🗓️02 FebPurification of Our Lady

The Feast of the Purification of Our Lady, also known as the Presentation of the Lord or Candlemas, closes the Christmas cycle in the traditional calendar and constitutes a solemn link between the mystery of the Incarnation and that of the Redemption. According to the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 12), a mother remained ritually impure for forty days after the birth of a male child, and was then required to present herself at the Temple with an offering for her purification; simultaneously, every firstborn male was to be consecrated to the Lord and redeemed (Exodus 13). Mary Most Holy, the purest Virgin, and Jesus, the Lawgiver Himself and God, were not subject to such laws, but submitted to them with profound humility to fulfill all justice and avoid scandal. On this day, the "Angel of the Covenant" enters His Temple, being recognized by the just Simeon and the prophetess Anna as the "Light to enlighten the nations." The liturgy marks this event with the blessing and procession of candles, symbolizing Christ's humanity illuminated by the Divinity, entering the world to dispel the darkness, and the offering that Mary makes of the Lamb of God to the Father, prefiguring the sacrifice of Calvary.

🎵Introit (Ps 47, 10-11 | ib., 2)

Suscépimus, Deus, misericórdiam tuam in médio templi tui: secúndum nomen tuum, Deus, ita et laus tua in fines terræ: justítia plena est déxtera tua. Ps. Magnus Dóminus, et laudábilis nimis: in civitáte Dei nostri, in monte sancto ejus. ℣. Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.

We have received, O God, Thy mercy in the midst of Thy temple. According to Thy Name, O God, so also is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of justice. Ps. Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. ℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

📜Epistle (Mal 3, 1-4)

Hæc dicit Dóminus Deus: Ecce, ego mitto Angelum meum, et præparábit viam ante fáciem meam. Et statim véniet ad templum suum Dominátor, quem vos quǽritis, et Angelus testaménti, quem vos vultis. Ecce, venit, dicit Dóminus exercítuum: et quis póterit cogitáre diem advéntus ejus, et quis stabit ad vidéndum eum? Ipse enim quasi ignis conflans et quasi herba fullónum: et sedébit conflans et emúndans argéntum, et purgábit fílios Levi et colábit eos quasi aurum et quasi argéntum: et erunt Dómino offeréntes sacrifícia in justítia. Et placébit Dómino sacrifícium Juda et Jerúsalem, sicut dies sæculi et sicut anni antíqui: dicit Dóminus omnípotens.

Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I send my Angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the Angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb: And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice. And the sacrifice of Juda and Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years. Said the Lord almighty.

📖Gospel (Lk 2, 22-32)

In illo témpore: Postquam impleti sunt dies purgatiónis Maríæ, secúndum legem Moysi, tulérunt Jesum in Jerúsalem, ut sísterent eum Dómino, sicut scriptum est in lege Dómini: Quia omne masculínum adapériens vulvam sanctum Dómino vocábitur. Et ut darent hóstiam, secúndum quod dictum est in lege Dómini, par túrturum aut duos pullos columbárum. Et ecce, homo erat in Jerúsalem, cui nomen Símeon, et homo iste justus et timorátus, exspéctans consolatiónem Israël, et Spíritus Sanctus erat in eo. Et respónsum accéperat a Spíritu Sancto, non visúrum se mortem, nisi prius vidéret Christum Dómini. Et venit in spíritu in templum. Et cum indúcerent púerum Jesum parentes ejus, ut fácerent secúndum consuetúdinem legis pro eo: et ipse accépit eum in ulnas suas, et benedíxit Deum, et dixit: Nunc dimíttis servum tuum, Dómine, secúndum verbum tuum in pace: Quia vidérunt óculi mei salutáre tuum: Quod parásti ante fáciem ómnium populórum: Lumen ad revelatiónem géntium et glóriam plebis tuæ Israël.

At that time, after the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they carried Jesus to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when His parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he also took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace; Because my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel. CREDO.

💡Light for revelation of the gentiles and the obedience of faith

Today's solemnity admirably intertwines the humility of obedience with the majesty of divine revelation, manifesting the fulfillment of the Scriptures in the person of the Incarnate Word. The prophet Malachi, in the Epistle, announces that the Ruler would come to His Temple like a "refining fire" to purify the sons of Levi; paradoxically, this Divine Fire arrives in the arms of a Virgin, submitting Himself to the Law He Himself instituted. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us that Christ wished to be "under the law" to redeem those who were under the law, and that Mary, although exempt from the original stain and legal impurity, submitted to the rite of purification to give us an example of humility and perfect obedience (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 37, a. 4). The candle that is blessed today and which the faithful carry in procession is a rich symbol of this Christological reality: the virgin wax represents the most pure flesh of Christ received from Mary; the wick, His human soul; and the flame, the Divinity that illuminates the world. Upon intoning the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon recognizes that that child is the "Light for the revelation of the Gentiles," confirming that salvation is not restricted to Israel, but extends to all nations that welcome the faith. St. Augustine, meditating on this encounter, observes that "the Ancient one carried the child, but the child governed the ancient one," indicating that, in the liturgy of this day, we are called to be like Simeon: we must take Christ into our spiritual arms through faith and works, becoming bearers of the true Light in a world immersed in shadows, as the Roman Missal itself reminds us in the prayer for the blessing of the candles, asking that the light of the Holy Spirit may not be lacking in our hearts (St. Augustine, Sermon 370).