This is a Feast Day, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, that occurs on this date, February 2^nd, every year.  And when it falls on Sunday, we have the opportunity to celebrate this Feast with the whole community gathered together.  There are three different realities, three different mysteries, that this Feast celebrates: the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Feast of Candles, Candlemas as it’s been traditionally known.  These three things are connected, and they’re very beautifully meaningful.  The Jewish law required that, at this point, forty days after the birth of a first-born son, the parents would bring him to the temple in Jerusalem to be presented to God, and the mother would receive a blessing of ritual purification.  Now, neither Jesus nor Mary really needed to do these things: Our Lord was of course the Incarnate God, so presenting him to God would be sort of redundant.  And in the case of Our Lady, she was always perfectly pure in every way, and had no need of any kind of purification ritual.  And yet, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph give themselves to these rituals to show that what’s going on here, with this child, is connected to everything that’s gone before, that he and his life are the fulfillment of the law and the prophecies of Israel.  

We see this explicitly, in the beautiful words of Simeon: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and glory of your people Israel.”  These beautiful words describe the fulfillment of all prophecy, which the righteous man Simeon recognizes in this child.  These beautiful words, by the way, are recited by me and by every priest in the world at the end of every day, in our night prayer called Compline: it’s a beautiful way that the whole Church, through the voice of her ministers, gives thanks to God every day, that he has so wondrously fulfilled his promises from of old.  Simeon says that this child will be the light to enlighten all peoples.  And so we see why the Church has been so eager to fill this particular feast day with candlelight.  This is a day when, one last time, we are bathed in the white light of Christmas.  This feastday has always been a kind of joint, the crossroads between the Christmas cycle, which this day brings to its final completion, and the cycle of Lent and Easter, and today we begin to move slowly in that direction.  The Lord’s Presentation finishes off the events and ceremonies of his infancy, as the events and rites and ceremonies of his birth are now fully accomplished.  

But Simeon says something else: he says, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and he will be a sign that will be contradicted.  And what is the sign of contradiction?  What is the symbol of collision, of denial, of rejection?  The cross.  And so, as we have the last moment of Christmas, at the same time we have the first moment of Good Friday and Easter.  And it’s no coincidence that this is Our Lord’s first trip to Jerusalem.  It will not be his last.  Already, at only 40 days old, Our Lord’s journey towards the Cross is already foreshadowed and indeed, begun.  And so we see today how the two great feasts of our Faith are so intimately connected.  As the white light of Christmas starts today to fade into the purple light of the passion, and we see even the first glimpse of the golden light of Easter, how appropriate it is that the Church takes this day also to bless and dedicate those humble pillars of wax which will sacrifice their existence, being burned down to nothing, for the glory of God.  Just as Christmas and Epiphany both were, this is another Feastday of the Light of Christ, piercing into the darkness of the world and filling every heart with joy and salvation.  

Simeon says one last thing: and he says it to Our Blessed Lady.  To Mary, he says: you yourself a sword will pierce: she will be there.  She will accompany her son all the way.  And she will do the same for us.  Accompanied by Our Lady, may the Light of Christ, which dispels all darkness, fill our hearts and minds with the love of God, now and forever.