Tuesday 2nd February, 2010
Presentation of the Lord. Malachi 3:1-4. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord! —Ps 23(24):7-10. Hebrews 2:14-18. Luke 2:22-40.

  
Meditation: mp3 | podcast
Readings: Text | mp3 | podcast

The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple …

Joseph and Mary are here carrying out the rules of religion for a first-born son. They present him to the Lord—but Simeon and Anna present the child to us: ‘A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel’.

Malachi gives us a challenging and awesome picture: ‘Who can stand when he appears?’ In contrast, Luke shows us the Lord, a baby of eight days, being passed to each of these prophetic figures by Mary his mother.

Mary is promised a significant share in Jesus’ sufferings, but her role has been to share him with all of us as mother of the Christ-life in us. She hopes to teach us what she taught the servants at Cana: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now in our prayer we might go into this mystery and present ourselves with faith, hope and love.