FEBRUARY 2 is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord which is 40 days after his birth. Again, the number 40 appears in this occasion. In the Bible, this number appears 158 times and lends itself to a number of meanings, from a period of testing, trial or probation, to a period of growth and attainment of a new life, a transformation, etc.
This feast commemorates the occasion when Our Lady, in obedience to Jewish law, went to the Temple in Jerusalem both to be purified after giving birth and to consecrate her son, Jesus, as her firstborn. (cfr. Lk 2,22-38)
Many precious lessons can be derived from this feast, among them the fact that Our Lady, and much less Jesus Christ, who clearly would have no need to submit to that law, just went ahead with it, without taking advantage of the privilege she clearly enjoyed, and avoiding any sense of entitlement.
This is an example worth emulating. We may be quite privileged in life because of the many gifts and other endowments God and others may have given us, but we should never feel entitled to anything. Instead, our attitude toward these privileges should be one of willingness to serve more, doing a lot of good while passing unnoticed, and all for the glory of God and for the good of all.
This feast can also be considered as another epiphany, another manifestation of Christ as our savior. This time, the manifestation is done not to the three magi anymore, but to two characters, Simeon and Anna.
The feast is a good reminder to all of us, Christian believers, that we have a duty to present Christ to everyone as he truly is to us—the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our humanity that has been damaged by sin.
While this duty is incumbent on every Christian believer, it is more so to clerics and other consecrated and religious persons. The priest, for example, is sacramentally conformed to Christ as head of the Church. It is his concern that the sacramental Christ in him be transformed into the living Christ—obviously with the constant help of God’s grace. Otherwise, he will be an empty suit.
He has to assume the very mind and heart of Christ, the sentiments, mission and concerns of Christ. As the sacramental image of Christ as head of the Church, a priest has to act like a mediator, a bridge that connects two ends—God and men. He therefore has to be intimately identified with both God and men, which is a never-ending task that requires grace and everything that a priest can do.
Like Christ, he has to have the mind of God and assume the conditions of men, since this is the very heart of Christ. This, of course, can be hard and very demanding, but it is not impossible. With training and determined effort, this can be done. On God’s part, his grace is never lacking. In fact, it is poured out abundantly.
We who believe in Christ should feel the need to make Christ alive everywhere. And given the current conditions in the world, we have to learn how to present him by making use of the new technologies we are having these days.
We should feel the same urgency that St. Paul felt when he said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel. (1 Cor 9,16) It’s a cry that also has to spring in each one of us, who now participates in the abiding duty of preaching and teaching the word of God according to our personal circumstances.
ERRATUM: Sorry to inform you that there was a mistake in my article for Jan 25. Instead of “Christ has destroyed death” it should be “Your words, Lord, are spirit and life” Thanks for understanding.
