Presentation of the Blessed Virgin

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
20 Nov 2009

The liturgical Feast celebrating the Presentation of the Virgin Mary occurs on November 21 and commemorates the day, when in gratitude for finally being blessed with a child,  Saint Joachim and Saint Anne offered their daughter to God.

Childless for many years, the pair had received a heavenly message they would bear a child. Overjoyed by the gift of a daughter, they offered Mary as a three year old to the Temple of God in Jerusalem where she was consecrated to God.

The Blessed Mother remained in the Temple until she was 15. Brought up by priests of the Temple, she lived in special lodgings reserved for women and children dedicated to divine service (III Kings 6: 5-9), and it was here she prepared for her role as the Blessed Mother of God.

The Presentation of Mary, as St Joachim and St Anne's gift of their daughter to God would become known, however is not recounted in the New Testament but instead is detailed in the apocryphal Infancy Narrative of James. According to this Narrative, the Holy Mother remained at the Temple for 12 years which she spent in prayer and contemplation in preparation for her role as the chosen One of God. Her soul was adored with the most precious graces and the Holy Father looked upon Her as His beloved Daughter as the One prepared to become His Mother and His undefiled Spouse.

On reaching puberty, the Blessed Virgin left the Temple with Joseph as her appointed guardian and protector.

Just as the Holy Mother was presented to the Temple of God in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ her Son would also be presented to the Temple of God and it is probable that the holy prophet, Simeon and the prophetess Anna, who witnessed the Presentation of Christ as documented in the second Chapter of the Gospel of St Luke (verses 25 ff), had known His Mother as a child in the Temple and observed her unique sanctity and purity of thought.

The date of the Feast Day commemorating The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, however, is not taken from any known date when this may have occurred, but instead from the dedication of the Basilica of St Mary the New which was built in 543 AD on the site of the ruined Temple of God in Jerusalem by the Byzantines under the direction of Emperor Justinian I.

The Church commemorates and celebrates the Presentation of Mary in honour of her Consecration to God which is seen as the most perfect sacrifice by her parents in a gesture that was filled with joy, was never regretted and was given without reservation.

This is the day when we pray our consecration of ourselves to God be made under the Holy Mother's patronage, assisted by Her powerful intercession and united with Her ineffable merits.