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The Christmas Cycle
time brings the first fruits of the future sacrifice to be offered to God on Golgotha. She is
a cooperator in the work of our redemption. In admiration we look at Mary offering her
beloved Son and, united in spirit with Jesus, presenting herself for the legal purification as
a sacrifice to the Father. As the one offering and as the one offered, she today begins her
life of sacrifice. Simeon makes known to her the sufferings she must undergo: “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 2:34 f.). Mary speaks her fiat;
she desires to be a sacrifice. Soon the day will come when at the foot of the cross she will
witness the completion of the sacrifice of Jesus which has begun today: “Be it done to me
according to thy word” (Lk 1:38).
Daily our Savior offers Himself in our midst in the celebration of the Mass. Thus His presentation
in the temple is continued. He offers Himself through the hands of Mary, that is, the Church.
The Church also takes holy offerings, His body and His blood, His heart and His soul, and with
all His merits presents them as gifts to the Father. This holy sacrifice of adoration, thanksgiving,
atonement, and petition is worthy in the sight of God. We unite ourselves with this sacrifice of
Christ; we also desire to make our daily life a real sacrifice.
“We have received Thy mercy,” the incarnate mercy of God, our Savior, “in the midst of
Thy temple,” in the celebration of the Mass. We believe; we are thankful. We desire to be like
Mary, offering sacrifice and being offered at the same time.
Prayer
Almighty and eternal God, we humbly beseech Thy majesty that as Thy only-begotten Son was
this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh, so Thou mayest cause us to be
presented to Thee with purified minds. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Purification of Mary (3)
On Candlemas Day the Church places burning candles in our hands. She thereby calls us to be
bearers of Christ, to bear Christ in our souls and in our wills.
We must bear Christ in our souls, that is, in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We are Christians
and conscious of being filled with the spirit and life of Jesus. Therefore we no longer see
things from a natural, mundane point of view, but from the same point of view as Jesus sees
them. We see the great and small things through the eyes of Christ. They become for us a
revelation of the wisdom, power, and love of God. With the eyes of Jesus we see the hand
of almighty God upholding all creation. We recognize Him in all men, in all creatures. We
penetrate accidents of things and see them in their real value. With the eyes of Jesus we see
beyond the present day into the world to come, firmly believing in the principles announced
in the Sermon on the Mount: “And opening His mouth he taught them saying: Blessed are
the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed are they that mourn; for
they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice; for they shall
have their fill. . . . Blessed are the clean of heart; for they shall see God” (Mt 5:2 ff.). There
will be an eternity and a just judgment; everyone will receive what he deserves. In all the
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