The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, February 02, 2020, as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple. In the Holy Rosary, the Presentation of the Lord is the fourth Joyful Mystery. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple. Your praise, God, like your name, reaches the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with saving justice. Amen.”
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is a major Feast Day in the Catholic Church that falls between the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on the 25th day of January and the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle on the 22nd day of February. It is not only celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church but also in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Greek Catholic Churches, which use the Byzantine rite. It is also called Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, and the Meeting of the Lord. In some Western liturgical churches, Vespers (or Compline) on the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple marks the end of the Epiphany season. In the churches of the Anglican communion, it is a Principal Feast that is celebrated either on February 2nd or on the Sunday between 28 January and 3 February. Saint John Paul II connected this feast with the renewal of religious vows. This feast is celebrated with an all-night vigil and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy the next morning at which beeswax candles are blessed.
This feast is principally focused on the event described in Saint Luke’s Gospel according to which Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the first-born male child in obedience to the Law of Moses. There they met Simeon who prayed the prayer that has come to be known as the Nunc Dimittis, or the Canticle of Simeon, which promised the redemption of the world by Jesus.
The first reading, from the prophecy of Malachi, tells of God’s promise to send a messenger to prepare his own coming to judge those who have failed to keep his commandments. In the second reading, the sacred writer of the Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus through his suffering, death and resurrection has freed us from the enslavement of the devil.
We pray in the course of this Eucharist for the grace to welcome Christ into our lives as the old Simeon did in the Temple, seeing him for what he truly is: the Saviour of the world.
First Reading: Malachi 3:1-4.
The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the years of old.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
Malachi is one of the twelve prophets generally classified as the ‘Minor Prophets’ of the Bible. The others are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah. They are called ‘minor’, not because their works are of less importance than those of the ‘Major Prophets’ (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel), but because they are generally shorter. Whereas Isaiah’s work, for example, is 66 chapters long, Malachi’s is only three chapters long.
The authors of the African Bible tell me that the prophet Malachi, a name which means ‘my messenger’, wrote in about 450 BC shortly before the arrival of Nehemiah as governor in Jerusalem. He spoke to condemn, in God’s name, the neglect and the indifference that had crept into temple worship and loudly denounced other sins that violated God’s covenant.
The people had become uncaring about the kind of worship they made to God and priests, who should have been leading the people to God, had become unfaithful to the duties of their office. Leading men of society were marrying pagan women, even divorcing their Israelite wives to do so.
Malachi warns that God’s anger will surely fall on those who persist in their evil ways. The day of God’s judgment will be a severe one for them. He, however, points a way out because God in his infinite mercy will send a messenger to prepare his way. This prophecy will find fulfillment in the Gospel in the coming of John the Baptist who prepares the way for Jesus Christ. He will come to judge those who have failed to obey his commandment, particularly those in position of leadership in society and in the priesthood. God’s judgment will first purify the priesthood and the worship of Israel to make them more acceptable to him. There must first be a right relationship to God before there can be a true relationship of God’s people to one another.
What lesson can we take home from this reading? Malachi warns those who violate God’s laws to be careful and make amends for God’s anger will fall on them. Throughout his prophecy, Malachi, like the other fellow prophets, condemns those who practise social injustice towards workers, or the weak members of society (the orphan, the widow) and all who are marginalized for one reason or another; a warning that is pertinent to our times as well.
Let us pray that on this day when our Lord is being presented in the Temple, we may strive to promote peace and social justice wherever we may find ourselves today. Amen.
Second Reading: Hebrews 2:14-18.
Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, Jesus too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, who had power over death, and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself descent from Abraham. It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God’s religion, able to atone for human sins. That is, because he has himself been through temptation he is able to help others who are tempted.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
The Letter to the Hebrews is one of the most imposing and important books in the New Testament. It was written principally to show the superiority of Christianity over the Old Covenant. It focuses on the idea that Christ's priesthood and sacrifice are superior to those of the priests of old. The sacred writer uses this teaching as the basis for encouraging his readers to persevere in the faith despite the difficulties they may face in their Christian life.
This letter was undoubtedly addressed to converts from Judaism, that is, Christians of Jewish origin. It aims to encourage them to stay loyal in the face of persecution which was so intense that many of them were beginning to show signs of weakening.
In the passage selected for our meditation, the sacred writer tells us that Christ has taken human nature without sin but with all its capacity to suffer pain given that he took a flesh similar to sinful flesh. He chose to submit to death in order to destroy death and the power of the devil. Through his death and resurrection Christ atones for our sins and makes death a way to God. He frees us, not from physical death, but from spiritual death and therefore from the fear of death. Our natural fear of death comes from the fear of the unknown and from our excessive attachment to this life, especially the material things of life. “Because it does not want to renounce its desires,” Saint Athanasius tells us, “the soul fears death, it fears being separated from the body.” Those who sincerely seek God have no fear of physical death. As Saint Paul explains: “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1: 21).
The sacred writer also mentions Christ’s priesthood, which is the central theme of this epistle. Because he is God and man, Jesus is the only Mediator between God and man, who has lost God’s friendship through sin. Christ exercises a mediation role as High Priest. His love serves as a bridge between God and sinful man. Christ the High Priest, being man, although without sin, understands sinful man perfectly because he too suffers pain, like us.
Suffering, Saint John Paul II says, can make each man a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ. The Redeemer suffered in place of man and for man. The Holy Father continues that every man has his own share in redemption and, in bringing about redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of redemption.
What lesson can we draw from this reading? We should know that a person who suffers is understood by Christ, who suffered and died for our salvation. When we turn to Christ in our moments of sorrow and pain, he understands and consoles us. We pray with Saint Augustine: “Lord, I am poor and needy. I am better only when with heartfelt sorrow I renounce myself and seek your mercy so that my deficiencies are overcome and transformed. Through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit One God forever and ever. Amen.”
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel. Alleluia!”
Gospel: Luke 2: 22-40.
When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses., the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem, there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eye on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said: ‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
There was a prophetess also, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favor was with him.
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment
The Holy Family goes up to Jerusalem to fulfill the prescriptions of the Law of Moses, that is, the purification of the mother and the presentation and then redemption or buying back of the first-born. According to Leviticus 12: 2-8, a woman who bore a child was considered impure. This period of legal impurity ended – in the case of a male child -- after forty days with a rite of purification. Exodus 13: 2, 12-13, also indicates that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God.
The Law also laid down that Jews should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim – a lamb, by those who were well off, or, as is the case of the Holy Family of Nazareth, a pair of doves or two pigeons, an indication that they are from a humble background.
When they arrive at the temple they are welcomed by Simeon, who is described as a righteous and devout man, who is obedient to God’s will. He addresses himself to the Lord as a servant who, having waited a lifetime in anticipation of the coming of his Lord, sees that the moment that explains his whole life has now come. When he takes the child in his arms, he learns through a special grace from God, that this child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the nations.
Simeon’s canticle is an act of thanksgiving to God for having enabled him to see his Messiah and for the blessings that the Messiah will bring to Israel. The canticle highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men and women of all ages without exception, as foretold in the prophecies of old (Is 2:6; 42:6; Ps 28:2).
After Simeon blesses the Holy Family of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit moves him to foretell the child’s future and that of his mother. His words become clearer when seen in the context of Christ’s life and death. Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet he will be a sign of contradiction because some people will reject him – and for this reason he will be their ruin. But for those who accept him with faith, he will be their salvation.
It is not only Simeon who gives testimony to the new child. Anna, a prophetess who has also been awaiting the coming of the Messiah, is also delighted to see the child Jesus. Three kinds of witnesses reveal Christ as the Messiah in different ways. First, the shepherds after the angel’s announcement, then the Magi, who were guided by the star, and then Simeon and Anna, who the Holy Spirit inspired.
While some people acclaim the Messiah, others want to kill him. That is the case of King Herod who, a few days after the presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, tries to kill him, forcing the Holy Family to flee to Egypt (Mt 2: 13-23).
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, who enlightens the old Simeon and Anna, may also touch us and reveal to us the real Messiah and Saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.
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