Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2025, Year C

There is no homily this week from Fr. Irvin. We present this homily from Fr. Manfredonia

Fr. Ignatius Manfredonia

Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate

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Today's Feast of the Presentation reminds me of something that Padre Pio said. He said, "For those souls who are faithful, this life in this world is like a purgatory." The souls in purgatory experience great joy knowing that they are saved and that they will see God face to face. At the same time, they experience great pains because they aren't yet given the beatific vision that they long for with incredible desire.

Today's feast interestingly, is the fourth joyful mystery of the rosary because it is a great joy for our Lady to present her Son, the Redeemer of the world, in the Temple. But at the same time, it is the first sorrow of our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. So our Lady is experiencing great joy and also great sorrow. Saint Simeon who had received the promise from God that he would not die before seeing the expected Messiah, takes the Divine Child from the hands of Mary, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, announces to her how much sorrow this sacrifice must cause her.

This sacrifice which she was about to make of her Son with whom her blessed soul must also be sacrificed – this action of offering her Son is something our Lady understands completely. She knows that the Redeemer of the world will be the Man of Sorrows, and she is offering her Son, but also herself. Simeon says a sword will pierce through her own soul. These are the words that describe the sacrifice that our Lady will be asked to make. It was revealed to Saint Teresa of Avila that in these words of St. Simeon, all the minute circumstances of the external as well as internal sufferings which Jesus was to endure in His Passion were made known to Mary. You see this when God asks us to give our "Yes," He wants there to be sufficient knowledge. When people get married and they profess their vows they have to have sufficient knowledge of what they're doing or else it's invalid. Same thing with religious who profess religious vows, we need to understand what we're professing or else it's invalid.

And so our Lady is given mystically the knowledge of what this offering really means as revealed to St. Teresa of Avila. Mary consented to everything with a firmness which made the angels wonder. God did not wish that Jesus should sacrifice His life for the salvation of men without the concurrence of the consent of Mary. This makes sense because Jesus is not only the Son of the eternal Father, but He is also the real Son of Mary. So it requires the consent of Mary – that together with the sacrifice of the life of the Son – the heart of the mother might be sacrificed also.

Saint Thomas teaches that the relation of mother gives an especial right over her children. Hence Jesus being innocent in Himself and not deserving any punishment – it seemed fitting that He should not be destined to the cross as the victim for the sins of the world without the consent of his mother; by which she should voluntarily offer Him to death. We see this in the words of scripture, Romans 8:32: "He, God, did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all." The same words can be applied to our Lady. Mary who did not spare her own Son, but gave Him up for us all. There is also the very famous passage of John 3:16 that, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that all who believe in Him might not perish." And so Mary, as well, so loved the world – in the universal maternity of Mary – she so loved the world without any exceptions that she gave her only begotten Son for the redemption of the world.

Saint Epiphanius actually says that Mary here is acting just like a priest in making this offering – not the common priesthood of the lay faithful – because this is an uncommon priesthood, this is a unique priesthood. It's not the ministerial priesthood of ordained ministers who act as Christ the head, but we could call this the maternal priesthood of Mary where she is acting in offering as mother of the Redeemer and mother of the redeemed. And so, we give thanks to our Lady for her generosity, for her constancy, for her firmness in making this offering of her Son, and also of herself, of her own immaculate heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.