s own sacrifice for us. Kaphar is the basic Hebrew word for atonement, and one of its meanings is “to cover.” 32 Our temple garment reminds us that the Savior and the blessings of His Atonement cover us throughout our lives. As we put on the garment of the holy priesthood each day, that beautiful symbol becomes a part of us.

In the New Testament book of Romans, we read: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. … Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” 33

I am so grateful for the privilege of wearing the garment of the holy priesthood to remind me that the Savior and the blessings of His infinite Atonement constantly cover me throughout my mortal journey. It also reminds me that as I keep the covenants I have made with God in the house of the Lord, I have symbolically put on Christ, who Himself is an armor of light. He will protect me from evil, 34 give me power and increased capacity, 35 and be my light and guide 36 through the darkness and difficulties of this world.

There is deep and beautiful symbolic meaning in the garment of the holy priesthood and its relationship to Christ. I believe that my willingness 37 to wear the holy garment becomes my symbol to Him. 38 It is my own personal sign to God, not a sign to others. 39

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. 40 His atoning sacrifice for us became the greatest symbol of His and our Father in Heaven’s infinite love for each of us, 41 with the tangible symbols of that love and sacrifice—the marks in the Savior’s hands, feet, and side—remaining even after His Resurrection. 42

As I keep my covenants and obligations with God, including wearing the garment of the holy priesthood, my very life can become a personal symbol of my love and deep gratitude for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and my desire to have Him with me always.

If you have not yet done so, I invite you to choose a deeper relationship with God by making covenants with Him in the house of the Lord. Study the talks of our prophet (including the beautiful teachings in the footnotes of his talks, which most conference talks have). He has spoken repeatedly about covenants for years and especially since becoming President of the Church. Learn from his teachings about the beautiful blessings and increased power and capacity that can be yours through making and keeping covenants with God. 43

The General Handbook states that it is not required to have a mission call or be engaged to be married to make temple covenants. 44 A person must be at least 18 years old, no longer be attending high school or the equivalent, and be a member of the Church for at least one year. There are also standards of personal holiness required. 45 If you have the desire to deepen your relationship with your Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ by making sacred covenants in the house of the Lord, I invite you to speak with your bishop or branch president and let him know of your desires. He will help you know how to prepare to receive and honor those covenants.

Through a covenant relationship with God, our own lives can become a living symbol of our commitment to and deep love for our Father in Heaven, our hesed for Him, 46 and our desire to progress and eventually become like our Savior, being prepared to one day enter Their presence. I testify that the great blessings of that covenant relationship are well worth the price. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.