Today, we celebrate the presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, which does not have a direct reference in the Gospels or in any other book of Sacred Scripture. Our feast today has its foundation in a belief passed down in the traditions of the Early Church and in other first century sacred writings. Tradition teaches that Mary was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem when she was a girl. Mary must have spent a great deal of time in the Temple practicing her faith and preparing for her eventual role as the mother of our Lord and the mother of the Church. We can use our imagination and our understanding of Mary from Scripture and from tradition to reflect upon what her childhood and her journey of faith might have been like before her visit from the Archangel Gabriel. We can also ask ourselves how we can turn to Mary and ask her to help prepare us for our mission as Christians in our modern world, a task that becomes more and more difficult as our modern secular society becomes a place that is hostile to the values of the Gospel.
Although Mary probably spent much time in the Temple and in the study of Jewish Scripture and tradition, she also probably spent a lot of time with St. Anne and St. Joachim, her mother and father, growing up in a loving family that exposed her to the reality of life around her, including the sufferings of the poor. Mary was full of grace, as declared by the Angel Gabriel, but I also imagine that her parents and her upbringing fostered and encouraged her empathy and compassion, her generosity and humility, her hospitality and forgiveness.
May the example of the Virgin Mary encourage us as we travel on our journey of faith. It is easy for us to squander our God-given gifts and talents, to not listen to God’s call for us. May the Virgin Mary be an example of Christian love and virtue for us in how we should live our lives of faith, to encourage us to live a life of faith in service to the Lord.
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