Homily (Reflection) for the Memorial
of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (21st November, 2019)
on the Gospel and the Memorial
1Macc 2:15-29;
Ps 49:1-2.5-6.14-15. (R.v.23);
Lk 19:41-44.
Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the
sixth century. The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does
appear in the West in the 11th century. Although the feast for some time
disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the
universal Church. As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the
temple only in apocryphal literature. What is recognized as an unhistorical
account, the Protoevangelium of James
tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was 3
years old. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still
childless.[1]
Topic: Recognising the time.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem in today’s gospel because she
failed to recognise the things that make for peace. He prophesied that the days
would come when her enemies would set up ramparts around her, surround her, hem
her in on every side, and crushed her and her children to the ground. They
would not leave within her a stone upon another. All because she did not
recognise the time of her visitation from God.
Equally, many till today often do not recognise the time of
their visitation from God. They spend time searching for it, keep
procrastinating the time they will do this good or that.
In the second letter of Saint Paul to Corinthians we read, “Behold,
now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2Cor 6:2). And whoever wants to be
acceptable to God must serve Christ, cf. Rom
14:18.
The memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
ought to reawaken in us the necessity to offer ourselves entirely to God. Our
lives ought to be in line with Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans, “If we live,
we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we
live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14:8).
Dear friends, why delay? We ought to make hay while the sun
shines. Procrastination is very deadly. Tomorrow may be too late.
Bible Reading: 2Cor 6:14–7:1.
Thought for today: Now is the favourable time.
Let us pray: Lord, give us the grace to make the
best out of every moment we have – Amen.
Blessed Virgin Mary – Pray for us.
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