Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Annual Catholic Center Retreat
Shine of Saint Anthony, Ellicott City
November 21, 2023
From Temple to Temple
In a spirit of joy and thanksgiving, we’ve gathered as co-workers for our annual retreat. We have come together, not simply to take a Thanksgiving break from the daily grind, but rather out of a desire to grow in our relationship with God and one another. We are blessed that Sr. Clare Hunter will guide us toward the fulfillment of that desire, and we are blessed that this day of prayer, reflection and fellowship takes place on the feast day of Mary’s Presentation in the Temple, for it is Mary who sets the pattern for our quest to grow in our relationship with God and one another. It might be said that in our quest Mary guides us from temple to temple, until, we, as temples of the Holy Spirit enter into the new and heavenly Jerusalem, that temple not made by human hands where God is all in all. If that sounds like a lot of temples, I apologize. Please stick with me!
The Temple in Jerusalem
So, today the Church celebrates Mary’s presentation in the temple at Jerusalem. Accompanied by her parents, Joachim and Anne, the child Mary enters the Temple. Conceived without sin and called to become the Mother of the Incarnate Savior, Mary is consecrated to the Lord, there in his dwelling place. As yet she did not know God’s plan for her, his divine purpose, nor did she understand the sacrifice that would be asked of her. Yet she enters as one who would live in loving obedience to the Father’s saving will. She enters as one in whom would be fulfilled all that was promised through the Law and the Prophets. As she crossed the threshold of the earthly Temple, what great joy must there have been in the heavenly Temple!
Mary Becomes a Temple
We know the sequel, you and I! Mary who pondered the Word conceived the Word. By the power of the Holy Spirit, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Bearing Christ in her womb, Mary herself became a temple. Christ dwelt in her as if in a tabernacle. How this could be filled the humble Virgin of Nazareth with amazement, an amazement she shared with her cousin Elizabeth whom she visited in her hour of need. ‘The Lord,’ she said, ‘raises the humble from the dust, he lifts the poor from ashes.’
Conceiving the Son of God in her womb and imparting to him our humanity was by no means the last step in Mary’s journey from temple to temple. She again entered the temple, accompanied by St. Joseph to present her divine Son, only to be told that her soul would pierced with a sword of sorrow. To be the truest daughter of Zion she would have to become the first and best disciple of her Son… As she followed Jesus and pondered in his destiny in her heart, she came to understand that just as the Son of God emptied himself of the glory, so too she would come to pour out her motherhood, to surrender her Son, to allow him to become, as it were, the common property of all. This is what is going on, I think, in today’s Gospel passage. Mary doesn’t flinch in the face of Jesus’ apparent rebuke, for no one more than she does the will of the heavenly Father, whether standing outside waiting to speak to her Son or standing at the foot of the Cross as he gives forth his Spirit. It is for this that she was consecrated in the Temple of the Lord.
Mary Enters the Heavenly Temple
No one, other than Jesus, shared in the Paschal Mystery more deeply than Mary. She shared fully in Jesus’ agony and she shared fully in his triumph. For that reason, when her earthly life was ended, she entered body and soul into the heavenly Temple on which her heart was set, there to be seated as Queen near her crucified, risen, and exalted Son, there to be our Mother, there to guide our homeward steps.
Mary, the Pattern of Our Journey
Mary’s vocation and her journey from temple to temple was unique but she continues to accompany us on our journey from temple to temple. It could be said that we were presented in the temple on the day of our Baptism, that by God’s grace we have become temples of the Holy Spirit, that in the power of the same Spirit, we are to carry Christ within ourselves and bring him to birth as we ponder his Word and come to love as he loved. How Mary rejoices as the Lord does great things for us! How she prays with us and for us as we seek to become living temples of her Son, and as we seek to imitate her love of God, her love for her Son, and her love for her fellow disciples, her love for all humanity. And just as Mary beckons us from the heavenly Temple, so too do we live in hope that we will one day share in the boundless joy of seeing the Triune God face to face in the new and eternal Jerusalem where there is no strife or division but only that peace the world cannot give. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!