Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorating the moment when Mary, the Mother of God, was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God in accordance to the rules and ways of the Law of God. She was presented and consecrated to God, as a prefigurement of the role that she would later on play in the history of our salvation. Indeed, Mary has been prepared and set aside by the Lord from the very beginning, from before she was even conceived, to be the one to bring forth the salvation into the world. She was set aside, made special, and by the singular grace of God, she was spared from the corruption of original sin and all the taints and corruptions of sin henceforth, that she was truly conceived without sin.

This is what the Church has taught and preserved from the very beginning, in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In that Dogma, the Church teaches that Mary had been spared from the effects of sin, which had afflicted us from the very beginning of time, when our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey the Lord and embraced the path of sin, the path that Satan had offered and tempted them with. All mankind had been afflicted by the corruption and have to suffer the consequences of sin ever since, that is death. However, Mary was prepared special by the Lord because she has a particular destiny and purpose, that is to become the one to bear the Saviour of the whole world, as the Mother of God herself.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Zechariah in which the prophet spoke of God’s words and reassurance for all of His people that He would send them His salvation, and everyone of them would rejoice once again because He would dwell among them once again, and that they would be saved from their predicament and troubles. The Lord would once again dwell among His people, just as He had done in the days past, when the Ark of the Covenant was in the first Temple of God built by King Solomon. Ever since the people disobeyed the Lord and abandoned Him for the pagan gods and idols, they had been cast out and punished, but the Lord never did abandon or neglect them. He still continued to send out messengers, prophets and helpers in order to help and guide them in their path towards Him.

It was exactly through Mary that God and His salvation has come into this world, because as we all know and are going to prepare to celebrate later in Advent and Christmas, by the will of the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Word of God Himself has become flesh, incarnate into Man, and was conceived in the hallowed womb of Mary, to become a Child and born of her. And because of this, it is essential that she is hallowed and made to be worthy of God Himself being present within her. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because linking to the Ark of the Covenant which I mentioned just earlier, which is representing God’s Holy Presence among His people, Mary is the New Ark of the New Covenant which God would make and establish with His people, through the Son to be born of Mary’s womb, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The original Ark of the Covenant contained the two stone tablets upon which the Law of God had been inscribed and written, the Ten Commandments as we are all familiar with, as well as the manna, the heavenly bread with which the Lord fed His people, the Israelites, throughout the entirety of their forty years long sojourn and travel from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land, as well as the Staff of Aaron, the staff of priestly authority and leadership, with which God had performed many of His signs and wonders through Moses and Aaron, and which represented the leadership of God’s people. And it was upon this Ark of the Covenant, crafted from the finest materials and decorated with the golden Cherubim on top, that the Lord descended upon His people, seated upon the Ark, and hence, becoming the very tangible sign of His Presence in this world.

Then, comparing this to what the Lord would bring forth through Mary, there is an even far greater Covenant and things that happened than the original Ark of the Covenant. The original Ark of the Covenant, which was made from the finest materials and wrought with human hands, was so holy that no one was allowed to directly touch it, and in one instance, when one of the priests accidentally touched it, he was immediately struck dead. Why is that so? That is because God is so Holy and perfect that no sin and imperfection, corruption and evil may exist in His Presence and remain. Hence, the same logic applies as well to Mary, who was to become the vessel of God Himself, this time truly present and tangible in the flesh, in His Holy Presence, the Almighty and all-Holy God descending into our world through Mary. That was why, she was set aside and hallowed, Immaculate, free from any taints of sin throughout her life, being full of God’s grace.

Now, on this day, as we commemorate this Feast of the Presentation of Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, let us all therefore look upon Mary, the one through whom God had done so many great and wonderful works, in bringing forth His salvation into this world. What is important is, we must also realise that Mary is not just worthy of veneration, honour and following because of her having been set aside by the Lord to be the holy vessel for Our Lord and Saviour, but she herself had lived her life worthily of the Lord, at all times throughout her life. She has shown what it means for us to live a good, holy and worthy Christian living, in all of our lives, our words, actions and deeds. And she is therefore a great inspiration and role model for all of us, just as she has also always encouraged us to remain true and faithful to the Lord as our loving Mother.

When the Lord in our Gospel passage today was talking about those who follow the Lord, obey His will and Law are those who are His mother and family members, He was not actually disrespecting His own Mother, who was there waiting on Him and following Him. Rather, on the contrary, the Lord was actually pointing to everyone who listened to Him, to follow the examples of His own loving Mother in all the things that they say and do. Therefore, all of us should also do the same in our own lives, in doing what the Lord has told and taught us to do, in living our lives, carrying out our actions and interactions, with the Lord as the focus and emphasis in them. Let our lives be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, His love and compassion to others, that more and more may come to know Him as His love.

May the Lord, our loving God and Master continue to love us and strengthen us in faith, and may through the good examples and inspirations of His Blessed Mother, Mary, who is our mother too, we all may come ever closer to the Lord and His Holy Presence. May all of us be blessed in our every good efforts and endeavours, all for the greater glory of God, now and always. Amen.