Presentation of the Lord - consecrated life on the Feast of the Presentation

Archbishop Leo Cushley, Edinburgh, welcomes the Religious to Celebration  of Presentation at the Archdiocesan Centre.

Honouring the consecrated life on the Feast of the Presentation

February 2, 2012 by Kris Dmytrenko 

Today the Universal Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord — a day when we all consider our own consecration to God. In particular, the feast is associated with the religious life, and so this day also marks the 16th World Day of Consecrated Life.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops explains why Blessed John Paul II established the World Day for Consecrated Life in 1997:

The purpose of the day is to help the entire Church to esteem ever more greatly the witness of those persons who have chosen to follow Christ by means of the practice of the evangelical counsels. [...]

Based on the latest statistics of the Canadian Religious Conference, there are more than 200 religious institutes and societies of apostolic life in Canada, with a total number of 19,235 women and men as members, while 350 women in Canada are members of women’s secular institutes.

Pope Benedict will be honouring the religious life by presiding over Vespers and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Peter’s Basilica. Consecrated men and women from various communities will be present. S+L will air the liturgy live on S+L TV and streaming online at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT. You can pray along with vespers with the online booklet for the celebration, which includes an English translation of the prayers.
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Credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring

Dom Donald's Blog: Presentation Feb 2nd - Nunraw anniversary 1946

02 Feb 2011

Presentation Feb 2nd - Nunraw anniversary 1946. Candlemass, the Solemnity of the Presentation of the Lord. The Rite of the Blessing of the Candles was celebrated in the early morning Cloister, We carried the lighted ...

http://nunraw.blogspot.com/

1. The Presentation of the Lord - Candlemas - Catholicism - About.com

   

   catholicism.about.com › ... › Holy Days and Holidays‎

   by Scott Richert - in 1,131 Google+ circles

   Known popularly as Candlemas, the Feast of thePresentation of the Lord celebrates the presentation of Christ in the temple at Jerusalem on the 40th day after ...

Introduction to the Presentation of the Lord:

Known originally as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a relatively ancient celebration. The Church at Jerusalem observed the feast as early as the first half of the fourth century, and likely earlier. The feast celebrates the presentation of Christ in the temple at Jerusalem on the 40th day after His birth.

Quick Facts:
• Date: February 2
• Type of Feast: Feast
• Readings: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40 (full text here)
• Prayers: Nunc Dimittis (Canticle of Simeon; Luke 2:29-32): "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
• Other Names for the Feast: Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, the Meeting of the Lord, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

History:

According to Jewish law, the firstborn male child belonged to God, and the parents had to "buy him back" on the 40th day after his birth, by offering a sacrifice of "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:24) in the temple (thus the "presentation" of the child). On that same day, the mother would be ritually purified (thus the "purification").

Saint Mary and Saint Joseph kept this law, even though, since Saint Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Christ, she would not have had to go through ritual purification. In his gospel, Luke recounts the story (Luke 2:22-39).

Originally, the feast was celebrated on February 14,  ..........

Presentation Candlemass St Luke 2:22-40

Presentation in the Temple - Bellini.bmp Thursday, 02 February 2012 Presentation of Child Jesus in the Temple - Solemnity Anniversary of the Foundation of Sancta Maria Abbey - Nunraw      Community Sermon - Fr. Raymond

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Raymond . . .
Sent: Friday, 3 February 2012, 9:29
Subject: Presentation  2012

No matter how far one travels back in time one finds everywhere and always the evidence of mankind’s instinctive need to offer sacrifice to the Divine.  Man has an innate need to take some living creature to represent his own life and kill and consume it in fire as a symbol of the gift of himself to his God.  The Jewish feast of the Presentation was nothing but the con-tinuance of this fundamental religious trait in the lives of God’s chosen people

For us who live in the fullness of God’s time, in the Christian Era, however, there is an added dimension to this feast.  The Victim offered on our behalf is That First Born, the First Born who is merely foreshadowed by all the previous victims.  He is The Christ himself, the only begotten of the Father.  And the offering of this First Born is not to be merely symbolised by the slaying of a lamb or a dove.  Our offering is himself, in all the fullness of tragic reality, the very victim who is sacrificed; and in this, since he is himself one of us, he represents the complete and perfect offering to his Heavenly Father of each and every one of us.

This whole episode in the temple is also shot through with beautiful symbolism.  We must ask ourselves why, for instance  were there two prophets, Simeon and Anna, and not just one? Would either one not have done?  And why was one male and one female?  And why were they old and not young?          By their duality of gender, man and woman, Simeon and Anna surely represent the whole of the human race welcoming its Saviour.  They are a reflection of the original couple, Adam and Eve; the founders of our race; the male and female  to whom the promise of this child was originally made so many centuries before in the Garden of Eden.  And by their old age this couple surely represents the fullness of the coming of age of God’s chosen people.  God’s designs are always fulfilled and never frustrated.  No matter how many of us are unfaithful, there will always be a faithful remnant. The acknowledgement by Simeon and Anna that the Messiah has come at last is the living proof that God’s call and choice of the Jews was fulfilled, at least in these two.  Here we can call to mind that also the beginning of the new Messianic era is likewise represented by man and woman, male and female, Joseph and Mary, of course.

Finally we may consider that, Simeon and Anna represent by their holiness the ultimate success and triumph of the work of Redemption; the work that was to be accomplished by this child;  the Child in whom, not only they, but all of us were chosen from the beginning to live holy and upright lives awaiting the fullness of our redemption.