It seems like every year I grow in the understanding of my faith, in large part because of the beautiful feast days that the Church celebrates. I think the Church created feast days and holidays for that very reason---to help us remember the history and embrace the mystery of our faith so that we can better live it and share it! The following excerpt gives some of the history of today's feast day: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, also called Candlemas. It gave me a lot of insight and inspiration:At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship. However, This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification. The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.
At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.
“Christ himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...[T]he candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice” (Pope Paul VI).
This imagery of our lives being like a candle, burning with Christ's love in an act of "silent sacrifice" as we share that love and are ultimately consumed by it really touched me. It seemed to give meaning to the loving sacrifices I make as a wife, as a mother, as a believer trying to live the Gospel daily. Today, as I ponder Mary presenting baby Jesus in the temple and having her heart pierced by Simeon's prophecy, I am reminded of the silent sacrifices we mothers make. We daily must give our own children to the Lord, praying that no harm comes to them, hoping for their salvation, and often having our hearts pierced when our children suffer or when we lose a child in the womb or before we think it is their time. I pray that Mary helps me to burn with the love of her Son as I strive to live my vocation, and that I continue to burn brightly even when my heart is pierced again and again.
At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.
“Christ himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...[T]he candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice” (Pope Paul VI).
This imagery of our lives being like a candle, burning with Christ's love in an act of "silent sacrifice" as we share that love and are ultimately consumed by it really touched me. It seemed to give meaning to the loving sacrifices I make as a wife, as a mother, as a believer trying to live the Gospel daily. Today, as I ponder Mary presenting baby Jesus in the temple and having her heart pierced by Simeon's prophecy, I am reminded of the silent sacrifices we mothers make. We daily must give our own children to the Lord, praying that no harm comes to them, hoping for their salvation, and often having our hearts pierced when our children suffer or when we lose a child in the womb or before we think it is their time. I pray that Mary helps me to burn with the love of her Son as I strive to live my vocation, and that I continue to burn brightly even when my heart is pierced again and again.
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