The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

The story behind this celebration

+ On this day, the Church celebrates the feast of light, recalling that forty days after the birth of the Lord, Mary and Joseph took the Child to the temple in Jerusalem.

+ At this time of presentation and purification, the holy man Simeon recognized the infant Messiah and, taking the Child in his arms, proclaimed him to be the “light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.”

+ The candles blessed on this day serve to remind us of Christ, the True Light, and the faith, hope, and love that illumine the Christian heart.

+ The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord was first celebrated in Jerusalem sometime before the year 400 and was first known as the “Feast of the Meeting.”

+ In 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II declared that the Feast of the Presentation would be celebrated as World Day of Consecrated Life, on which the Church prays for vocations to the religious life—including religious priests, brothers, and sisters—and celebrates the contributions of women and men religious in the life of the Church. To learn more, visit: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/consecrated-life/world-day-for-consecrated-life.cfm

For prayer and reflection

“Simeon, moved by the Spirit, sees and recognizes Christ. And he prays, saying: ‘My eyes have seen your salvation.’ 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.”—Pope Francis

Spiritual bonus

On this day, we also remember the founders of two religious communities: Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac (d. 1640), founder of the Company of Mary, and Saint Maria Katharina Kaspar (d. 1898), founder of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Almighty ever-living God,
we humbly implore your majesty
that, just as your Only Begotten Son
was presented on this day in the Temple
in the substance of our flesh,
so, by your grace,
we may be presented to you with minds made pure.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.