A Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Candlemas – Sunday, February 2, 2025
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 10:00 Mass
Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
Audio Recording
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas Day. I’ll speak a bit about Candlemas in a few minutes.
By bringing the infant Jesus to the temple, Mary and Joseph are not only fulfilling Jewish Law regarding the presentation of their infant child to be dedicated to God 40 days after His birth, they are also commemorating the Jewish practice of the purification of the mother after childbirth.
Just a little background concerning what’s happening here. According to the Book of Leviticus, when a woman bore a child, she was considered “unclean” for seven days. On the eighth day, the boy was circumcised. The mother continued to stay at home for 33 days for her blood to be purified.
After the 40 days, the mother and the father came to the temple for both the rite of purification and the presentation of their firstborn son, which included the offering of a sacrifice — a lamb for the burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering. For a poor couple who could not afford a lamb, the offering was either two pigeons or two turtledoves. Joseph and Mary made the offering of the poor, making it crystal clear that Jesus was born into poverty.
This presentation of Christ in the temple was prophesied in today’s first reading by the prophet Malachi when he says “And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.” The Jewish people had been waiting for hundreds of years for the Messiah to come, bringing his mercy, justice and truth to the broken world.
In today’s Gospel reading we meet Simeon and Anna, who represent the totality of the Jewish people who were waiting for their Messiah. Simeon and Anna had been keeping watch all their lives for the Messiah to come.
Simeon had been given a special gift by the Holy Spirit of reassurance that he would not die until he had laid eyes on the Messiah. He was also given the gift to recognize Him when He came. He was actually able to hold Him in his arms, which had to be so much more than could have hoped for!
He then announced that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah and that He had also come to save the Gentiles. Finally, he prophesied that Jesus would be opposed by many and that Mary’s heart would be pierced by a sword, indicating the pain she would experience as a result of this opposition which would ultimately result in her Son’s Passion and Crucifixion.
Then there was the encounter with Anna, the elderly widow who spent her days in the temple since losing her husband, fasting and praying for the coming of the Messiah. She was known as a prophetess, meaning that she was also blessed with spiritual vision. When she saw Jesus she immediately knew that it was the time of God’s visitation. She also confirmed that this child was the one that was the fulfillment of God’s promise to send the Messiah to his people.
So today’s feast is the celebration of the Simeon and Anna’s proclamation of Christ as the Messiah, the long-awaited LIGHT who came into this world to dispel sin and darkness. For this reason, traditionally since the seventh century, candles have been blessed at Mass this day that will be used throughout the year, hence coining the term “Candle-Mass.”
Two other interesting tidbits highlight this day: First, in many Eastern European countries, the feast of the Presentation officially closed the celebration of Christmas. For this reason, Pope Saint John Paul II began the custom of keeping the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s square until Feb. 2.
Secondly, Candlemas Day was important in the lives of farmers in Europe. An old English song went as follows:
“If Candlemas be fair and bright, / Come, Winter, have another flight. / If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, / Go, Winter, and come not again.”
In other words, the farmers believed that the end of winter could be predicted as being the exact opposite of whatever the weather was like on Candlemas Day. In 1887, German immigrants in Pennsylvania adopted the practice of looking for the shadow of a large hibernating rodent at sunrise on February 2nd to determine how much longer winter would remain, replacing Candlemas Day with … Groundhog Day! Happy Groundhog Day!
So what are to learn today from today’s readings? I believe three things:
1. As we consider the Feast of the Presentation, Candlemas, we should remember that our parents presented us to God for baptism at which time we received the light of Christ. Therefore, as a light, each of us must bear witness to Our Lord and be a beacon that guides others to Christ. We must always let this light shine brightly by living lives of charity and being more concerned for the good of others than for our self interests.
2. Like Mary, as Christians, we can expect to share in Christ’s redemptive SUFFERING. We must realize that we, too, will be “a sign that will be opposed,” especially on issues of the sanctity of human life, marriage and the family. We can expect to share in Christ’s cross when we make a stand in our world for the truth of the Gospel. When we live a life of obedience to God’s laws we will be opposed and, perhaps, even ridiculed and persecuted for our faith. Yet, like Mary, we must always be obedient to God’s laws – presented clearly in Scripture and in the teachings of Christ’s Church.
3. Like Simeon and Anna, we must be EXPECTANT for the coming of the Lord in our lives and pray always that we will RECOGNIZE Him when He comes to us. And that we’ll respond to His needs when He presents himself to us. And how does He come to us? He comes in those who are poor, sick, hungry, imprisoned, or just in need of a friend. Christ himself made it clear that He comes to us through our brothers and sisters in need when He said in Matthew’s gospel, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Christ comes to us through his ministers and through those in need, all of whom are supported by our diocese’s Catholic Ministry Appeal. Even if we are unable to personally go to the hospitals, to the prisons, or to the homeless on the streets of our cities, we can still do our part to serve those in need by responding generously to this appeal. Our financial support of the CMA is a beautiful and appropriate response to Christ’s presentation of himself to us through those who are in need.
Finally, Christ presents Himself to each of us in His Word and in the most glorious way in the Most Blessed Sacrament at every Mass. Do we recognize His Real Presence in the Eucharist? How is our reception of Him helping us to be a bright light in a dark world? How is He strengthening us to make a stronger stand in the world for the truth of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church? How is He helping us to see Him in those who are in need and how are we responding to Him through our prayers and in our actions?
By our attentive listening to his Word and our worthy reception of the Eucharist, Christ fills us with His grace and opens our eyes to see Him and our hearts to serve Him. Ask Him today to present himself anew to YOU as you encounter Him at this Holy Mass. God bless you.