FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY – 21st NOVEMBER

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
FEAST DAY – 21st NOVEMBER

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, is a liturgical feast celebrated on November 21st by the Catholic, Orthodox Churches, and some Anglo-Catholic Churches.
It tells of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. According to tradition, Our Lady was solemnly consecrated to God as an infant in the temple of the Lord. Mary’s total offering of herself throughout her young life prepared her to become the Theotokos, the Mother of God.

Her parents, Joachim and Anne, who had been childless, received a heavenly message that they would have a child. In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, they brought her, when still a child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Mary was taken to the Temple at around the age of three in fulfillment of a vow. Tradition held that she was to remain there to be educated in preparation for her role as Mother of God.that in thanksgiving for the birth of their daughter Mary, Joachim and Anne decide to consecrate her to God.

Mary’s presentation in the temple draws parallels to that of the prophet Samuel, whose mother Hannah, like Anne, was also thought to be barren, and who offered her child as a gift to God at Shiloh. Mary remained in the Temple until her twelfth year, at which point Joseph was assigned to be her guardian. According to Coptic tradition, her father Joachim died when Mary was six years old and her mother when Mary was eight. From this account arose the feast of Mary’s Presentation.

On the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we celebrate that dedication of herself which Mary made to God from her very childhood under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who filled her with grace. In the 1974 encyclical Marialis Cultus, Pope Paul VI wrote that despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values carrying on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern churches.

The feast of the presentation of Mary dates back to the 6th century in the East and the 15th century in the West. What we celebrate on this day is the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a very special way. In response, Mary placed her whole self at the service of God. Every moment since your Baptism, God invites you to be open to his grace and dedicate yourself to him, as Mary did.

PRAYER

Dear God, Saints Anne and Joachim, in gratitude for the gift of life, presented Mary in the Temple. Help all young parents to see in them a model of dependence on your providence and may similar consecrations in today’s world prepare saints for the Church of tomorrow.

As we venerate the glorious memory
of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession,
that we, too, may merit to receive the fullness of your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen