The Presentation of Mary

Giotto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

​Every journey requires preparation. Every lifework requires education. Every vocation requires formation. Mary, although conceived full of grace and free from original sin, was not exempt from this law of human nature. Mary needed formation for her high calling as the Mother of God, thus tradition tells us that she took up residence in the Temple at the tender age of three years old. 

She who would hold in her womb the Most High God in the Flesh, care for Him in her home at Nazareth, and daily gaze and caress His face, needed to be initiated into living in that Divine Presence. And her formation in the Temple, the dwelling of God on earth, gave her that experience. In the Temple, she learned how to pray. She became accustomed to dwelling in His house, attentive to His commands, and attuned to His “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). 

By the profound gift of baptism, we too, dwell in the presence of God. Or rather, he dwells in us. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? … the temple of God, which you are, is holy” (1 Cor 3:16-17). On this feast of the Presentation of Our Mother, let us turn to her in prayer asking for her advice and assistance in living more worthily, more attentively in the presence of the Most High God. 

Prayer taken from the Melkite Liturgy for the feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple: The Kontakion

The most pure temple of the Saviour, the most precious bridal chamber, the Virgin, the sacred treasury of God's glory, enters today into the house of the Lord, bringing with her the grace of the divine Spirit. Wherefore the angels of God sing to her: Behold the heavenly Tabernacle.

Domenico Ghirlandaio, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons