Memorial of the Presentation of Mary

God’s love always requires a continuous preparation of freedom on the part of the human being who receives it and today’s feast emphatically shows this preparation. The Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the one who makes the greatest response to the greatest invitation of grace in the history of the world is brought to the Temple by her parents at the age of three. They promised God if they could conceive that they would dedicate their child to the Lord, but they waited to this age before presenting her lest she miss her family.

The Presentation of Mary in the Temple is a most fitting feast to show our thanksgiving, solidarity and support for the cloistered life because all these important themes are united together in her presentation. She goes apart into the enclosure as it were to prepare herself in spousal love to be the Bride of Christ and the Mother of the Redeemer. She spends her time in contemplation nurturing the life of grace with which God will invite her to the singular response of being his mother. She prepares herself for a life long encounter with her Son and begins the long process of keeping everything and pondering them in her heart.

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In the wonderment of her splendid intuition, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus declares: ‘I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was ablaze with love. I understood that Love alone enabled the Church’s members to act . . . Yes, I found my place in the Church . . . at the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love’. (Verbi Sponsa, 7)
Cloistered religious are the heart of the Church because they truly show us the complete surrender and concentration of love. They are enclosed not because they have lost something, but because they have found Him.
On this feast of the Presentation of Mary, each member of the Church should look to the contemplatives to see an example of this spousal love for Christ after the example of Our Lady. Like her, we should open the door for Christ knocking there, invite Him to our house and rightly spend each day rejoicing in His presence.
--Fr. Brian Mullady, OP

“From the moment of our baptism, God has a special plan for each of us. God calls us to life in Christ, in order that, with Christ, we may offer our whole life in love of God and our neighbor. At our confirmation, God strengthens and increases the life of the Holy Spirit within us, so that we will have the inspiration and strength to respond to God’s call. We are called to follow Christ in holiness of life. This is our vocation. We are called to follow Christ as a married person, a dedicated single person, a consecrated person or an ordained priest. These are the vocations by which we respond to the universal vocation to holiness of life. Whether God calls us to the married life, the dedicated single life, the consecrated life or the priesthood, He asks us to make the gift of our whole life. Others see Christ in us, most of all, through our faithful response to our vocation in life.”—Archbishop Burke, January 2005

On a Mission

“At the end of the Mass the deacon, or in his absence the priest, says to us 'Ite, Missa Est.' Our celebration is over. Go now to live and share with other people what we have received, heard, sung, meditated and prayed. The Mass sends us on mission.
The first duty which the Eucharistic celebration enjoins on us is to live the faith and share it with other people. Evangelization in the express form of proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ is a priority. We must share with other people 'the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus.' Every Catholic — priest, consecrated person or lay faithful — will do this according to that person's vocation and mission in the Church and in the world.
In the Eucharistic mystery our beloved Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is giving us the inestimable gift of himself. He asks for our response. Shall we refuse to pay him back with love? May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary obtain for us the grace to respond with generosity, with constant faith, with heartfelt adoration and with apostolic dynamism.”
—Cardinal Arinze, Address at Westminster Cathedral, April 2006

“Brethren, let us follow that vocation by which we are called from life to the fountain of life. He is the fountain, not only of living water, but of eternal life. He is the fountain of light and spiritual illumination; for from him comes all these things: wisdom, life, and eternal light…Therefore, let us seek the fountain of light and life and the living water by despising what we see, by leaving the world and by dwelling in the highest heavens. Let us seek these things, and like rational and shrewd fish may we drink the living water which wells up to eternal life.”—St. Columban, abbot

Prayer for Vocations

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal Father,
Son of the Virgin Mary,
we thank you for offering your life in sacrifice on the Cross,
and for renewing this sacrifice in every Mass celebrated throughout the world.
In the Power of the Holy Spirit
we adore you and proclaim your living presence in the Eucharist.
We desire to imitate the love you show us in your death and resurrection,
by loving and serving one another.
We ask you to call many young people to religious life,
and to provide the holy and generous priests that are so needed in you Church today.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer.
Amen.
--Cardinal Rigali