Presentation of the Lord

Forty days after Christmas, the Church keeps the Presentation of the Lord. Luke tells it with legal precision and prophetic shock. Mary and Joseph bring the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, according to the law that the firstborn son is holy to God, and they offer the sacrifice of the poor, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. What the law required becomes a revelation. Simeon, who had been promised he would not die before seeing the Christ, takes the child and prays the Nunc dimittis: his eyes have seen the salvation prepared for all nations, a light to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.

Simeon then speaks to Mary of a sword through her soul and of a sign that will be contradicted. Anna, a prophetess who does not leave the Temple, begins to speak of the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. The feast is therefore not a sentimental look at a baby in the Temple. It is the meeting of Israel’s hope with the infant, and the first public announcement that this salvation will divide as well as illuminate. The traditional name Candlemas comes from the blessing of candles and the procession with lighted candles, a rite that makes Simeon’s “light to the nations” something the congregation carries in its hands.

February 2 is forty days after December 25, counting in the ancient way. It closes the Christmas cycle in popular devotion even though the liturgical season of Christmas Time has already ended at the Baptism of the Lord. In the older Latin calendar the day was often called the Purification of Mary. The current title puts Christ first, which matches Luke: they came to present him. Mary’s purification according to the Law is part of the story, not the whole of it. She who is already the Mother of God submits to the Law her Son came to fulfill.

The day is a feast of the Lord, in white. It is not a holy day of obligation. Where the procession can be done with dignity, the Missal provides it before Mass: candles are blessed, the Nunc dimittis is sung, and the people enter the church as Simeon entered the courts of God. The weather proverb about Candlemas and the remaining winter is folklore. It is not the liturgy.

The Gospel is Luke 2:22–40, or the shorter form that ends with Simeon’s word to Mary. Malachi 3 is often heard first: the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his Temple. Hebrews speaks of a high priest who had to become like his brothers. The candles blessed on this day may be kept for the home and for the church, to be used especially when the sacraments are celebrated for the sick and the dying.