The American Pronunciation Guide Presents ''How to Pronounce Feast of the Lord''
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
May we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation
of the Lord which is also the legal
purification of Our Blessed Lady, and we'll
speak of these things in a moment.
and also known as Candlemas,
because of the procession which we
undertook at the beginning of the Mass
with the lighted candles. It represents
to us that our Lord, as we have seen
already through the celebration
celebration of the birth of our Lord at Christmas in Bethlehem, and then the Epiphany, now concluding
with this feast, that of the presentation of our Lord. But he is that light that dispels
the darkness. He is the anointed one, the Christos. He is the king who comes into his
temple. He's the Lord of the temple, but he also comes into his temple in order to disperse
that light. I'm sorry, to diffuse that light in order to disperse the darkness. He has
come among us. And this is all represented here, primarily in the Gospel passage we just
heard, but it also is alluded to in the other readings as well.
Yes, it is he himself, our Lord, who is carried into the temple in the hands of his most blessed
mother, our mother. And there's much here that we will reflect on, but we see here,
he is that one, that light carried in by his mother. No one else even knows who he is.
Hardly anyone knows. And only to those to whom it has been revealed, the shepherds,
to whom it was revealed by the angels first, and then they saw it exactly as the angels
told them, the magi, to whom it was revealed by the star that led them to Bethlehem. And
now also we see two others, to whom, by whom it was revealed. Actually, there are three
by whom it was revealed by the Holy Spirit. You can't forget Elizabeth and her, making
a fourth one.
And her son.
And her son, John the Baptist, and her womb, to whom the Incarnation was revealed when
Our Lady greeted Elizabeth. Those things we've already seen. Those some we have, some we
won't have. Sorry. The Feast of Visitation comes in May, but the rest of it we've seen.
But those, to them it was revealed, but also to Simeon and Anna, it is revealed by the
Holy Spirit. That this child, this infant, whom everyone else around would only see as
a simple infant, right? A helpless little infant.
But have no idea that the infant being carried in the arms of his mother is the Incarnate
God. But to Simeon and to Anna, it's revealed by the Holy Spirit, who led them into the
temple that day. Had them there where Our Lady and Saint Joseph came to fulfill the
precepts of the Law of Moses. Though, of course, this will be regarding the law of Moses. Though,
of course, this will be regarding the law of Moses. Though, of course, this will be regarding
the infant himself and Our Blessed Lady. Though, they would be exempt from that law.
Because, of course, after the infant himself, our Lord is the one who established the law
in the first place with Moses. And secondly, Our Blessed Lady, whose virginity remained
intact so she could not be considered unclean. Which by Mosaic law, otherwise, a mother having
just given birth was considered unclean and had to be purified.
By a special ritual in the temple, 40 days for a male after the birth of the firstborn
son. And so, here, Joseph and Mary come bringing the child in order to fulfill that law. Although,
they would be exempt from it, they had come to fulfill it. As is pointed out in the second
reading, the child,
became one among us,
like all of us except for sin.
Everything except for sin.
In order to redeem us.
It was man who offended God
and broke off the relationship with God through sin.
Starting with Adam and carrying on from there.
So it required a man to make reparation for that offense.
But it was an infinite God who was offended.
Which means now, in order to completely fulfill that reparation,
it will require an infinite, someone infinite, God.
So this child who comes to fulfill that,
make that reparation, is God and man.
And thereby would be exempt from the law of Moses
since he's the one who established the law
in the first place.
But here he comes to fulfill that law.
As man, he comes to fulfill that law.
As God, he of course would be exempt.
And so it is with Our Lady as well, as we've just seen.
And so it is given here,
even explicitly by St. Luke,
when the days were completed for their purification,
referring to Our Lady and to Our Lord.
They come to the temple,
of course accompanied by St. Joseph,
in order to fulfill that Mosaic law.
They're also giving you here, of course,
the perfect example of what it is to obey the Lord.
Bearing in mind, and they knew and understood,
the child they carried in their arms
was indeed the Lord himself.
So.
And now they bring him into the temple,
which was the place of worship for all of the Jews,
for all of Israel.
And that represents to all of us, the temple.
And we might ask, who, what is the temple?
To whom does our Lord dispel the light by entering in?
Starts with his church, but all of us who are members
of that church, we are his mystical body.
He dispels that darkness in all of us.
The darkness of sin.
Now, meaning whether we have to prepare a dwelling place for him.
He's coming in to us, each and every one of us.
And he does.
Do we open up a place for him?
Or do we turn away from him with our own passions and appetites,
our own sins, and just turn away?
And give him to ourselves and block him?
You see, rather let us open that way for him, to come in,
dispel all the darkness of our sin and our evil and our vices,
and bring us the everlasting light, his light, that he is.
You see, that will allow him to fill us with himself.
And then we too could chant along with Simeon,
now, Lord, as you let your servant go in peace.
Peace.
We'll find that peace.
Once we have that light, who is Jesus himself.
Then, after Simeon, who announces this with his canticle,
the new dimitis, now, Lord, you may let your servant go in peace.
He had been promised he would not die.
He was now an old man.
He would not die until he saw the Lord himself, the anointed one.
He would not see the Lord himself.
He would not see the Lord himself.
He would not see the Lord himself.
He would not see until he had seen the Christ of the Lord,
the anointed of the Lord, the God himself, the Lord.
Now he sees him and holds him in his arms.
Now you may let your servant go in peace.
In any case, then he gives turns to our Blessed Lady
and makes perhaps one of the most intense prophecies ever known.
Because he prophesies here,
first that the child is destined to be the rise and fall of many,
how so?
Because he will be the rise for those who accept him
and the fall of those who reject him.
He will undergo his passion and death.
And don't think Our Lady didn't understand all this already
when she accepted to be the Mother of God after the initiation.
She gave her fiat.
She understood.
And what all of that meant.
And she knows absolutely all of the details
while our little Simeon now begins to...
to...
announce them to her.
He gives them to her.
What this is going to mean.
She may or may not have understood all of the details,
but now she begins to.
But she can understand why she would look with such awe then
at what she is hearing.
She would listen with such awe.
You yourself, a sword, will pierce.
So the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
You yourself, a sword will pierce.
Meaning, she would be there at the cross.
She too would suffer with our Lord.
His very passion, death, mystically.
But she would suffer too.
She would unite, be united.
That intensely in his own sufferings.
In a word, Simeon was prophesying
that Our Lady was to be the co-redemptrix.
And in fact, as St. John,
St. John, St. John, St. John, St. John,
points out in his narrative of the Passion,
there stood near the cross
his mother, Mary.
She did indeed fulfill this prophecy.
And those sufferings that she offered willingly,
united with her son,
just as his son offered his willingly,
were out of obedience to the Father
and for the love of us.
Every one of us.
So let us then unite ourselves with her.
Give ourselves back to her.
Let her unite us with her divine son.
There will be suffering, sacrifice, trial.
We can expect that.
And we must embrace it.
We shall not run from it.
Knowing that with the grace of God,
he will carry us through.
And we too can go in.
And carry our candles full of light
into the temple, into the ultimate temple,
into paradise with that victory.
Into our union, everlasting union with God
forever in paradise.
Praise be Jesus in the air.
Amen.