On Thursday, February 2nd, the Church celebrated the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. This feast has also been called Candlemas and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has been called Candlemas (i.e. Candle-Mass, like Christmas and Michaelmas; Keep the Mass in Christ-Mass!), because the Church blesses candles on this day and carries them in procession, reminding us of Simeon going to the temple and finding the Christ child. It also reminds us of his prophecy at that time, “My eyes have seen thy salvation…a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” The feast has been called the “Purification” because, according to the Law of Moses, a woman was unclean for forty days after the childbirth and needed to have sacrifices offered in the Temple for her purification. Our Lady, being ever-pure and sinless, had no need to follow this law, but did it as a manifestation of her love and humility. This feast completes our observance of the Christmas Cycle of the Liturgical Year. This Sunday, the Fifth in Ordinary Time, is also the third Sunday before the First Sunday of Lent. Traditionally, on this day the Church began to count the days to Easter and called the day “Septuagesima Sunday,” meaning the 70th, whereas the Latin word for Lent is “Quadragesima” (40th). Formerly, on this day, the Alleluia was suppressed and violet vestments began to be worn. This was a way of easing us toward the austere fasts of Lent, which until the 20th century obliged almost every Catholic to fast on one meal per day for forty days (excluding Sunday). Today is, therefore, an appropriate time for us to begin to ask ourselves what we will give up for Lent.

Fr. Venner