Exhaling

This Saturday is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord - don’t let’s get distracted by some furry beast in Punxsutawney. It’s easy to overlook this feast, falling on a Saturday with Ash Wednesday coming soon.

In our current liturgical calendar, Christmas ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, but it used to encompass all 40 days until February 2, when it was also known as the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady. I like the really archaic titles - back in the Middle Ages, when time was marked by days with poetic names like Michaelmas and Martinmas, it was known as Candlemas. On this day, candles were blessed to bring home, reminding us of Simeon’s prophecy that “He shall be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people, Israel.”

There are three mysteries here on which to meditate:

~ Purification of Mary - According to the Book of Leviticus, “The priest shall make atonement for her sin, and thus she will be made clean.” We know that Mary had no objective need of purification, as she remained a virgin before, during, and after childbirth. But just as she refused to see herself beyond any service because she was carrying the Messiah in her womb, she now does not see herself beyond the law, even though she has not been “defiled” according to it. Her profound humility compels her to observe the letter of the law.

~ Presentation of Jesus - Several prophets had foretold that the Temple’s greates glory would be the day the Messiah appeared within it and revealed Himself. One of the beautiful Antiphons in the Liturgy of the Hours for this feast says, “Zion, prepare your wedding chamber to receive Christ the King.” God has become one with humanity, and his bride must be prepared to welcome Him. Today, Jesus enters His Father’s house for the first time.

According to the Law, every firstborn son was “holy to the Lord” and was to be brought to the Temple and “redeemed” with an offering (see Exodus 13:11ff). Again, Jesus had no objective need of being redeemed; He IS the Redeemer. Yet Joseph and Mary are obedient to the Law, and receive the prophetic word and confirmation of Simeon. This presentation of Christ is aligned with the Offertory of the Mass: the offering of the future Victim. We are to offer ourselves with Him. Today, the Lamb of God is offered wholly to the Father; 33 years later, this offering will be completed - the Covenant consummated - by His death, which is aligned with the Consecration and elevation of the Mass.

~ Simeon’s Prophecy - Simeon and Anna, two devout and aging souls, have spent long years praying and yearning for the coming of the Messiah; today they are given the grace to recognize Him in the arms of the poor parents offering turtledoves as a sin-offering. Simeon foretells the sword that will pierce the Mother’s heart; a sword that will open her heart to all of ours! His Nunc Dimittus is part of the Church’s Night Prayer:

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.

This Light is ours. Like Simeon, we hold Christ in our arms, as it were, in faith, in grace, in Word, and in the sacraments. He is ours always, and candles remind us of this Light.

I’ve been thinking about this for some time, and I’ve decided to give it a go for a little bit.

I think I’ll run this trial through Easter and then reassess where I am and whether this is something God wants me to do.

Meanwhile, take a look and let me know what you think about this.

As I prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet recently, kneeling before the crucifix, I seemed to recognize anew Christ’s total oblation, to see with fresh eyes the beauty of this complete Gift. I was filled with gratitude as I looked on this perfect Sacrifice, given for me. But then I saw something else - the gift of salvation, yes; the perpetual oblation, yes; but there is more:

You want us to be grateful for all You have given for our salvation (Yourself), but also to accept wholly what You continually give (Yourself). You eagerly give Yourself to us, desiring to be wholly ours and to be ONE with us - and this eagerness is so vehement, this love so passionate, this longing so uncontainable that it burns and overflows from Your gentle Heart and drives You (as it were) to continually pour Yourself out for us, to give Yourself as FOOD to be EATEN. Take and EAT; this is My Body, given up for you.  The force of these words is too often lost to us…

The Sacrament is inseparable from the Sacrifice. When we look on the Cross, we should also see the continuous Gift of the Eucharist. When we look on the Eucharist, we should  also see the Cross, where this Gift was given.

You long to become one with us, and we must long to become one with You, for others.

Always on the brink of drought and fruitlessness, we
    reach with arms and hearts for
       water -
   water to sustain, water to purify.
We know only this until
  You look on us with love and reveal that You
    are the Rock from which flows living water, and You say,
                        “Come to Me.”
    And then You show that this water can
       flow deep within.

Cana’s drought of wine
     might abrupt the feast, and Your time is not yet come, but
     You are eager to give in full measure, pressed down,
              running over -
the water of our sustenance,
the water of our cleansing,
the water of our offering,
     becomes the richest wine,
                       the wine of celebration,
                        the wine of joy.
Because of the eagerness of Your love,
    Your time, which has not yet come -
           the glorious Feast, which is our eternal Wedding -
                    is NOW.

The Bridegroom is here.
Let us surrender with joy.

I will let another speak first, to move us on to the Eucharist and the Mystical Body:

As Christ continues to offer the sacrifice of the Mass through the ministry of His priests, He wishes its fruits to extend to every member of the Mystical Body in need the world over. And every soul that is open to His grace in some measure is benefited by each Mass.

In the Old Testament the Prophet Malachi foretold that from the rising of the sun to the setting a sacrifice, a pure offering, would be offered in the Lord’s name. (Mal.1:11) That prophecy is certainly fulfilled in the Sacrifice of the Cross - extended through the Mass. Every minute of every day and night that sacrifice is being offered somewhere in the world, bringing the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary to all souls who are disposed to receive them.

As the heart continually pumps life-giving blood to all members of the human body, so each Mass is like a heartbeat sending life-giving grace of the Divine Head to all members of His Mystical Body who do not place obstacles in the way of His gifts.

St. Paul speaks of Christ in Heaven always making intercession for us before the Father. “Because He continues forever, He has an everlasting priesthood. Therefore He is able at all times to save those who come to God through Him, since He lives always to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25)

That must be understood in the sense that the time will come, at the end of the world, when Christ will hand over His kingdom to the Father. That will be the end of the application of the fruits of His passion, and the last of His intercession for the souls of men; for then the great mystery of the redemption will have been consummated. Then the elect, the Church triumphant, in union with Christ, will offer that oblation of adoration and praise and thanksgiving for all eternity.

                                                                                     - Father Paul A. Duffner, O.P.

Amor proximi 

I sought His love in kneeling throngs of prayer

In liturgies sublime, incensed, communal,

Gathering for myself the perfumed air

And richly vested full confessed tribunal,

I listened for His voice in chant and hymn

From page and word I strained to visualize;

In solitude and quiet rest pursued Him,

But caught my first true glimpse in Samaritan eyes.

So I sacrificed to serve Him in my neighbor –

Gave past my wants to lessen others’ needs.

I’d thought I would find God upon Mount Tabor,

But heart-proof of love is not what glows but bleeds.        

                  The sanguinary road to Calvary we must trod   

                  If we would listen to the heartbeat of God.

If we know that the sacrifice of the Mass is the same as the sacrifice of Calvary, how can we forget Mary? She remains united to that sacrifice, united to Christ as He offers Himself on the altar; she still wills this sacrifice, as Christ does; her own immlation was an integral part of the sacrifice of the Cross, and it must remain so, as He remains her Son.

As we pray at Mass in her presence, every prayer can become clearer and more focused. Seeing God through her pure eyes, I confess my sinfulness and ask for mercy in the Confiteor. With the Mother who composed the Magnificat, I too glorify God with all my being in the Gloria. With the first follower of the Word, I listen to the Word with new attentiveness. With she who was proclaimed blessed for having believed, I declare my faith in the Creed.

At the Offertory, I ask her to offer me to the Father along with her Son - like the presentation of the Child in the Temple, the Offertory is the presentation (by the Mother)of the future Victim, and we are all brothers and sisters, and part of that Sacrifice. I want to be, like Mary, a drop of water “lost” in the wine that will be transubstantiated into His Blood; His Blood shed for all, just as our lives should be poured out for others.

At the Consecration, Body and Blood mysteriously separated, I remain with Mary at the foot of the Cross, as she offers her Son, and herself in union with Him. I am there with John and Mary Magdalen (purity and reparation, both fueled by love), and Jesus offers Himself to the Father, joining all of us to that offering. There is only ONE Sacrifice. We are all there, united to Him, offered through Him, with Him, in Him.

I cannot imagine a Communion without Mary, as I have been asking her to “replace my poor and sinful heart” with her “holy and immaculate Heart, that I may worthily receive and serve” her Son for as long as I can remember. It seems that she accompanies me to the altar, reminding me that “the Bridegroom has come; let us go to welcome Him,” guides me as I receive Him and am received by Him, and remains near me as I pray.

And as we are dismissed to bring Christ to others, I walk with Mary who was the first to do precisely that, from the first moment of His conception; she was always “Christ-bearer,” who brought His light to others, never keeping it for herself.