The Mysteries Of The Childhood And Hidden Life Of Christ - Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB - Part II

II




Mary understands this prayer, for she is closely associated with Jesus in the work of our redemption. Eight days after the Birth of her Son, she has Him circumcised according to the Jewish Law; she then gives Him the name told her by the Angel, the name of Jesus, which denotes His mission of salvation and His work of redemption.



When Jesus is forty days old, the Blessed Virgin associates herself yet more directly and deeply with the work of our salvation by presenting Him in the Temple. She is the first to offer to the Eternal Father His Divine Son After the oblation that Jesus, the supreme High Priest, made of Himself from the moment of His Incarnation and that He consummated on Calvary, Mary's offering is the most perfect. It goes beyond all the sacerdotal acts of men, because Mary is the Mother of Christ, while men are but His ministers.



Let us contemplate Mary in this solemn act of the Presentation of her Son in the Temple of Jerusalem.



All the magnificent and circumstantial ceremonial of the Old Covenant converged towards Christ; in the New Covenant, the obscure symbols were to find their perfect reality.



You know that every Jewish mother has to present herself in the Temple a few weeks after the birth of her child, in order to be purified from the legal stain thereby contracted in consequence of original sin. Moreover, if it was her firstborn and a son, she must present him to the Lord to be consecrated to Him as to the sovereign Master of every creature: (Lk 2:23; cf. Ex 13:2). However, he could be "redeemed" by a more or less considerable offering—a lamb or a pair of turtledoves according as the parents could afford.



Certainly this prescription obliged neither Mary nor Jesus. Jesus was the supreme Law-giver of all the Jewish ritual; His Birth had been miraculous and virginal; there was nothing about it but what was pure: SANCTUM, (Lk 1:35). It was therefore unnecessary to consecrate Him to the Lord as He was the very Son of God. Neither was it requisite that she who had conceived Him by the Holy Spirit and remained a virgin should be purified.



But Mary, guided by the Holy Spirit, was in perfect conformity of soul with the soul of her Son. Jesus had said to His Father on coming into this world: "Behold I come... that I should do Thy will, O God ": (Heb 10:5-7). And the Blessed Virgin's words were "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word ":



Therefore she willed to accomplish this ceremony, showing thereby the depth of her submission. With Joseph, her husband, she brought her Firstborn, He who was to remain her only Son, was to become "the Firstborn amongst many brethren" who, by grace, were to be like unto Him: (Rom 8:29).



When we meditate upon this mystery, we are forced to say: "Verily Thou art a hidden God ", O Saviour of the world! (Isa 45:15). Upon this day, Christ enters for the first time into the Temple, and it is into temple that He enters. This wonderful temple, the admiration of the nations and the pride of Israel, wherein were performed all the religious rites and sacrifices of which God Himself had regulated the details, this temple belongs to Him; for this Child carried in the arms of a young Maiden is the King of kings and the Sovereign Lord: SUUM (Mal 3:1).



And how does He come? In the splendour of His majesty? As the One to Whom all these offerings alone are due? No, He comes thither absolutely hidden.



Listen to what the Gospel relates. There must have been a hustling crowd at the approach of the sacred building—merchants, levites, priests, doctors of the Law. A little group passes unnoticed through this crowd. They are poor people for they do not bring a lamb, the offering of the rich; they bring only two pigeons, the offering of the poor. No one heeds them, for they have no following of servants; the great, the haughty among the Jews have not so much as a glance for them, and it is needful that the Holy Spirit should enlighten the old man Simeon and Anna the prophetess in order that they should recognise the Messias. He Who is the Saviour promised to the world, the Light to be revealed to all nations, (Lk 2:30-31), comes into His temple as a hidden God:



Nothing, moreover, outwardly betrays the feelings of the holy soul of Jesus. The Light of His Divinity remains hidden, veiled; but He renews, here in the Temple, the self-oblation He had made at the moment of His Incarnation. He offers Himself to God to belong to Him by every right: It was like the offertory of the Sacrifice that was to be consummated on Calvary.



This act was extremely pleasing to the Father. To outward appearance, there was nothing particular in this simple action that all Jewish mothers performed. But on this day God receives infinitely more glory in the temple than he had ever received by all the sacrifices and holocausts of the Old Law, for on this day it is His Son Jesus Who is offered and Who Himself offers infinite homage of adoration, thanksgiving, expiation and supplication. The Heavenly Father receives with incommensurable joy this sacred offering, this Gift worthy of Himself, and all the heavenly court fix their ravished gaze upon this unique oblation. There is now no more need of holocausts and sacrifices of animals. The only Victim worthy of God had just been offered to Him.



And it is by the hands of Our Lady, Our Lady full of grace, that this offering is presented. Mary's faith was perfect. Filled with the light of the Holy Spirit, her soul understood the value of the offering that she was making to God at this moment; by His inspirations, the Holy Spirit put her soul in harmony with the inward dispositions of the Heart of her Divine Son.



In the same way as she had given her consent in the name of the whole human race when the Angel announced to her the mystery of the Incarnation, so upon this day, Mary offered her Son Jesus in the name of the human race. She knew that her Son is "the glorious King of the new Light... begotten before the day-star... the Lord of life and death." And so she presents Him to God in order to obtain for us all the graces of salvation that Jesus, according to the Angel's promise, is to bring to the world: (Antiphon at the Blessing of the Candles on the Feast of the Purification.).



Do not forget besides that the One she thus offers is her own Son, Whom she bore in her virginal and fruitful womb.



What priest, what saint ever presented the Eucharistic oblation to God in such close union with the Divine Victim as was the Virgin at this moment? Not only was she united to Jesus by faith and love, as we ourselves can be, although in an infinitely lesser degree, but the bond that united her to Christ Jesus was unique. This is why Mary, from the day on which she presents Jesus as the first fruits of the future sacrifice, has such a great part in the work of our redemption.



And see how, also from this instant, Christ Jesus associates His Blessed Mother with His state of Victim.



The old man, Simeon, guided by and filled with the Holy Spirit, is led thither: He recognizes the Saviour of the world in this Child, He takes Him in his arms and sings his joy in having at length seen with his eyes the promised Messias. After having exalted "the Light of the revelation of the Gentiles," he says, as he restores Him to His Mother: "Behold this Child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce. (Lk 2:25, 27, 32-35)" It was the foreshadowing of the Sacrifice of Calvary.



The Gospel tells us nothing of how Our Lady received this prediction which she could never forget. St. Luke reveals to us later that Mary "kept all these words in her heart": (Lk 5:1). Could not this be already said of Simeon's unexpected announcement? Yes, she kept the memory of these words, so terrible in their mystery; now and henceforward they pierced her soul. But Mary, whose pure heart was in full accord with the Heart of her Son, already accepted to be thus closely associated with His Sacrifice.



We shall one day see her consummate, like Jesus, her oblation upon the mount of Golgotha; we shall see her standing, (Cf. Jn 19:25), to offer again her Son, the fruit of her womb, for our salvation, as she had offered Him thirty-three years before in the Temple of Jerusalem.



Let us thank Our Lady for having presented her Divine Son for us; let us render fervent acts of thanksgiving to Jesus Himself for offering Himself to His Father for our salvation.



At Holy Mass, Christ offers Himself anew; let us present Him to His Father; let us unite ourselves to Him, like Him, in perfect submission to the will of His heavenly Father; let us unite our faith to the intense faith of our Lady. It is by this true faith and faithful love, (Collect for the Blessing of Candles), that our offerings will deserve to be pleasing to God.



(Cf. Secret of the Mass for the Feast of the Purification.)