Forty days after Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, an event that the evangelist Luke recounts in Chapter 2 of his Gospel. Celebration of this feast started in the 4th century in the East. By the year 450, it was called The Feast of the Meeting of the Lord because Jesus enters the Temple and “meets” the priests, as well as Simeon and Anna, representatives of the people of God. Around the middle of the 5th century, the feast was also celebrated in Rome.
According to Jewish law, the firstborn male child belonged to God, and the parents had to "buy him back" on the 40th day after his birth, by offering a sacrifice of "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons" in the temple (thus the "presentation" of the child). On that same day, the mother would be ritually purified (thus the "purification"). Mary and Joseph followed this law and presented Jesus at the temple. Simeon blessed both parents but addresses his words only to the Baby’s Mother. The Baby will be a sign of contradiction: Jesus is the light of the world, but He will be rejected. Jesus will be admired and loved, but He will be crucified, defeated. He will die and rise. He will tread the way of contradiction that will pierce His Mother’s heart.
Prophetess Anna too was present in the temple, and she could discern the presence of God. She knew how to go beyond appearances in order to see the Baby her people have been waiting for.
Inspired by the words of the Canticle of Simeon ("a light to the revelation of the Gentiles"), by the 11th century, the custom had developed in the West of blessing candles on the Feast of the Presentation. The candles were then lit, and a procession took place through the darkened church while the Canticle of Simeon was sung. Because of this, the feast also became known as Candlemas. While the procession and blessing of the candles is not often performed in the United States today, Candlemas is still an important feast in many European countries.
Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Joan de Lestonnac
2. Saint Adalbald of Ostrevant
3. Saint Apronian
4. Saint Feock
5. Saint Theodoric