Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Reading 1: Mal 3:1-4
Responsorial: 24:7, 8, 9, 10
Reading 2: Heb 2:14-18
Alleluia, alleluia.
A light of revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Lk 2:22-40 or 2:22-32

Today is the feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the temple. In the law of Moses, it says that after the purification of the mother and child, forty days after the birth of the child, the child shall be brought to Jerusalem and offered to God – really, as a sacrifice. But, it is forbidden to Jews to offer children as a sacrifice. The parents buy the child back. I should note that offering your children in sacrifice was a normal thing, if not at that particular time, not long before, in hundreds of years, in that part of the world what we would call the Levant, the Middle East. That is to say, children were the best things you could offer to your gods, and so they were. You wanted something to give to your god or goddess, you offered a child. And your best child would be your firstborn male. They were offered to the god Moloch. The child was burned alive. The priests stood around and made noise with symbols and drums to cancel out of the cries of the child. The Jews were not allowed to do that by God. They could offer the child, and were supposed to, but not kill it. Now this all might seem awful to us... … But it wasn’t only in that part of the world. Just recently, in South America, it a mass grave of boys was uncovered, boys offered by one ancient culture; ...numerous boys were offered probably because of lack of grain; the people were trying to get grain. In any case, this is a practice in human history. We think it’s terrible. But consider how many children by abortion are sacrificed for our convenience these days.

Our Lady of Presentation

… (For the Jews) you brought the boy to the temple and you offered him… and then redeemed him, you brought him back by offering an animal instead, like a lamb. It says that Mary and Joseph offered a pigeon. If you were a poor person and could not afford a lamb, you could offer a pigeon. Mary and Joseph obviously counted as poor people who couldn’t afford a lamb. But then that child, that boy, belonged to God. You could have him, you could educate him, you could treat him as your own – but he was really God’s. Early Christians understood this as the meaning of all this, that all those Jewish boys who were brought to the temple and offered (as) sacrifice were looking forward to this boy, Jesus, who was the True Sacrifice who would take away the sins of the world. He was the true Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, as Saint John the Baptist says. He was the lamb that God would provide, that he spoke of to Abraham when he was told not to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. So, in a way this is a feast about Christ, our priest and our sacrifice. He offered himself on the altar of the cross. As a priest, he offered himself, his body and blood, as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. And so we devote “This is my body; this is the chalice of my blood”: the bread and wine are transformed into that sacrifice, the body and blood of Christ. And he himself, not I, he himself offers the sacrifice of his self to the Father for us. Or rather, we all offer that sacrifice. I just provide the voice, the hands. He is the true priest, he is the true sacrifice.

Notice – there is a lot to be said – notice Simeon, the old man, who comes into the temple, told by the Holy Spirit that he will see the Messiah. He goes into the temple, takes the boy in his arms, and says that this is the messiah. And he says he will be a sign of contradiction. A lot of people will hear and see him and say: “No thanks! That’s wrong! We don’t want to hear it!” And that goes on today. The gospel says no abortion and we say, “Oh no, that’s a right, a freedom.” The gospel says no divorce, and we say, “No, we have to have divorce.” The gospel says no sex outside of marriage and we say, “Oh, come off it!” – and so it goes. He is still a sign of contradiction. And that’s why he died. Notice that Simeon says to his mother: Behold this child is destined to be contradicted and you, Mary, the mother, you yourself will be pierced by a sword. What does that mean? As far as we know she never was wounded by a sword. But we know she stood beside the cross when her son died there, pierce by nails, and his side pierced by a lance. So, the covenant is a sign of a joyful thing but there is a sadness too.

Finally, notice that Simeon says that Jesus is a light of revelation to the Gentiles. The church caught onto that, and that is why we have more candles than usual because this is the day that used to be called Candlemas – you know that “Christ-mas” means Mass of Christ; if you’re in England, the Mass before Saint Michael’s day is called Michaelmas. And we used to do this at Portsmouth Priory School: the monks and the boys – and the school was much smaller then – in the old Chapel, everybody would light a candle and process around, also through the monastery, and then back to the chapel... And that was to tell us that you also are meant to be lights of Christ to the world. And that is the challenge. If anyone should see you and ask, “Is she a Christian? Is he a Christian? Are they really trying to live the gospel?” – what would the answer be?