presentation of the Lord

Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24 Who is this king of Glory; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40

You know instantly today must be important because instead of just one reading and the psalm and the gospel we have two readings a psalm and the gospel.

Today is a feast, in fact it is the feast of the presentation of the Lord in the temple, the 4th joyful mystery of the rosary if you are keeping beads, or track which ever you prefer.

In the first reading the prophet Malachi informs us that "suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire."

These words should be taken as a prologue to the words of JEsus the night before he died when gathered in the upper room with his apostles he spoke those words we continue to speak every time we gather at the altar, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you." Lk 22:19

This is why on this day, the presentation, there was often a procession of candles to signify the light of the world has come and the covenant as been ratified.

The words of Simeon ring true, "a light for revelation to the gentiles, and glory for your people Israel."

This covenant is a covenant of light. Instantly we should go back to the first moment of creation when God spoke, "let light be, light was."

From the beginning God has wanted to fill the world with light to drive away the chaos and darkness. And now in Christ that light comes to illuminate the path before us. The light comes to be radiant. We now share in that radiance, that brilliance, that light.

We become the candles that carry the torch to brighten up the day and illuminate the night.

A prayer of Mother Teresa

O God, we believe You are here
We adore and love you with our whole heart and soul
because you are most worthy of our love.
We desire to love You as the blessed in Heaven.
We adore all the designs of Your divine Providence, resigning ourselves entirely to your will.
We also love our neighbor for Your sake as we love ourselves
We sincerely forgive all who have injured us, and ask pardon of all whom we have injured.

Dear JEsus help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and posses our whole being, so utterly,
that our lives may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through us, and be so in us,
That every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our soul.

Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus.
Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as You shine.

So to Shine as to be a light to others.

The light O Jesus will be all from You, non of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.

Let us thus praise You in the way You love best by shining on those around us. AMen