Feast of the Presentation of the Lord:

Feast day : 02 February

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple. The feast commemorates the day when Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary present the child Jesus in the Temple in accordance with the Jewish laws. Holy Simeon, on whom the Holy Spirit rested, took the child in his arms and proclaimed Him as the long awaited Messiah. He also made a prophecy about His mission and the sufferings that the Blessed Virgin Mary would suffer alongwith Him in fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. This feast is a manifestation of the identity of the Messiah and the sorrowful path of His mission to bring salvation to all mankind.

Scriptures:

Holy Simeon lived in the Temple and was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, on that day, Simeon came into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, Simeon took Him in his arms and praised God. He spoke in the Spirit, praising God and proclaiming that the child was the long awaited Messiah saying “for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel”.

Simeon then blessed them and prophesied to the Blessed Virgin Mary “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed- and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Luke 2:22-33

His prophesy is an announcement of the mission that Jesus was to fulfil in order to obtain salvation for all mankind. God’s plan of this mission was one of suffering filled with opposition, rejection and a painful death on the Cross for His Son which the Blessed Virgin Mary would suffer and bear in her soul alongwith Him. This feast is a manifestation of the identity of the Messiah and the sorrowful path of His mission to bring salvation to all mankind.

Read the Bible passage here...