PRESENTATION AS GIFT OF SELF

PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  

1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59; 1 Chron 29:10-12; Lk 19:45-48

The True House of God

As we celebrate the memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple, we reflect on our own presentation to the Lord. In the process of baptism, we were all presented to the Lord in the Church, whether as infants or as adults. For the infants, the parents have the duty of bringing their children to present them to the Lord, in thanksgiving for the gift they are from God, and as an act of consecration of them to the Lord. As adults, those who have influenced the candidates’ lives positively, whose lives preached or presented the Gospel to them, act as parents. They are truly the spiritual parents of these candidates, for the testimonies of their lives have made them conceive the new life of Christ. Usually, one or two of these come with the candidate to present him to God for baptism in the Church. What the Church asks of those presenting the candidates, or the parents in the case of infants, is whether they are ready to bring up the candidates or neophytes in the faith of the Church. Hence, both the parents of the children being baptised and those who bring adults for baptism have the same duty to live a virtuous Christian life. Parents have a twofold duty, namely, to give natural life and spiritual life to their children. The presentation of a baby in the Church or Temple symbolically represents this twofold duty of parents. They achieve this duty by consecrating themselves to God. The same goes for those who bring adults to Church for baptism.

The above understanding of our consecration to God through parents and Godparents plays out in the story of Mattathias and his family in the book of 1 Maccabees. His virtuous life as a Jew reflected well in the lives of his children, brothers, and friends. His life of consecration to the Law of God and the Prophets gave birth to the consecration of his brothers, children, and friends. The passage narrates how his children carried on his battle against the sin and impiety of King Antiochus and the nations under him. His son, Judas, who took over the leadership of the army, fought many battles against the nations and enemies of God. He was equally staunch in his consecration to the Law and the Prophets. “Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion.” They proceeded to rededicate the physical Temple of Jerusalem because their inner and spiritual temple remained intact and consecrated. We cannot consecrate the physical church or temple without first consecrating ourselves to God. Thus, those who build the Church of God are those who are the temples of God in themselves. We proclaim the presence of God through a virtuous life. By living the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully on a daily basis, we consecrate ourselves and our children (physical and spiritual) to God, thereby help in building the Church of God and the heavenly Jerusalem.

By living our Christian life faithfully daily, we proclaim the glorious name of God to all people we encounter. “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever, for ages unending. Yours, Lord, are greatness and power, and splendour and triumph and glory. All is yours, in heaven and on earth.” But those who live only for material glory and gain are not only enemies of God, but destroyers of his holy temples. The action of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple was not just because of the physical activities they were carrying out, but because these activities made them neglect their duty of consecrating themselves to God. “Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’” Subsequently, our Lord spent his days reconstructing the temple of God by teaching in the Temple every day. The parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary consecrated her in the Temple at a tender age. She subsequently made herself a temple of God and became full of grace and the mother of the Word Incarnate. Her meditation and contemplation of the word of God were continual and consistent. May her prayers aid us to be consecrated to God.

Let us pray; As we venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.           


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