Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the old days, there was a religious custom among Jews whereby children - even if they had not yet been born - were offered to God's service. Before the child was five, the child was taken to the temple in Jerusalem and given to a priest who offered it to the Lord. There were occasions when the child stayed longer in the temple, grew up, taught the service of the sanctuary, helped make the vestments, and assisted during services.
Saint Anne, the mother of Mary, was barren/childless for many years. Nevertheless, she did not lose faith and kept asking God for a child. She made a promise that if she gave birth to a child, she would put it in God's service. She did so, although after so many years of waiting for the desired offspring, it must have been a great sacrifice on her part. The Gospels do not say exactly when the presentation of Mary took place, but certainly at the beginning of her life, probably when Mary was three years old. It was then that her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, they presented to God the future Queen of the World. They then gave her to the priest Zechariah, who several years later became the father of St. John the Baptist. According to some authors, Mary remained in the temple for about 12 years. We are remembering this event today. Information about it comes from apocryphal writings, not accepted into the canon of Sacred Scripture.
In the Proto-Gospel of James, written around 140 after Jesus' birth, we read that Mary's parents were St. Joachim and St. Anne and that they became her parents very late. Therefore, before their death, they gave Mary up to be educated and taught to the temple, when Mary was only three years old. This description repeats the apocryphal from the 6th century - the Book of the Birth of the Blessed Mary and the Childhood of the Savior, as well as another apocryphal from the same time, the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.
This is confirmed by numerous statements of Eastern Church writers. In addition to the seriousness of the apocrypha on which they relied, the establishment of the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple was probably also largely due to the parallelism of the feasts of Mary and Jesus. Since we solemnly celebrate the Conception of Jesus (March 25) and the Conception of Mary (December 8), the Nativity of Jesus (December 25) and the Nativity of Mary (September 8), Jesus' Ascension and Mary's Assumption (August 15), it seems natural to celebrate next to the feast of presenting Christ (February 2) also the feasts of the presentation of His Mother.
To commemorate this mystery, a separate feast was celebrated, first in Jerusalem (probably already in the 6th century, when the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated in Jerusalem), and then in the entire East from the 8th century. In 1372, it was introduced in Avignon by Gregory XI, and in 1585, Sixtus V extended it to the whole Church.
Although today's memorial has no historical confirmation, it brings an important theological reflection: Mary was devoted all her life to God - from the moment she was conceived immaculately, through her birth and then presentation in the temple. It thus became a more perfect temple than any temple made by human hands. For centuries, Mary was destined in God's plans for the fulfillment of the great saving mission. Chosen by Providence as the Mother of the Savior, she became a gift for the Father. Mary prepared herself for her mission very diligently and with all dedication - as evidenced by her own words to Gabriel: "Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38).
In the Byzantine tradition, the Feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God to the Temple is solemnly celebrated. Orthodox brothers say that the 3-year-old Mary independently climbed 15 high temple steps into the arms of the high priest Zechariah, who introduced her to the Place of Holy of Holies, where he himself had the right to enter only once a year.
In the Catholic Church, today's commemoration is a patron saint of the Presentation Sisters, founded in 1626 in Krakow by Zofia Czeska, née Maciejowska, to teach and educate girls. It is also a day of special remembrance of cloistered nuns, as St. John Paul II in 1999: "Mary appears to us on this day as the temple in which God laid his salvation, and as a servant completely devoted to his Lord. On this occasion, the holy community of the Church all over the world remembers the cloistered nuns who chose a life entirely focused on contemplation and they live on what Providence will provide them, using the generosity of the faithful. Commending to all the care that these consecrated sisters do not run out of spiritual and material support, I extend a cordial greeting and thanks to them. "
In our day it is no longer customary to offer our children to God for service in the temple. However, we were all introduced to God by our parents in a way at baptism. We should not forget about that event, but constantly renew in our lives the willingness to dedicate ourselves to God and seek His will.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george