Early tradition is that as a small child, Mary’s parents presented her to the Lord in the Temple. This celebration expresses the total dedication of Mary to God’s service and her obedience to God’s plans. We, too, are called to serve God joyfully without seeking any human glory. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1699)
The significance of the feast
We learn of Our Lady’s life when the Archangel appears to her to announce that she has been chosen by God to become the Mother of the Eternal Son. Up to that decisive moment, Mary’s life must have been truly unique, however, since she was full of grace from the first instant of her Immaculate Conception.
Throughout her life God watched over Mary with a singular predilection. At the same time Our Lady was a normal child in her neighborhood. She was always the delight of her contemporaries in an ordinary town. The crucial events of her life happen in the intimacy of her soul, in the continual dialogue with God the Father.
Today’s feast has its origin in ancient tradition. But the essential basis is firm: the personal oblation that the Blessed Mother made to the Lord during her early youth. She was moved by the Holy Spirit to consecrate her life to God. (Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation, “Marialis cultus”, 2 February 1974, 8)
We celebrate the complete surrender the Blessed Virgin makes to God’s plans for salvation of mankind. In the light of her total commitment, which implies the state of virginity, Our Lady will later say to the Archangel Gabriel: “I know not man.” (Lk 1:34) Thus, she tactfully reveals an entire history of fidelity to God that takes place deep within her soul.
Mary personifies the fulfilment of the New Testament affirmation of virginity’s superiority of state over marriage. Its higher vocation in no way lessens the sanctity of marriage which Christ himself raised to the dignity of a sacrament. (Second Vatican Council, “Gaudium et spes”, 48)
Let us ask Our Lady’s help in living our own dedication to the full, in whatever state God has placed us, in accord with the specific vocation we have received from the Lord. “Talk with Our Lady and tell her trustingly, ‘O Mary, in order to live the ideal which God has set in my heart I need to fly very high -- ever so high ...’” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 994)
Our Lady was moved by a special grace of the Holy Spirit to commit her entire life to God. Perhaps she made the decision just as she reached the age of reason. Maybe she never made a formal commitment to God, but was simply accustomed to living her dedication in a natural way.
St Alphonsus Liguori affirms: “The child Mary is well aware that complete oblations alone are acceptable to God”. In line “with the divine precept, hearts that are divided do not please him: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and with your whole strength (Deut 6:5).’ From the beginning of her life, the Blessed Mother strives to love God with all her strength ... entirely given over to his service.” (“The Glories of Mary”, II, 3)
Every advance in our union with God necessarily entails more frequent recourse to the Holy Spirit, the Divine Guest of our soul. Our Lady’s docility to the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, grows throughout her life.
St Josemaria Escrivá composed this prayer: “Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten my understanding to know your commandments. Strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy. Inflame my will ... I hear your voice and do not want to harden my heart and resist saying: “Later ... tomorrow. ... Now I begin!” Now, since tomorrow may never come.
“Oh Spirit of Truth and Wisdom, Spirit of Understanding and Counsel, Spirit of Joy and Peace, I fully accept whatever you desire for me, in the way and at the time that you do, simply because you so want it.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Postulation Articles for his Beatification and Canonization, Historical Records of the Founder”, 20172, 145)
Let us ask Our Lady today that there may be many who, as our Mother Mary did from the time of her youth, follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and give their lives entirely over to the Lord’s service.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 7:254-60
‘True devotion to Mary’
St Louis Marie de Montfort, a great lover of Mary, wrote a treatise entitled, “The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary”. He gives a full explanation of the great secret of achieving union with Christ and a tender devotion to Mary. This devotion is founded on her role in the economy of salvation as mother and queen.
Pope Pius XII in canonizing him on 20 July 1947 declared his doctrine ‘burning, solid and correct’. Underneath are a few sayings of this great Marian writer:
“God gathered together all the waters of earth and called them seas. He gathered together all the graces of heaven and called them Mary.”
“No one can acquire an intimate union with Jesus and a perfect fidelity to the Holy Spirit without being greatly united to Mary.”
“A lover of Mary must be pious. Mary lived in continual prayer; her devotee must pray ... continually.”
“Mary is so powerful against the devil; he fears a single breath of hers more than all the prayers of the Saints.”
“The Holy Spirit, upon entering a soul and finding there Mary, His beloved Spouse, communicates His life to that soul and fills it with gifts.”
Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19
The Catholic Church
“The Church is Christ continued in time. We may not break away from her, just as a bough wishing to burst into new flower in the springtime may not separate itself from the tree and the root whence it draws its life. This is one of the capital points of the contemporary history of Christianity. It is a decisive point. It is a question of either belonging faithfully and fruitfully to the Church’s authentic and authoritative tradition, or of cutting oneself off from it mortally.” (Pope Paul VI, 20 August 1970. In “The Vatican II Weekday Missal”, 1975, p1484)
• Presentation of Our Lady. This feast was instituted in the Greek Church more than nine-hundred years ago, since St Germanus, who held the see of Constantinople in the year 715, composed a sermon upon it. — Baronius, Notes to the Martyrology. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Presentation of Mary in the Temple. ["This feast was instituted in the Greek Church more than nine hundred years ago, since St. Germanus, who held the see of Constantinople in the year 715, composed a sermon on it. (Baronius, Notes to the Martyrology.)"] (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Presentation of Mary at the Temple (celebrated since 543; universally since 1585). (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (13 B.C.) (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (http://mariedenazareth.com)
• Our Lady of Good Health. Basilica in Venice, Italy built to celebrate the end of a plague in 1631/1630. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Peace. Rome. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Quinche (Queen of Ecuador). (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Proclamation of Mary "Mother of the Church" by Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council (1964). (http://mariedenazareth.com)
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