Today, the Church celebrates the Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today's feast is associated with an event recounted not in the New Testament, but in the apocryphal Infancy Narrative of James. According to that text, Mary's 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. Later versions of the story (such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary) tell us that 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.
Joachim and Anne recognized the fact that they had been given a gift from God and offered her as a gift in return to the Lord. The first reading for today's liturgy speaks of a vision that Saint John had of an open door to heaven (Rev 4:1). Through this door, many favours have passed, in both directions: prayers of worship and thanksgiving ascend to the throne of God and blessings in great abundance proceed from our loving Father toward all his beloved children.
Give thanks today for all the graces: both hidden and revealed, and pray for the gift to grow evermore aware of the ways that these blessings help us to be aware of the loving presence of our God.
Have a great day.
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