HOMILY WEEK 33 – 04
Victorious in Christ:
Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Rev 5:1-10; Ps 149; Lk 19:41-44)
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Recall your experience of winning an event of any kind and the feelings involved of being on the winning side, and the way those feelings return when we remember the event, like Canada winning Olympic gold. I remember the highway I was driving on when Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal, and in my excitement, blowing the horn to no one as I was all alone on the road, except for a few deer.
The readings of today invite us to rejoice in the Lord and live in his Kingdom as joyful servants.
In the gospel, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because despite all the prophecies, in their lack of faith, in their infidelity to the covenant, and their lust after possession, prestige and power, they failed to recognize Jesus, and did not accept him. They failed to be on the winning side, and lost big-time, with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
The first reading from Revelations is just the opposite. In John’s vision of heaven, Jesus is the Lion of Judah, the root of David, the New Israel. He is the Lamb who was slaughtered and by his blood has conquered death, darkness, evil. He alone can open the scroll of the future. He has ransomed us and made us priests to serve in his Kingdom that will have no end.
The result of this is that we are on the winning side. We are victorious in him, and like the heavenly throng of angels, saints and spiritual beings, we can worship him and exult with joy. All we must do is to put our total faith and trust in him, open ourselves up to receive him, and serve him with our whole being. Every day we have that opportunity to experience victory over sin, evil and darkness in our own lives by recognizing him and accepting him.
The Presentation of Mary in the Temple; Unknown; late 13th century
Today we celebrate the memorial of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, which originated as a commemoration of the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary the New in Jerusalem in 543. An apocryphal account recounts that Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, brought Mary as a three-year old child to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer her to God, as was the custom. Inspired by a priest’s vision, they left her there to praise and serve God. The much later presentation of Jesus in the Temple serves as a background: while the offering of the poor, two turtle doves, were offered, really no offering was needed as Jesus was himself the Temple. This memorial spread to the Western Church in 1585, and honors Mary as a temple where God lives, so for her as well, no offering was necessary.
There is a tabernacle in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the Oblate Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupita in Mexico City that captures the reality of Mary as a Temple in which Jesus abides. At the Annunciation, through her Fiat, she became the Ark of the New Covenant, in which the Word of God dwelt. Her Visitation to her cousin was the first Eucharistic procession, journeying with her unborn child Jesus. The unseen presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb caused his cousin John the Baptist to leap with joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, who also cried out with joy at the wonder of Mary being the mother of our Lord! We are reminded that we also are meant to be temples where the Lord lives, offering our lives to the Lord.
The Eucharist that we celebrate today is a foretaste of that heavenly banquet. It is like a victory celebration because we are victorious in Christ and on the winning side.
So remember, every day we are called to rejoice in the Lord, and live in his Kingdom as joyful servants.
