Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are reminded of the great and most loving Mother of God, Mary, who is also our Mother on this day, when we are celebrating the Feast of her Presentation at the Temple and House of God. On this day we remember the time when Mary, when she was just born into this world, she was presented to the Lord at His Temple following His instruction in the Law and commandments that all the firstborn children were to be offered to Him. According to Church and Apostolic tradition, Mary, the Mother of God was presented at the Temple of God by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, as their firstborn and only daughter, dedicating her for the purpose which they then had not known or realised yet.

For Mary has been specially set aside by the Lord Himself to be the one to bear His Presence in the flesh, as He became incarnate in this world, assuming our human nature by the will of the Father and power of the Holy Spirit, that the Son of God might be present in our midst, as the Son of Man, to be carried and born from Mary, who therefore would hence be known as the Mother of God. And because she herself is to bear the Divine Son of God, hence, the Church teaches that through the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that she had been conceived free from the taint of original sin and had been in the state of fullness of grace throughout all of her life. This means that Mary has been completely obedient to the Lord and having also therefore been presented to God at the Temple, it also symbolically marked how she has been prepared for the important role she was to have in the story of our salvation.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Zechariah we heard of the reassurance of God’s salvation and His providence to His people which He delivered to them all through His prophet, amidst all the hardships, challenges and difficulties that they had all endured because of their own disobedience and refusal to obey God’s words and will. The Lord has never forgotten or abandoned them all despite their disobedience, wickedness and stubbornness in refusing to follow His Law and commandments. And He has kept on promising His salvation and deliverance to all of them, all throughout the time, encouraging and strengthening them, guiding and helping them through His many prophets and messengers, including that of Zechariah himself.

All these would hence be fulfilled in due time, a few centuries after the time of the prophet Zechariah, when as mentioned, when Mary came to be in this world, set aside by God to be the faithful servant and the woman through whom His salvation, the long awaited Saviour would come into this world. God has not forgotten about His people and He proved it all through the sending of this woman, preserved and kept from all the taints of sin and evil so that the Saviour may come through her into this world, bringing forth the light and hope that had long been dimmed by a world filled with sin and darkness. Through Mary, and her willingness to follow the Lord and to do what she has been entrusted to do, all of us have received the assurance of salvation and eternal life, the straight path back towards the Lord and the glory of Heaven that has always been intended for us.

For Mary is indeed the New Eve, the one who directs us all to the New Adam, that is Christ Himself, her beloved Son and our Saviour. While the first and old Adam had disobeyed God and sinned against Him, the New Adam, Our Lord and Saviour as the New Man obeyed perfectly the will of His Father and became for us therefore the source of salvation and eternal life. And this is mirrored by the examples of His own Mother Mary, who as the New Eve obeyed the Lord and refused to follow the path of sin done by the first and original Eve, who gave in to temptation and disobeyed the Lord’s words and command, choosing to follow the whim of human desire and ambition rather than to follow and trust in the Lord. Mary obeyed perfectly when she was entrusted with the most important mission of bearing the Saviour in her.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we heard of the occasion when the Lord was teaching the people and then some of them were telling Him that His Mother, Mary and some of His relatives, brothers from His family but not the sons of Mary, were there waiting on Him, as they commonly followed Him in some of His ministries and works. But the Lord seemed to rebuke them when He said that His mother and brothers are those who have listened to the Lord, obeyed His will and commandments, and followed Him wholeheartedly. Indeed, if we only read His words at face value and did not truly understand His intentions, those words might seem to be very rude, but this was not what the Lord intended.

In fact, the Lord was highlighting His own Mother’s perfect and most exemplary faith, shown through her total obedience to the will of God and her commitment to the mission entrusted to her. It was at the same time also a reminder to everyone including each one of us that the Lord has no favouritism, unlike those commonly practiced by the people of His time and even that of ours. It does not mean that being related to Him or being a close disciple of His would guarantee that one would be honoured more and praised, or receiving more rights to salvation than others who did not have such a connection. All of us are equally beloved by God and we all have equal opportunities to come to the Lord and be reconciled to Him. And Mary herself has also shown her most wonderful faith by example, and we truly honour her not just because she is the Mother of God, of Our Lord and Saviour but also by her most wonderful and exemplary faith in God.

As we have heard from our Scripture passages today, we are therefore reminded to be like Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, whose faith and dedication to God, whose love for her Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and also her love for us are truly wonderful and beautiful to behold. We are all called to dedicate ourselves and our lives to the Lord, and to follow Him wholeheartedly at all times, in all the occasions and circumstances of our lives. May the Lord continue to bless us all and our every efforts, and through the constant intercession of His Blessed and most loving Mother, who is also our Mother, we may continue to be encouraged and strengthened to allow us to follow our Lord faithfully and ever more courageously in each and every moments of our lives. May God be with us always and may He continue to guide in our journey in life, together with His most loving Mother Mary, our own beloved Mother. Amen.