THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 

Although Holy Scripture does not tell us anything about the presentation of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple, this belief is based upon evidence authorized by a very ancient Christian tradition, and the Church has given it official recognition by making it the object of a special Marian feast. Mary, who leaves her home and parents in her most tender years in order to live in the shadow of the Temple, speaks to us of detachment, of separation from the world, of complete dedication to the service of God, of virginal consecration to the Most High. After her, countless virginal souls will present themselves in the Temple to offer themselves to God but no offering will be as pure, as total, as acceptable as Mary’s.        

Our Lady is truly the privileged one among all creatures, who, from the first moment of her existence, heard the great cal1: ” Hearken, 0 daughter, and see and incline thy ear, and forget thy people and thy father’s house” (Ps 44, I I). The Most High is enamored of her beauty and wills that she be wholly His. Mary responds, and her answer is eminently prompt and complete. The response of souls whom God calls to the Altar, to the religious life or to virginal consecration in the world, should resemble Mary’s. These souls must also be separated from the world, leave parents and friends; they must detach themselves from their people and their homes. There cannot always be material separation, but there must always be a spiritual one, that is, a separation in the realm of the affections. It is the heart which must be detached, be secluded, because the Lord’s elect can no longer belong to the world: “they are not of the world” (Jn 17, 14), Jesus said. 

To live in the world without being of the world is not easy, but it is absolutely essential in order to answer the divine call. There are virginal souls who fail in their consecrated vocation, or neglect to correspond fully, because they are still attached to the world-to its maxims, its vanities, its affairs, its comforts; they have not had the courage to effect a true separation, or at least, if they have undertaken it, they have not remained faithful. This can happen not merely to souls living in the world but even to those in the cloister, for the world penetrates everywhere, and everywhere it invades hearts that are not entirely detached. 

Corresponding to complete separation is oblation, total consecration. Mary gave herself wholly to God, unreservedly, forever. “Lord, in the simplicity of my heart I offer myself to You this day as Your servant for evermore, for Your homage and for a sacrifice of perpetual praise” (Imit IV, 9, I). Such must have been the dispositions with which this holy child offered herself to the Most High, dispositions which were lived with a fullness and coherence incomprehensible to our wretchedness. 

Never for a moment did Mary fail in her complete consecration; God was able to accomplish in her all that He willed, without meeting the least resistance. Circumstances of an exceedingly difficult and painful nature abounded in the life of our Blessed Lady: Joseph’s doubt concerning the origin of her maternity; the hardships and inconveniences of the journey to Bethlehem; the bleak poverty in which she saw her Child born, the flight into Egypt, the life of privation at Nazareth, the hostility and malice of the Pharisees toward Jesus, the treason of Judas, the ingratitude of a people so favored and beloved, her Son’s condemnation to death, the way to Calvary, the Crucifixion amid the insults of the populace. 

In vain would we scrutinize Mary’s heart to find there a single movement of resentment, of protest; in vain would we seek to find upon her lips one single word of complaint. Mary gave herself wholly to God, allowing Him to exercise over her all His rights as Sovereign, Lord, and Master. She made no objections nor did she marvel that her immolation should reach such proportions: had she not offered herself without reserve? And when her offering was consummated she did nothing but repeat : ” Fiat! Ecce ancilla Domini! ”

What a contrast to our life as consecrated souls! How easily we take back the gift made to God! We take back our heart when we admit human affections; we take back our will when we refuse to submit to certain commands of our obedience which mortify or contradict us, when we will not accept that which entails sacrifice, when we complain, protest or defend our rights. Yet the only true right of a soul consecrated to God is that of letting itself be used and consumed for His glory.

Let us ask Mary, presented in the Temple, to take our poor offering into her maternal hands, to purify and complete it by her offering, so pure, so perfect; to include and hide it in hers, so great and so generous, that being thus purified and renewed, it may be agreeable to God. 

COLLOQUY:

“0 dearly Beloved of God, most amiable Child Mary, would that today I could offer you the first years of my life and consecrate myself to your service, my blessed and sweet Lady, as you presented and consecrated yourself in the Temple for the honor and glory of God …. But time has slipped away and so many years have been spent in serving the world and my own caprice, as it were, forgetful of you and of God. Woe to the time when I did not love you! But better late than never. 

Behold, 0 Mary, I present myself to you today, offering myself entirely to your service, for the number of days, whether few or many, that are still left to me on earth. I renounce all creatures, as you did, and vow myself entirely to the love of my Creator. I conse­crate to you, 0 my Queen, my intellect, that it may always think upon the love you deserve, my tongue, that it may praise you, my heart that it may love you. Accept, 0 Most Holy Virgin, the offering which this wretched sinner presents to you; accept it, I beg, by the consolation your heart felt when you gave yourself to God in the Temple. And if I am late in putting myself at your service, it is but fitting that I redeem the time lost by redoubling my devotion and my love. 

“0 Mother of Mercy, help my weakness by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Jesus the strength to be faithful to you until death. Grant that after having served you always in this life I may go to praise you eternally in Paradise” (St. Alphonsus). 

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene OCD

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Our Lady’s parents, Sts. Anne & Joachim, presented her in the temple when she was a small child. From her earliest years Mary led a life of prayer. She said “yes” to God’s will. “We wish to love the Lord Jesus with the heart of the Immaculate, receiving Him and thanking Him with her acts; thus, even if we should neither feel nor understand it, in fact we will honor the Lord Jesus with her heart, with her acts; or to speak more exactly, it will be she who through us loves and praises Jesus. We are but her instruments”

 (St. Maximilian Kolbe).

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According to tradition, Our Lady was presented at an early age to the Temple having to leave behind her beloved family and home.  November 21st commemorates this event and is often a date chosen for new members of religious orders to make their professions, those who also leave behind ‘the world’ and their beloved families.  Here is a thought on religious profession from Venerable Mary of Agreda:

INSTRUCTION WHICH THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN GAVE ME CONCERNING THE VOWS OF MY PROFESSION:

444. My dear daughter, I will not deny thee the instruction thou askest of me with the desire of putting it into practice ; but do thou receive it with an appreciative and devout mind, ready to follow it in deed…Accordingly he who has made vows to God has bound his own will; so that he has no freedom of acting except according to the will and direction of Him to whom he has bound himself; for he is chained down by the words of his own mouth uttered in the profession of his vows. Before taking his vows, the choice of his ways was in his own hands; but having once bound and obliged himself, let him know that he has entirely lost his liberty and had delivered himself up to God in his superiors. The whole ruin or salvation of souls depends upon the use of their free will; but since most men use it ill and damn themselves, the Most High has established religious life under the sacred vows. Thus the creature, by once using its liberty to make a perfect and prudent choice, can deliver up to his Majesty that very liberty, which so many pervert, if it remains free and unhampered in its choice.

445. By these vows the liberty to do evil is happily lost, and the liberty for doing good is assured. It is like a bridle, which leads away from danger and directs into the smooth and sure road. The soul is freed from the slavery and subjection of the passions, and acquires a new power over them, resuming her place as mistress and queen in the government of her kingdom and remaining subject only to the law of grace and the inspirations of the Holy Ghost. If she thus applies her whole will solely to the fulfillment of all that she has promised to God, the holy Spirit will govern and direct all her operations. The creature thereby passes from the condition and state of a slave to that of a child of the Most High, from an earthly to an angelic life, while the corruption and evil effects of sin cannot exert their full power. It is impossible that thou ever be able in this earthly life to calculate or comprehend, what and how many are the blessings and treasures those souls gather for themselves, who with all their powers and affection strive to fulfill perfectly the vows of their profession. For I assure thee, my dearest, that those who are perfect and punctual in their religious obligations can equal and even surpass the martyrs in merit.

(personal note: one might think of the passage from the 8th chapter of the Song of Songs: Love is as strong as death)

446. My daughter, thou didst happily begin to gather these blessings on the day when thou didst choose the    better part; but remember well that thou hast bound thy self to the eternal and mighty God, to whom the inmost secrets of thy heart are manifest. If it is so base and detestable to deceive and disappoint men in just promises, how vile is it to be unfaithful to God in the most just and holy promises? As thy Creator, Preserver and Benefactor, He claims thy gratitude; as Father, thy reverence; as Spouse, thy fidelity ; as a Friend, amicable intercourse ; as the most Faithful, He should excite thy faith and hope ; as the highest and eternal Good, He should possess thy love; as the Almighty, thy entire subjection; as the most just Judge, He should rouse thy humble and holy fear. Against all these allegiances and many others thou committest perfidious treason, in failing or hesitating to fulfill what thou hast promised according to thy profession. And if in all the nuns who have obliged themselves to a spiritual life and conversation, it is such a monstrous and terrible abomination to call themselves spouses of Christ, while living as members and slaves of the devil, how much more abominable will it be in thee, who hast received more than they all, and therefore shouldst exceed them in loving and exerting thyself to make a return for such incomparable blessings and benefits.

(Ven. Mary of Agreda: The City of God: The Conception)

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Homily #131121n ( 09min) Play – Fr Angelo explains that Jerusalem was the spiritual center of Israel because the Lord dwelt there in His glory, but when the ark was lost at the time of the Babylonian exile, the Glory of the Lord, manifested in overshadowing of the Glory Cloud, left the Temple. Today we celebrate the entry of the True Ark back into the Temple, she who would soon be “overshadowed by the Spirit of the Lord” and contain within herself the Lawgiver, the Bread of Heaven, and the High Priest of God.

Ave Maria!
Mass: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: zec 2:14-17
Resp: luk 1:46-55
Gsp: mat 12:46-50

Audio (MP3)

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Homily #141121b ( 15min) Play – Fr. Alan gives the background of the feast of the Presentation of Mary where the elderly parents of Mary presented her as a young child to the priests at the Temple to live there and do service through her youth. He exhorts us to give ourselves spiritually to Holy Mother Church in a similar manner even to the point of becoming a priest, religious brother or nun.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast – Form: OF
Readings: Friday in the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
1st: rev 10:8-11
Resp: psa 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131
Gsp: luk 19:45-48

Audio (MP3)

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Father explains that our actions have the value that we assign to them by our intention. Little things done with a supernatural intention are worth much; big things with no supernatural intention are worth little or nothing.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast

Readings: 
1st: Zec 2:14-17
Resp: Lk 1:46-55 0
Gsp: Mt 12:46-50

Audio (MP3)

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Although the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary isn’t recorded in the Sacred Scripture, there are good reasons for believing in this event, which is recorded in other hagiographical and apocryphal writings. Father uses the logic of Blessed John Duns Scotus to argue that it is indeed correct to celebrate the Presentation of Mary.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast

Readings: Tuesday 33rd Week of Ordinary Time
1st: 2 Macc 6:18-31
Resp: Ps 3:2-3, 4-5, 6-8
Gsp: Lk 19:1-10

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Prayer:  As we venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of Your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Fr. Ignatius gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Nov 21, 2020, Presentation of Mary, and how this relates to the interior life when she at such a young age entered into the temple to be quiet before the Lord and recollection to be inspired by the Holy Spirit enabling her to continue to do so when she became the mother of Christ. We should do the same to be effective evangelizers and so also give “birth” to new Christians

Ave Maria!

Mass: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast
Readings:  – http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112120.cfm
1st: zec 2:14-17
Resp: luk 1:46-55 0
Gsp: mat 12:46-50

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1199

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Fr Terrance gives the homily at Bloomington, IN, on Nov 21, 2022, Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the importance of the temple in the life of the Jews, and the significance of Mary being presented for service in the temple by her parents, Joachim and Anne.

Notes:

The temple is the dwelling place of God and the moral center of the universe where people can come to do reparation for sin. Many places of prayer but only one temple for animal sacrifice. National identity

Incarnation in the womb of Mary was a transition time.

1 Cor 6 18-20 Do not sin, our bodies belong to the lord, we are temples and must glorify God – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/6?18

1 cor 3 16-17 do you not know that we are temples? – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/3?16

Incarnation with Jesus in the womb of Mary  is a manifestation of the symbol of God in the Temple to the reality of God dwelling amount us

Mary is God’s new, more perfect temple.

Mary is the Paradise of God because God’s will and Man’s will are harmonized.

Her heart was the true temple of sacrifice, presentation of Jesus, a sword will pierce her heart  luke 2: 35 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/2?35

Suffered willingly because of her love of God and for us

Mary is a person who is a temple.

Jesus in the temple of Mary is, out with old and in with the new and continues will Holy Spirit in our souls to become a paradise for God as well

Ave Maria!

Mass: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Feast of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Readings: Monday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time – http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112122.cfm
1st: rev 14:1-3, 4-5
Resp: psa 24:1-6
Gsp: luk 21:1-4

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1199&r=1003

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