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. This feast 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 ask ourselves how we can turn to Mary and ask her to help prepare us for our mission as Christians in the modern world, a task that becomes more challenging 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 imagine that her parents and her upbringing fostered and encouraged her empathy and compassion, her generosity and humility, her hospitality and forgiveness.
Yesterday and today, we hear a description from the book of Revelation of the heavenly liturgy that gives praise and thanksgiving to God. God is so revered and so great that no one on earth or under the earth or in heaven is worthy enough to break open the scroll that is in the hands of the one who is seated on the heavenly throne. We contrast that reading from Revelation to what we hear in today’s Gospel, as Jesus pauses at the entrance to Jerusalem, weeping at the way the people have rejected him. As we honor Mary today, we pray that she lead us closer to her son, which is what Mary always does for us in our journey of faith.
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