For the Feast of Purification

February 2 is the feast of the Purification of Mary, also known as the Presentation of Jesus and Candlemas.  This feast occurs 40 days after Christmas and marks the end of the Christmas season. After this day, the rejoicing of Christmas gives way to the penitential days of Septuagesima and Lent. The feast of the Purification commemorates the purification of Mary, who humbly submitted to the ritual out of obedience to the Jewish Law.  St. Alphonsus wrote of Mary's humility in The Glories of Mary,

"This beautiful and so necessary virtue [humility] was unknown in the world; but the Son of God Himself came on earth to teach it by His Own example, and willed that in that virtue in particular we should endeavor to imitate Him: Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart. Mary, being the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus Christ in the practice of all virtues, was the first also in that of humility, and by it merited to be exalted above all creatures. It was revealed to St. Matilda that the first virtue in which the Blessed Mother particularly exercised herself, from her very childhood, was that of humility." 

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After the purification, St. Joseph and our Lady presented their Son in the temple, also according to the Law.  However, as Venerable Fulton Sheen wrote, "As Jesus was circumcised, so Mary was purified, though He needed not the first because He was God, and she needed not the second because she was conceived without sin." It was to the aged Simeon that Jesus was presented.  Simeon spoke, praising God:
 And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel" (Luke 2:27-32).

Ven. Sheen wrote, "Simeon was like a sentinel whom God had sent to watch for the Light. When the Light finally appeared, he was ready to sing his Nunc Dimittis. In a poor Child brought by poor people making a poor offering, Simeon discovered the riches of the world. As this old man held the Child in his arms, he... did not look back, but forward, and not only to the future of his own people but to the future of all the Gentiles of all the tribes and nations of the earth. An old man at the sunset of his own life spoke of the sunrise of the world; in the evening of life he told of the promise of a new day. He had seen the Messiah before by faith; now his eyes could close, for there was nothing more beautiful to look upon... What he had seen now was 'Salvation'------not salvation from poverty, but salvation from sin."

In relation to Simeon's words, February 2 is also know as Candlemas, since Jesus is called the light for revelation.  In Liturgical Year Dom Gueranger describes the symbolism of candles.

"According to Ivo of Chartres, the wax, which is formed from the juice of flowers by the bee, always considered as the emblem of virginity, signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant, who diminished not, either by His conception or His birth, the spotless purity of His Blessed Mother. The same holy bishop would have us see, in the flame of our Candle, a symbol of Jesus who came to enlighten our darkness. St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking on the same mystery, bids us consider three things in the blessed Candle: the wax, the wick, and the flame. The wax, he says, which is the production of the virginal bee, is the Flesh of our Lord; the wick, which is within, is His Soul; the flame, which burns on top, is His divinity."

It is on this day the Church blesses candles for use throughout the year.  

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To the Blessed Mother for Humility

O Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray to thy Divine Son for me, a poor sinner; beg Him to make me humble. Oh, how humble art thou, the purest of Virgins; thou, my powerful mediatrix; thou, O most holy among the children of Adam, who art the exalted Mother of God! Thou didst declare thyself the handmaid of Him Whose Mother thou art. Behold, my dear heavenly Mother, how gladly I would dedicate myself to thy Divine Son, that His Will may also be mine. But my pride, my self-esteem, my vanity, are always against me. I struggle against them, and yet I allow them to surprise and deceive me so often. Oh, how this afflicts me! Mary, Refuge of Sinners, if I were only sincere when I beg of thee to obtain humiliation for me. But alas, whilst praying for such helps to humility, I fear the granting of my prayer. I clearly see better things; I even desire their possession and yet I shrink from what alone can give me true humility. Behold my trials, my combats in this valley of tears! O my dearest Mother, if to be freed from this body would give glory to God, how gladly would I not lay down my life.  --St. John Neumann

God bless!

+JMJ+