Menu Close

Pastor’s Corner 02.02.2025

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which happens to fall on Sunday, this year. This celebration commemorates when Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, in fulfillment of the Law of Moses and to offer the appropriate sacrifice.

Prior to 1969 this Feast was referred to as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to Luke’s Gospel, the presentation of Jesus and the purification of the Blessed Mother took place in the Temple on the same day.

At the Temple they encountered a righteous and devout man named Simeon. He had been inspired by the Holy Spirit to wait for and look for the coming Messiah. When he saw the infant Jesus, he uttered his now famous prayer, known in Latin as the “Nunc Dimittis”. In that prayer, Simeon referred to Jesus as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for [God’s] people Israel.”

This reference to Jesus being the light of revelation to the Gentiles plays a role in why this Feast is also called Candlemas Day, a day when Christians have their candles blessed and participate in candle processions. The Feast which occurs on February 2nd is forty days after Christmas and was traditionally the formal end of the Christmas season.

The Feast highlights the obedience of Mary and Joseph, the role of Jesus as not the destroyer of the Law, but the fulfillment of it, and it is another epiphany event of sorts when Jesus is revealed as the Light to the Gentile nations. Through the figures of Simeon and Anna, we are reminded to have hope in the Lord’s promises, to persevere and wait for the Lord, and to trust that his promises will be fulfilled to those who persevere in faith.

Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,