Catherine Campbell OP
2 February Presentation of the Lord: Candlemas.
Malachi: 3: 1-4 & Luke : 22-40
Two rituals come to mind when the above Feast is mentioned: Firstly Candles and secondly ‘Churching’.
Our families brought Candles to the Church for the Priest to bless on the Feast. Some families left Candles for the Parish to use in the Liturgies. Most families would take the blessed candles home to be used : on a night when there was bad lightning, on a sick call, during a wake or on the death of a person. They were prized candles, used the next day on the Feast of St Blaise, to bless our throats.
‘Churching’, took place on a Sunday after the late Mass. The woman whose child had been Christened, would walk up the side isle to the altar rail, where the Priest would give her a blessing. It was regarded as sneaky, demeaning, and degrading. Thankfully the practice ceased before 1960. Can you believe it that Pope St Gregory the Great, away back in 620 AD, questioned the ritual.
Forty days after his birth, the parents of Jesus, took the child Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘every male child who opens the womb, will be consecrated to the Lord’. In accordance with the Law of the Lord, Joseph and Mary offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves, the offering of the poor. Were they wealthy they could have offered a young lamb.
The Temple Court in Jerusalem is very significant for Luke. He begins and ends his Gospel in Jerusalem. He covers in the infancy stories almost the whole of Salvation history. Luke, a Gentile Christian, was probably born in Antioch, then Syria. Is the re-construction of Syria a prayer close to our hearts to-day????? 
The aged Simeon, an upright and devout man, is waiting for ‘the consolation of Israel’. The Holy Spirit has disclosed to him that he will not see death, before he has seen the Lord’s Messiah. He is led by the Spirit to ‘embrace’ the Child Jesus saying ‘Master, now you can let your servant go in Peace, since you have kept your word. For my eyes have seen this Salvation that you have made ready in the sight of all the Peoples, a Light to be a revelation to the Gentiles and to be a Glory for your people Israel’. This Salvation in Jesus, his name meaning Saviour, is shown to all the people, Jews and Gentiles alike. Before this it was in the Temple Sanctuary that the Glory of God was close to the Jewish people. Here it is Simeon, the pious Israelite, and Anna, the Prophetess, who proclaim Jesus as God’s Glory for Israel and the whole world. Joseph and Mary are astonished at what has been said about their child.
Simeon having blessed the parents, said to Mary ‘Behold he is set for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be contradicted, indeed a sword shall pass through your own soul, so that the inmost thoughts of many shall be revealed’. The Spirit was prophesying the destiny of Jesus. We know that some Jews accepted Jesus, but the majority did not. He was more accepted amongst the pagans or gentiles.
An old woman, a widow, ‘waiting for the redemption of Israel’ was Anna, the prophetess. She like so many saintly widows never left the Temple day and night. She worshipped God fasting and praying. At this moment she came along, thanked God and spoke about the child to all those waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Anna and Simeon are figures representing the Law and the Prophets of Israel. Jesus, albeit a young child, is the fulfilment of both and more. He is the bringer of God’s Love and Salvation for all the Nations.
Having fulfilled all the Law required, Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus returned to Nazareth, their home town. There the child grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom and favoured by God. Jewish and Christian Tradition found an honourable place for Widows in the service of the community. Perhaps World Day of Consecrated Life which is celebrated today, was inspired by the Encounter or ‘The Meeting’ which the Eastern Church calls this Feast.