📜The feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates a venerable episode of Christian Tradition, which, although not narrated in the canonical Gospels, has been preserved by the piety of the faithful and ancient accounts such as the Protoevangelium of James. According to this tradition, Saints Joachim and Anne, in fulfillment of a vow, brought Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem when she was only three years old, so that she might be consecrated to divine service and educated in the Law of the Lord. This liturgical event symbolizes the total and irrevocable dedication of the Virgin Mary to God from her earliest childhood, preparing her immaculate body and her most holy soul to become the living tabernacle of the Incarnate Word; it is the feast of the perfect oblation of a soul that never knew sin, foreshadowing her "fiat" that would redeem the world.
📖Lesson (Sir 24, 14-16)
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.
🕊️Gospel (Lk 11, 27-28)
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.
💭Reflections
🕯️The liturgical celebration of the Presentation of Our Lady invites us to contemplate the mystery of original holiness and total consecration. Upon entering the Temple of Jerusalem, Mary does not merely fulfill a legal precept or a vow of her parents, but performs a prophetic act: she herself is the New Temple offering herself to the Father. Unlike the temple of stones that would be destroyed, the Virgin is the indestructible dwelling place of God, prepared from eternity, as the reading from Ecclesiasticus reminds us. She takes root in the "portion of my God," demonstrating that true holiness consists in separating oneself from the profane to belong exclusively to the Lord. St. John of Damascus, in his homilies on this feast, exalts that Mary, planted in the House of God and nourished by the Spirit, became the fruitful vine that would give the world the wine of salvation (St. John of Damascus, Homily on the Nativity).
⛪The Gospel chosen for this feast, at first glance unconnected to the historical event of Mary's childhood, reveals the theological depth of her consecration. When Jesus states that "blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it," He does not diminish the divine maternity, but elevates it to the category of grace and personal merit. The Presentation in the Temple was the first visible step of this attentive listening and perfect practice. St. Augustine teaches with magisterial clarity that "Mary is more blessed because she embraced faith in Christ than because she conceived the flesh of Christ," for the consecration of her will to God preceded and made possible the consecration of her womb (St. Augustine, De Sancta Virginitate).
🌹On this day, we are called to imitate the faithful Virgin. Authentic spiritual life demands a constant presentation of ourselves in the inner sanctuary of the conscience, where God dwells. Just as Mary offered herself without reserve, becoming "full of grace" through her continuous availability to the action of the Holy Spirit, every Christian must renew their daily oblation. Catholic doctrine reminds us that grace builds upon nature; therefore, Mary's preparation in the Temple symbolizes the cultivation of the virtues that made her fit for Divine Maternity. As St. Alphonsus Liguori teaches, Mary offered herself entirely to God, reserving nothing for herself, teaching us that the path to transforming union with Christ necessarily passes through total detachment from creatures and confident surrender into the arms of Providence (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary).
🇺🇸See English version of the critical articles here.
