The Presentation of the Lord

APOLOGETICS

This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which is also traditionally called Candlemas. As we hear in Simeon’s prophecy in today’s Gospel, Jesus is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles. Therefore, the Church has a special ritual involving a procession and the blessing of candles. Since ancient times the Doctors of the Church have given special meaning to the candles used in Candlemas as a symbol of the Incarnate Christ: the beeswax is a symbol of His pure body, the wick His soul, and the flame His divinity.

As Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, wrote in his classic work,  Liturgical Year:
 

"The mystery of today's ceremony has frequently been explained by liturgists, dating from the 7th century. According to Ivo of Chartres, the wax, which is formed from the juice of flowers by the bee, always considered as the emblem of virginity, signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant, who diminished not, either by His conception or His birth, the spotless purity of His Blessed Mother.  The same holy bishop would have us see, in the flame of our Candle, a symbol of Jesus who came to enlighten our darkness. St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking on the same mystery, bids us consider three things in the blessed Candle: the wax, the wick, and the flame. The wax, he says, which is the production of the virginal bee, is the Flesh of our Lord; the wick, which is within, is His Soul; the flame, which burns on top, is His divinity."

 
The blessing of candles at Candlemas is similar to the blessing of ashes and palms during the Lent and Easter season, respectively. The faithful will often bring candles to Mass on February 2nd to have them blessed for use at home throughout the year.
 
CATECHESIS

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Lord which occurs forty days after the birth of Jesus and was first observed in the Eastern Church as "The Encounter." In the sixth century, it began to be observed in the West: in Rome with a more penitential character and in Gaul (France) with solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly known as "Candlemas." The Presentation of the Lord concludes the celebration of the Nativity and with the offerings of the Virgin Mother and the prophecy of Simeon, the events now point toward Easter.

In obedience to the Old Law, the Lord Jesus, the first-born, was presented in the Temple by his Blessed Mother and his foster father. This is another “epiphany” celebration insofar as the Christ Child is revealed as the Messiah through the canticle and words of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. Christ is the light of the nations, hence the blessing and procession of candles on this day. In the Middle Ages this feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or “Candlemas”, was of great importance.
 
The specific liturgy of this Candlemas feast, the blessing of candles, is not widely celebrated, except when (like today) February 2 falls on a Sunday and thus takes precedence. There are two ways of celebrating the ceremony, either the  Procession, which begins at the “gathering place” outside the church, or the  Solemn Entrance, celebrated within the church.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is referred to as the "Purification of Mary." This is known as a "Christmas feast" since it points back to the Solemnity of Christmas. Many Catholics practice the tradition of keeping out the Nativity creche or other Christmas decorations until this feast.

THEOLOGY

Until 1969, the ancient feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, which is of Oriental origin, was known in the West as the feast of the Purification of Our Lady, and closed the Christmas Cycle, forty days after the Lord's birth. As the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy states, this feast has for long been associated with many popular devotional exercises. The faithful:

• gladly participate in the processions commemorating the Lord's entry into the Temple in Jerusalem and His encounter with God, whose house He had come to for the first time, and then with Simeon and Anna. Such processions, which in the West had taken the place of licentious pagan events, always had a penitential character, and were later identified with the blessing of candles which were carried in procession in honor of Christ, 'the light to enlighten the Gentiles' (Lk 2: 32);

 

• are sensitive to the actions of the Blessed Virgin in presenting her Son in the Temple, and to her submission to the Law of Moses (Lk 12: 1-8) in the rite of purification; popular piety sees in the rite of purification the humility of Our Lady and hence, 2 February has long been regarded as a feast for those in humble service.

 
Some Catholic spiritualties use certain elements taken from the Gospel account of the Presentation of the Lord (Lk 2: 22-40), such as the obedience of Joseph and Mary to the Law of the Lord, the poverty of the holy spouses, the virginity of Our Lady, and mark out February 2 ^nd as a special feast for those at the service of the brethren in the various forms of consecrated life.
 
The feast of February 2 ^nd still retains a popular character. It is necessary, however, that such should reflect the true Christian significance of the feast. It would not be proper for popular piety in its celebration of this feast to overlook its Christological significance and concentrate exclusively on its Marian aspects. The fact that this feast should be considered a joint memorial of Son and Mother would be a great reason to keep the candles that the faithful use in their homes as a sign of Christ 'the light of the world' and an expression of faith.
 
Here are four easy things you can to do enjoy Candlemas in a very specific and beautiful way within our beautiful Catholic Church:
 

• Ask your parish priest to bless the candles that you will be using on your home altar this year. (great resource to set up one can be found at the following link: https://www.catholicicing.com/how-to-set-up-a-home-altar-catholic-home-altar-ideas/)

 

• Have a family Candlemas procession: (https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1395)

 

• Read Luke 2:22-35, the account of the presentation including the Canticle of Simeon.

 

• Meditate on the constant fiat of Our Lady of Sorrows, who embraced the will of God even as Simeon predicted that a sword would pierce her heart. (Luke 2)

Much of the information in this handout comes directly from “Ordinary Time: February 2 ^nd, The Presentation of the Lord” on CatholicCulture.org:

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2020-02-02