Chapter XVII | PRESENTATION AND PURIFICATION
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
St. Luke is the principal evangelist of Our Lady. After narrating the birth of Christ at Bethlehem, he tells us in one sentence what happened on the eighth day after Christmas. “When eight days were fulfilled for His circumcision, His name was called Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21). Circumcision was the divinely prescribed ceremony which every male Jewish believer was required to undergo as a sign of belonging to the Chosen People of Yahweh.
Then follow almost forty verses describing Christ’s presentation in the temple and His Mother’s purification. It is worth quoting the whole event in the words of the evangelist.
When the days of her purification were fulfilled according to the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord—as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”—and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
And behold, there was in Jerusalem a man named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
And he came by inspiration of the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him according to the custom of the Law, he also received him into his arms and blessed God saying: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace; Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory for thy people Israel.”
And His father and mother were marveling at the things spoken concerning Him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also Anna, a prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her maidenhood, and by herself as a widow to eighty-four years. She never left the temple, with fastings and prayers worshipping night and day.
And coming up at that very hour, she began to give praise to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem (Lk 2:22-38).
Over the centuries, this event in the life of the infant Christ has been commented on in volumes of ecclesiastical writing. These commentaries can be divided into four classes: those reflecting on the purification of Our Lady; those concentrating on the presentation of her divine Son; those explaining the mysterious words of Simeon; and finally, those referring to Anna, the prophetess.
PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The original Greek text of St. Luke’s Gospel has the phrase “their purification,” which can only mean “the purification of Mary and Jesus.” Two different laws of Moses were fulfilled on this occasion: the purification of the mother (Lev. 12) and the presentation of the firstborn son (Ex. 13:2, 12, 15). Following the common custom, St. Luke combines both rites under the name of “purification.” Again, it is a long quotation, and in fact covers one whole chapter in the book of Leviticus. However, given the importance of Our Lady’s purification, it should be quoted in full.
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: When a woman has conceived and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean for seven days, with the same uncleanness as at her menstrual period. On the eighth day, the flesh of the boy’s foreskin shall be circumcised, and then she shall spend thirty-three days more in becoming purified of her blood; she shall not touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled. If she gives birth to a girl, for fourteen days she shall be as unclean as at her menstruation, after which she shall spend sixty-six days in becoming purified of her blood.
When the days of her purification for a son or for a daughter are fulfilled, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. The priest shall offer them up before the Lord to make atonement for her, and thus she will be clean again after her flow of blood. Such is the law for the woman who gives girth to a boy or a girl child. If, however, she cannot afford a lamb, she may take two turtledoves or two pigeons, the one for a holocaust and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and thus she will again be clean.”
Among the pagan religions of the Old Testament, the origin of life was attributed to some mysterious power acting on women. Generation was therefore always looked upon with superstitious awe and women after childbirth were tabooed all the world over.
But the Jewish law had a deep religious significance. It recognized God as the source of life, and therefore a holocaust was to be offered Him in recognition of the origin of a new life from Him. The sin-offering did not imply that childbirth or conjugal intercourse were considered sinful. Rather after childbirth she was considered ceremonially unclean and atonement had to be made by an offering.
Where the child born was a girl, the period of purification lasted forty days. Two explanations have been given. According to one, it was considered physiologically more dangerous for the girl’s mother and therefore required a longer period of convalescence. According to another opinion, since woman was the first to bring sin into the world, the birth of a female child should impose on her mother a longer period of seclusion.
Needless to say, the Blessed Virgin Mary required no purification. As one who had been Immaculately conceived and filled with the grace of God, she did not have to be purified either morally or ritually. Yet in God’s providence she underwent the rite of purification to cooperate with her divine Son who underwent His passion and death as a reputed criminal, to expiate the sins of the world.
Jewish law provided two kinds of holocausts for the purification: either a lamb and a pigeon, or a turtledove. If the mother was poor, she was allowed to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for the holocaust and the other as a sin offering. The Virgin Mary offered the sacrifice allowed for a poor woman.
The feast in honor of Our Lady’s Purification was introduced into the Roman Empire during the reign of emperor Justinian (527-565). It is mentioned in the Gelasian Sacramentary for the Western Church in the seventh century. In the West, the feast of the Purification of Our Lady became the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in 1970.
PRESENTATION OF JESUS
As the fourth of the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, I do not think we can do better than to quote verbatim the meditation of Pope John XXIII on the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The quotation is not too long, it will be followed by a short explanation. Says the Holy Father:
Jesus, carried in his mother’s arms, is offered to the priest, to whom he holds out his arms: it is the meeting, the contact of the two Covenants. He is already the ‘light for revelation to the Gentiles’ (Luke 2:32) he, the splendour of the chosen people, the son of Mary. St. Joseph also is there to present him, an equal sharer in this rite of legal offerings according to the law.
This episode is continually repeated in the Church, indeed is perpetuated there in forms which vary but are similar in the substance of the offering. As we repeat the Hail Marys, how beautiful it is to contemplate the growing crops, the rising corn: ‘Lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for the harvest’ (John 4:35). These are the joyful and rising hopes of the priesthood, and of those men and women who co-operate with the priests, so numerous in the kingdom of God and yet never enough: young people in the seminaries, in religious houses, in missionary training colleges, also, and why not? Are they not Christians also, called likewise to be apostles? – in the Catholic universities. There are also all the other young shoots of the future and indispensable apostolate of the laity, this apostolate which, increasing in spite of difficulties and opposition, even within nations tormented by persecution, offers and will never cease to offer such a consoling spectacle as to compel expressions of admiration and joy.30
These reflections of Pope John XXIII are, to say the least unexpected. How does he associate the Presentation of Christ in the Temple with the bright prospects for the Church which he foresaw when he summoned the Second Vatican Council? He had no illusions about the pending crisis in Christianity throughout the world. In fact he summoned the Council precisely to reform the Catholic Church.
Yet he saw in Christ’s Presentation in the Temple a sign of the Church’s future in the centuries to come. This young Child, just forty days old, was to change the history of the world. His mother presented Him to His heavenly Father in anticipation of the sufferings He would undergo, finally terminating in His crucifixion on Calvary.
The key to understanding the mystery of Christ’s presentation is to see, in God’s providence, the marvels He performs provided we offer ourselves completely to His divine will. Mary made the offering of her Son as she held Him in her arms at the Presentation. He was offering Himself, already in infancy, as the prelude to the offering He would continue making until He expired on Calvary.
THE NUNC DIMITTIS
The hymn of Simeon, commonly known as the Nunc Dimittis from the first words of his Latin translation, has been used in the Church since the earliest times. It is part of the liturgical night prayers, commonly known as Compline. It is worth repeating this hymn: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace; Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory for thy people of Israel.”
A man after the type of Zachary and Elizabeth, aged, pious, Simeon was looking for the fulfillment of God’s promises in the true spirit of the Old Testament. As St. Luke never tires pointing out, such people are under the special influence of the Holy Spirit, and through that influence it was Simeon’s privilege to welcome the Lord to his temple (Mal 3:1) and to acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah.
What is Simeon telling us? He is saying that his life on earth has been fulfilled. He will die in peace because with the eyes of faith he has seen the Savior foretold by the prophets. This Savior has come into the world for the redemption of the whole human race. He is at once the glory of the chosen people of Israel, and the light of revelation with the Gentiles.
How much we can learn from Simeon. All that he saw in Mary’s arms was a helpless and speechless babe. But, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he saw with the eyes of his mind no one less than the living God, who, having joy set before Him chose to become man and die on the cross.
However Simeon was not finished. He still had a message for the mother of Jesus. Inspired from on high, he told Mary that this child of hers was destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that would be contradicted. No wonder, speaking directly to Our Lady, he told her her own soul shall be pierced by the sword, so that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed.
There is no single prophesy in the Old Testament which compares in depth with these words of the aged Simeon.
Over the twenty centuries since the birth of Christ, He has been literally, and I mean literally, the light of revelation to the Gentiles. Who else except Jesus Christ has continued for two thousand years to keep telling the world that only by listening to Him will the human race know the truth and only by following Him can we reach our eternal destiny.
Then follows the mysterious prediction of how the world would respond to its Savior. Some would accept Him, others would reject Him. In the most precise sense of our human language, Christ has been a sign of contradiction. We might almost divide the story of mankind into two categories, those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and those who reject Him as a fraud and misleader.
The writings of Karl Marx and his disciple Engels are filled with blasphemous denunciations of Christ and Christianity. Writes Engels, “Christianity knew only one point in which all men were equal: that all were equally born in original sin which corresponded perfectly with its character as a religion of the slaves and the oppressed” 31 Is it any wonder that for seventy years in Russia, to be a Christian was to be a martyr, either dying a martyr’s death or surviving in a martyr’s life.
For thirteen hundred years, most of the martyrs of Christianity have been victims of Islam. Mohammed could not be more clear, “Jesus in Allah’s eyes is the same position as Adam. He created him of dust and said to him, ‘Be,’ and he is.” In an eloquent passage, Mohammed consigns all Christians to eternal doom. He declares, “they surely disbelieve who say, ‘Behold, Allah is the messiah, son of Mary.’ The Messiah himself said, ‘Children of Israel, worship Allah my Lord and your God.’ Whoever ascribes partners unto Allah, for him Allah has forbidden Paradise. His abode is the Fire. For evil doers there will be no relief” (Koran, Sura V, 72).
Let us be clear. What Simeon foretold at Christ’s presentation has been literally fulfilled for two millennia and will continue being fulfilled until the end of time.
Simeon had one more sentence, directed to Mary. He prophesied that a sword would pierce her soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed. The artists of Christianity have depicted Our Lady with her heart pierced by a sword. No less than her Son was pierced with a soldier’s lance, so was the heart of His mother pierced by a sword. He underwent His passion; she underwent her compassion. She suffered with Him in spirit.
The lesson for us is obvious. The more truly we love Jesus Christ the more closely we identify ourselves with His mother. Our love for Him, like hers, must be proved by joining with Him in carrying our cross because we love Him.
THE PROPHETESS ANNA
Like Simeon there was a devoted woman in the temple, fast in praying night and day. In God’s providence, she came upon the scene just as the Savior was being presented to the Father. Like Simeon she too recognized the Infant in Mary’s arms as the Messiah foretold by the prophets.
No less than the shepherds on Christmas morning, Anna believed and told everyone whom she met that the Redeemer of the world was born. Not coincidentally, the evangelist explains that she “spoke of Him to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.” Only those who believed were told about the Messiah having come into the world.
