When on November 21, 2024, we celebrated the feast day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Temple, some thoughts just flashed in my mind. Since this feast offers us some interesting insight I felt it is my fraternal calling to share them with you.
To begin with, the Bible, specifically in the Book of Exodus, explicitly says that every Hebrew first-born male child was to be presented in the Temple. The Biblical text says the following: Consecrate to me all the first-born; whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine... You shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstlings of your cattle that are males shall be the Lord’s (Exod 13:2. 12). It needs to be said that such a law would also encourage some Jewish parents to consecrate other children who are favorite to their hearts to the Lord. Apocryphal literature tells us that Joachim and Anna did present the child Mary in the Temple. This took place when Mary was only three years old. On that special instance Mary vowed her virginity to the occasion.
The apocryphal text we are referring to is The Protoevangelium of James (circa 145) as we know this text was held dear by early Christians. In it, we find the Virgin Mary’s parents offering her to God at the Jewish Temple at a very tender age. Here is the text which recounts what took place as Mary was entrusted to the Temple’s care.
And the child was two years old, and Joachim said: Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us, and our offering be not received. And Anna said: Let us wait for the third year, in order that the child may not seek for father or mother. And Joachim said: So let us wait. And the child was three years old, and Joachim said: Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord. And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: The Lord has magnified your name in all generations. In you, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel. And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her.
And her parents went down marvelling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel.
What I personally find interesting is the homily of St Augustine concerning this feast. In that homily Augustine shows us that Mary lived her consecration to God because she kept God’s word in her mind, meaning in her deepest interiority possible. St Augustine writes: Now listen and see if the words of Scripture do not agree with what I have said. The Lord was passing by and crowds were following him. His miracles gave proof of divine power, and a woman cried out: Happy is the womb that bore you, blessed is that womb! But the Lord, not wishing people to seek happiness in a purely physical relationship, replied: More blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Mary heard God’s word and kept it, and so she is blessed. She kept God’s truth in her mind, a nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth and the body were both Christ: he was kept in Mary’s mind insofar as he is truth, he was carried in her womb insofar as he is man; but what is kept in the mind is of a higher order than what is carried in the womb.
Mary’s complete loyalty to God made her consecration liveable. Hence, Mary was truly Christ’s mother because she was, first and foremost, Christ’s disciple. On this point St Augustine was so clear when he taught us: Now, beloved, give me your whole attention, for you also are members of Christ; you also are the body of Christ. Consider how you yourselves can be among those of whom the Lord said: Here are my mother and my brothers. Do you wonder how you can be the mother of Christ? He himself said: Whoever hears and fulfils the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. As for our being the brothers and sisters of Christ, we can understand this because although there is only one inheritance and Christ is the only Son, his mercy would not allow him to remain alone. It was his wish that we too should be heirs of the Father, and co-heirs with himself.
The Feast of Mary’s Presentation at the Temple informs us that Mary is our privileged mother-coach in the discipleship of Christ. No one, other than Mary, can ever teach us of how to be Christ’s mothers and sisters and brothers as she clearly is. Her total YES to God is for us her way of giving birth to us as well as coaching us in the faith. St Augustine tells us in his homily: Now having said that all of you are brothers of Christ, shall I not dare to call you his mother? Much less would I dare to deny his own words. Tell me how Mary became the mother of Christ, if it was not by giving birth to the members of Christ? You, to whom I am speaking, are the members of Christ. Of whom were you born? “Of Mother Church,” I hear the reply of your hearts. You became sons of this mother at your baptism, you came to birth then as members of Christ. Now you in your turn must draw to the font of baptism as many as you possibly can. You became sons when you were born there yourselves, and now by bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your power to become the mothers of Christ.
Now I can easily appreciate, more and more, what St Alphonsus Liguori wrote about this feast when he said: There never was, and never will be, an offering on the part of a creature greater or more perfect than that which Mary made to God when, at the age of three, she presented herself in the Temple. She offered him not aromatic spices, nor calves, nor gold, but her entire self, consecrating herself as a perpetual victim in his honor.
At this beautiful feast let us pray with St Bernard of Clairvaux in his Memorare prayer to Mary:
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help,
or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence
I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins, my Mother.
To thee do I come,
before thee I stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
