Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as it happens on the second day of February this year, it coincides with the celebration of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, traditionally also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Candlemas, the fortieth day since the beginning of the Christmas season on Christmas Day. This day marks the definitive end for all Christmas events and festivities, which traditionally observes forty days period for Christmas. On this day we remember once again everything that has happened during the time when the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world was finally born into the world, revealing to everyone the great grace and salvation which God has long assured us all His people.

In this celebration of the Presentation of the Lord, we celebrate the moment when the Holy Child, the firstborn Son of Mary and His foster father, St. Joseph was presented to the Temple and House of God in Jerusalem as prescribed by the Law of God revealed through Moses. The Law prescribed that all the firstborn sons of the Israelites ought to be offered to God as a sign of the Covenant which He has made with all of them, and that was what Mary and St. Joseph had done, bearing the Child that was born in Bethlehem, the Saviour of the world. And it was on this occasion that the Lord revealed Himself to the Jewish people, as He was welcomed by the old man and prophet Simeon, and the prophetess Anna at the Temple, representing His coming and arrival to the people who had long awaited Him.

This Presentation of the Lord also foreshadowed His later role and ministry, in what He would do and fulfil for the salvation of all mankind, in the role that He would take as our One, True and Eternal High Priest, as the One to offer the perfect and most worthy sacrifice and offering for our redemption and salvation, liberating us from the darkness of evil and death, breaking us free from the chains of sin and death that have dominated us over from the beginning of time. And this marks the definitive end of the Christmas Season, as henceforth, we are preparing ourselves to enter into the season of Lent, the time of preparation and renewal, the journey of faith towards the celebration the aforementioned works and ministry that the Lord Himself would perform, as our High Priest and the Lamb of God, in His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately, His glorious Resurrection.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Malachi, of the prophecy which the Lord passed to His people through Malachi, one of the last of the prophets of the Old Testament, who lived and ministered to the people of God about three to four centuries before the coming of the Messiah. After which, the Lord sent no more prophets until the fulfilment of what He had spoken through Malachi in what we had heard in our first reading today, of the coming of the messenger of God, preparing the path for the coming of the Saviour of the world. This prophecy of God passed through the prophet Malachi was speaking about St. John the Baptist, the Herald and the one who would proclaim the coming of the Saviour to the people. Indirectly, it also preempted the coming of the Messiah and His role as well, in the salvation and purification which He would give to all of us, God’s people.

Many of the people of Israel and their descendants at that time had the idea and understanding, expectation and vision that the Messiah sent by God, the Son and Heir of David, the Heir to the Kingdom of Israel, would be a great and conquering King, the One to liberate them from their enemies and overlords, to reestablish the glorious Kingdom of Israel as how it was during the glorious days of King David and King Solomon. However, the truth and reality is such that God sent His Son, our Lord and Saviour, to all of us so that He can deliver us all from the certainty of death and destruction because of our sins, and as He revealed Himself to us, in the form of that Holy Child, presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, we are all reminded of how great God’s love is for us, that He chose to be incarnate and to assume our human form and existence so that we can be saved.

God has always loved us all and He has given us His Son, and just as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in our second reading today highlighted to us, and as we have just discussed earlier on, He has come to share in our nature, because exactly by doing so, He can purify us all from our sins and wickedness, from all the corruptions and evils which had held us in bondage, keeping us away from the salvation and grace in God. In order for Him to offer the perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of our sins, He has to come to us in the flesh, and in His humanity, bear the punishments for our sins. In doing so, He has united us all through His suffering and death, and by sharing in that suffering and death, we are led to die to our past selves and sins, and brought into the glory of everlasting life through His glorious Resurrection.

Through His perfect obedience to the will of His heavenly Father, Christ our Lord and Saviour has also shown us all the example to follow in how we all ought to obey the Lord, His Law, His commandments and will. It was because of our disobedience and unwillingness to follow His Law and commandments, our rebellion and our choice to follow the temptations of Satan and our desires that led us into ruin, separating us from the grace and love of God, falling into the path towards damnation and destruction, for separated from God and His love, He Who is the Lord and Master of Life, there can be no hope and future for us. But God never gave up on us, and He loves us all so much that He has promised us to send us the deliverance, which He fulfilled and accomplished through His only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Presentation at the Temple we commemorate today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all rejoice greatly today celebrating this occasion of the Presentation of Our Lord and Saviour at the Temple, let us all remember the love that God has for us, and the coming of this great Light and Hope that we have received through His coming into our midst. This day is also known as Candlemas, because in our Church tradition, this day the blessing of candles is carried out, with the lighted candles as reminders of the Light of Christ, the Light of our Hope and salvation which we have received through Christ and His coming into this world. And it is because of His coming that we have the assurance of freedom from the domination and bondage to sin and corruption of evil around us, which only the Lord can free us from.

Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, to follow Him wholeheartedly and to remain ever faithful to His cause, doing our best so that in everything that we say and do we will always strive to be worthy of God and be good examples and role models for one another. We also should remind ourselves of the commitments that we all have as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen, that we all have been entrusted with the unique missions and vocations in life. Particularly today we pray on this day, which is also the World Day of Consecrated Life, for those who have dedicated and committed themselves in religious life, offering themselves to a life of prayer and virtue, as members of religious congregations and orders. Let us all pray that all of them will continue to be faithful to the Lord and continue to carry out their respective missions faithfully, just as we ourselves also do the same in our lives.

May our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, and our One, True Eternal High Priest, Who has offered Himself as the perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of our many sins, continue to bless us all and guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He continue to strengthen and bless us all so that we will continue to persevere well throughout the many obstacles, hardships and challenges that we may encounter in our path, so that one day, we may truly be completely and fully reunited with Him in the glory of everlasting life with Him. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.