Candlemas

Beewise we gather our wax all year
From bramble sorrow and thistle tear,
Briar sadness and spine of pain:
Bitter flowers that bloom again!
But deadest winter brings a day
When thorns have lovelier bloom than May;
When candles are fashioned and lit by One
Who fashioned her wax to be lit by the Sun,
Then watched her Candle burn: the price
Of sin-consuming sacrifice.
Today she shares the Flame anew
To make us priest-and-victim too.

And Mary-mothered flames and Flame
Live their sacrificial Name.

~Rev. John D. Boyd, S.J.


Today's beautiful feast goes by different names.  The Roman Missal calls it The Presentation of the Lord.  It's also called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, and Candlemas.  An excellent article on the meaning and history of this feast can be found here. 

In Thy light we shall see light!  ~Psalm 35(36):10

Congratulations to Our Lady

Sister Elizabeth Obbard tells a lovely story about Pope John XXIII in her book A Year with Mary: Prayers and Readings for Marian Feasts and Festivals. Cardinal Roncalli, as he was then, was celebrating Benediction in his cathedral. He thought the service was over when the choir suddenly burst into a haunting, oriental hymn. The Cardinal, a bit confused, turned to an attendant canon and asked, "What now?" The canon pointed to the icon of Mary and said, "Let us go, your Eminence, to congratulate Our Lady on her Son’s resurrection."

When I first read this many few years ago, the idea of congratulating Our Lady struck me as a little bit absurd. Now that I've become older and simpler, it makes perfect sense to me. After all, to congratulate someone is not only to acknowledge their achievement or good fortune, it's also to rejoice with them. And who better deserves my congratulations than the Mother of Christ at the dawn of her Son's resurrection?!

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps 30:5). Dear Mary, Mother of our Risen Savior, joy has indeed come with the resurrection of your Son from the dead. Congratulations! With you I rejoice and am glad. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

And you yourself a sword will pierce. Luke 2:35

The Presentation (of the Lord) is a beautiful, lyrical feast; a feast of the temple, of Mary as light-bearer, of Jesus as Lord. The liturgy is uplifting and poetic. But this is all on the exterior level. We have to enter into the reality, take the child Jesus into our own arms, open our hearts, like Mary, ready for the Word of the Lord to pierce us, showing us our weakness and sinfulness, our need of a Savior. Only when we recognize this need and try to be faithful can the Spirit reveal all he wants to give us. ~Sr. Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, ODC, in A Year with Mary

Dear Mary, Mother of Sorrows, I am afraid of suffering. Strengthen me to share with you the Passion of your Son. Amen.

Second Sunday of Advent

The Virgin, weighed down
with the Word of God,
comes down the road:
if only you'll shelter her.

St. John of the Cross, quoted in A Year with Mary by Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, Carmelite nun and writer

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, come home with me. Amen.