The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Fr Dominic’s Homily

What’s the main message of today’s feast? That Jesus is the light of the world that we so desperately need.

At the time of Jesus it was the custom that the new born child would be taken 40 days after birth to the temple to be presented and offered for service of the lord. And the Mother would be purified so she could again enter the temple for worship.

The light of the candles represents that presence of Jesus, hence the other name for this celebration Candlemas.

It all began with Moses. The Israelites formed a new covenant with God, using the sacrifice of lambs. They were asked to sacrifice the best of what they had, ‘a lamb without blemish’.

The tradition of sacrifice was one that could never fully reconcile the people with their God which is why the prophets all foretold the coming of one who would make this reconciliation possible.

Malachi speaks of the one who ‘makes the offering as it should be made’. Jesus is that perfect offering.

The psalmist acclaims ‘let him enter the king of glory’ reminding us that the king has entered His temple to bridge the gulf between humanity and God.  

In the Gospel Simeon beholds Jesus as the light to enlighten the gentiles reminding us of God’s return to the temple.

The lighted candles are a sign of the light of Jesus who comes into the temple bringing back the rightful presence of God which has been absent for so long.

587 BC when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and the Glory Cloud denoting the presence of God then left.

Jesus is the one who comes to expel the darkness of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. He begins this with his arrival in the temple.

The Temple was above all a place of sacrifice to gain God’s favour. It was a place to free oneself of sin, and a place of prayer to offer fitting honour and praise to the one true God.

And here, on this day, in the arms of Mary, comes the only sacrifice that counts, for without him no other sacrifice has meaning, whether in sacred rituals or our personal lives.

The True Lamb arrives at last to this place of offering.

Joseph and Mary were devout Jews and so travelled from Bethlehem to the temple to present their child in accordance with the law.

They didn’t need to. Joseph was of the royal line. Mary was conceived without sin. They were both above the law in every sense. Yet out of humility and obedience they submit and in doing so fulfil all the prophesies we hear in today’s readings.

Normally you offered a year old lamb without blemish and a turtle done. But if you were too poor two turtle doves or young pigeons. So Joseph and Mary give the offering of the poor.

So this is not just about the dedication of a baby to the temple. The Hebrew word “Shekinah” describes the glory and splendour of God’s presence in the temple. God’s light enters our world.

So Jesus coming into the temple for the first time in his life fulfils that prophesy of Ezekiel of the God of Israel returning in glory to live again with his people.

And how does the glory of the Lord return? As a tiny helpless baby. This tiny baby effects this transformation within us. Changing and purifying us.

Malachi reminds us he is a refiner of metal and a fuller of cloth. The Lord cleans and purges from us from all that stops us from being fully ourselves.

He burns away all that is not loving in us, all that is not willing the good of the other.

As today as we assemble in God’s presence we might ask ourselves in the light of God’s great love for us, am I the best version of myself that I can be?

Is my daily offering of myself to others the best it can be?

If not then what could be holding me back and what needs to change in me so that I am able to welcome God’s light back into the temple of my own body.