O Lord, I come to You and beg You, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to purify my soul.
Meditation
1
Today’s feast, which marks the end of the Christmas season, is a feast both of Jesus and of Mary: of Jesus, because He is presented by His Mother in the Temple forty days after His birth, according to the requirements of the law; of Mary, because she submits herself to the rite of purification.
The liturgy celebrates, primarily, the entrance for the first time of the Infant Jesus into the Temple: “Behold the Lord, the Ruler, cometh into His holy Temple: rejoice and be glad, O Sion, and hasten to meet your God” (Roman Breviary). Let us, too, go to meet Him, emulating the holy sentiments of the old Simeon who “came by the Spirit into the Temple” (Lk 2:22–32), and filled with joy, received the Divine Child into his arms.
In order to celebrate this event more fittingly, the Church today blesses candles and gives them to us. With burning tapers, we enter the Temple in procession. The lighted candle is a symbol of the Christian life, of the faith and grace which should shine in our soul. It is also the image of Christ, the light of the world, “a light to the revelation of the Gentiles,” according to Simeon’s canticle. The lighted candle reminds us that we must always bear Christ in us, the source of our life, the author of faith and grace. By His grace, Jesus Himself disposes us to go to meet Him with livelier faith and greater love. May our meeting with Him today be particularly intimate and sanctifying!
Jesus is taken to the Temple to be offered to the Father, although, being God, He was not subject to the prescriptions of the Jewish law as were the other firstborn of the Hebrews. He is the Victim who will be immolated for the salvation of the world. His presentation in the Temple is, so to speak, the offertory of His life; the sacrifice will be consummated later, on Calvary. Let us offer ourselves with Jesus.
2
Jesus was presented in the Temple by His Mother. Let us therefore contemplate Mary in her office of Co-Redemptrix. Mary knew that Jesus was the Saviour of the world, and through the veil of prophecy she sensed that His mission would be accomplished in a mystery of sorrow in which she would participate, in her role as Mother. Simeon’s prophecy: “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce,” confirmed her intuition. Deep in her heart, Mary at that moment must have repeated her fiat: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to Thy word” (Lk 1:38). At the same time that she offered her Son, she offered herself, being always closely united to His destiny.
But, before entering the Temple to present Jesus, Mary wanted to submit to the law of legal purification. Although she knew she was a virgin, she put herself on the level of all the other mothers, and standing with them, humbly awaited her turn, carrying “a pair of turtle-doves”, the offering of the poor. We see Jesus and Mary submitting themselves to laws by which they are not bound: Jesus does not need to be redeemed, nor Mary to be purified. These are lessons in humility and respect for the law of God.
There may be some laws by which we are bound and from which our pride by false pretexts seeks to exempt us. Such dispensations are abuses sought in the name of rights which do not really exist. Whereas Mary had no need to be purified, let us humble ourselves and acknowledge our extreme need of interior purification.
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