Daily Reflection: Tuesday, November 21
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 – The Prestation of the Blessed Virgin Mary https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112123.cfm
Today’s reading seems not to match the memorial that we are celebrating today. So, what is this celebration all about? I found the following on the Vatican News website.
The Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple recalls – according to the apocryphal gospels, the day on which Mary, while still a child, was brought to the temple in Jerusalem to be offered to God. The Church wants to emphasize not so much the historical event in itself, of which there is no trace in the Gospels, but the total gift that Mary made of herself, by listening: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it” (Lk. 11:28). This experience prepared the young girl from Nazareth to become the “temple of the Son of God”.
The celebration of this feast dates back to the 6th century in the East with the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary the New built by the Emperor Justinian I near the ruins of the temple in Jerusalem. There is evidence that various monasteries in Italy celebrated the feast in the 9th century. It was not until the 15th century that it was included in the Roman Missal.
Scott F. Brookbank, OFM
Read also:
This week’s Letter from the Pastor
