A Life Offered to God!

Friday, November 21, 2025

Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Zech 2:14-17; Mt 12:46-50

The Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple invites us to reflect on life as an offering to God.

The Catholic Tradition holds that as a child, Mary was brought to the Temple by her parents and offered to God. The celebration of this feast not only helps us understand the nobility of Mary’s life and vocation but also invites us to follow the powerful message her life leaves behind.

Three insights from Mary’s life inspire our reflection.

1. Mary Being Offered: The Catholic Tradition holds that Mary was offered to God as a child. The beautiful custom shows that her life began as an offering pleasing to God and found its direction and purpose in God’s presence. The fact that she later grew into a woman of faith finds its roots in the feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. However, that is not all. Mary’s life is a testament to the fact that she did not remain a passive offering. Hence, it is no exaggeration to claim that with her active cooperation with God’s will, Mary moved from being offered to offering herself. 

2. Mary Offering Herself: When Mary turned herself into an offering pleasing to God, she found her voice. We find Mary’s spiritual and moral agency in the way she gave her unconditional ‘yes’ to God by saying, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.’ Mary’s affirmative response is an indication that she understood her life as belonging to God. We name Mary’s ‘yes’ unconditional because it transcended the moment of the Visitation to become a continuous ‘yes’ for the rest of her life. Mary’s self-offering reveals her profound conviction that she was God’s own. Hence, the meaning of her life depended on direction from God. The purpose of her life was directed towards God. Ultimately, she could live for God. 

3. Mary Finding Her Freedom: Mary finding her freedom comes as an extension of her self-offering. Perhaps the best discovery of her life is that human life and freedom are wound up with God. In other words, Mary understood that her freedom comes from God, and therefore it must be exercised to fulfil God’s purposes. Only against this backdrop can we understand Mary’s unconditional ‘yes’ to God’s will. Mary was aware that her life was intertwined with God’s will and purpose, and, for the same reason, she did not think she had a separate destiny apart from God. Hence, Mary’s unconditional ‘yes’ to God is not a slavish submission but an affirmation that flows from her authentic freedom. For Mary, the real taste of freedom came with saying ‘yes’ to God’s will. For the Divine Mother, apart from God, what looks like freedom is actually not. 

If the Feast of the Presentation of Mary facilitates our reflection with wonderful insights, it also leaves behind points for practical reflection. 

1. The modern crisis is largely because we ignore that our lives are made to be an offering to God. We fail to take our lives seriously when we do not consider ourselves a worthy offering to God. That is how moral crises set in. In this regard, Mary is our forerunner, model, and example. 

2. When we have no higher purpose guiding our lives, it becomes difficult for us to find or maintain our moral bearing. If there is no sacred purpose or direction, living anyhow gets justified. Mary’s life throws light on the benefits of living a life through God’s eyes. 

3. Mary’s life enlightens us that our freedom is not only ‘freedom from’ but also ‘freedom for.’ We have life and freedom only to put them to God’s use. If we fail to become God’s instruments, ours is nothing less than a wasted existence. Our reliance on Mary helps us avoid danger. 

Let us pray that we may conduct our lives according to the truth that we have been made an offering to God and that we may offer ourselves worthily and well. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar