Presentation of the Lord (February 2, 2025)

In today’s Gospel we experience Mary and Joseph presenting the infant Jesus, the son of God, in the Temple. St. Francis de Sales notes:

On this day the Son of God is offered to His Father. This offering is beautifully represented with lighted candles to remind us of when Mary entered the Temple carrying in her arms her Son, who is the Light of the world. Today when Christians carry lighted candles in their hands it is to testify that if it were possible they would carry Our Lord in their arms as did Mary and Simeon. (Sermons 2:173)

This feast is the last of all those celebrated in honor of the Incarnation. From now on the liturgical cycle does not refer to this mystery or to the infancy of the Savior, but rather to His Death, Resurrection and Ascension. In other words, they will be feasts of our Redemption. (Sermons 2:173)

The glorious St. Simeon also was very happy to carry the Savior in his arms. We can bear Him on our shoulders if we willingly endure  and suffer with a good heart all that it pleases God to send us, however difficult and heavy be the charge and burden that God places upon our shoulder, like some saints. (Sermons, 2:187)

We can carry Our Savior in our arms as St. Simeon and Mary did. We do this when we endure with love the labors and pains He sends us, that is to say, when the love which we bear makes us find God’s yoke easy and pleasing, so that we love these pains and labors, gather sweetness in the midst of bitterness. If we carry Him this way, He will, without doubt, Himself carry us. (Sermons, 2:188)

In imitating Simeon and Anna, we will be able to see beyond the vicissitudes of our present life and experience the reign of God in our midst.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales.)