The Handmaid of the Lord!

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary

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

The feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary invites us to draw inspiration from her life and response. 

We can reflect on Mary’s careful response to God’s invitation from two angles. 

Mary was offered in the Temple: The feast commemorates the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a three-year-old child by her parents, Anna and Joachim, in the temple of Jerusalem. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless. When the child was born after God heard Anna’s ceaseless prayers, the parents of Mary offered the child to the Lord. Though it is very hard to make sense of the offering of their only child to God, Anna and Joachim decided that it is proper to give back to God what belongs to God. It is no wonder that the profound faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary had its strong roots in the spirituality that her parents transmitted to her. Faith is an act of surrender. The parents of Mary demonstrated such faith so that Mary would now surrender herself to the Lord for the rest of her life. 

Mary offered herself: Mary’s ‘yes’ to God’s will was not a one-time answer. Rather, the echoes of that ‘yes’ reverberated her whole life. Though Mary willingly cooperated with God’s will, there were moments when it was hard for her to understand the content of her consent. Today’s Gospel offers a testimony to Mary’s committed response. When we find Jesus’ mother and brothers waiting outside to speak to him, he not only avoids meeting them but also seems to make a dismissive remark by asking, ‘Who is my mother?’ and ‘Who are my brothers?’ In praising those who follow him as doing the will of the heavenly Father, Jesus ignores his mother and brothers. 

While the behaviour of Jesus is confusing (obviously because we do not understand the profound meaning of his words), his mother’s response deserves our praise and attention. Though the passage does not show how she reacted to Jesus ignoring her and his brothers, we can safely assume that Mary’s response must have been similar to what we find written about her in Luke 2:19. Hence, the passage shows Mary’s characteristic response. Mary never gave up when things eluded her grasp. Rather, she learned to exhibit greater hope in God’s plan of salvation, especially when it was hard for her to believe. In her silent reflection on God’s will, Mary often shows that she knows something that we do not. This is how Mary conducted her life as God’s mother and disciple. 

In what she exemplifies, Mary offers us hope to follow God through thick and thin.

Whenever she was surrounded by difficulties, Mary strongly believed that everything that happened in her life was ordained by God for the good of humanity. 

In this, she never forgot her words, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord.’ Because she constantly remembered her promise to God, Mary’s response to God was total and complete.

Let us pray that we may offer ourselves to God unconditionally, as our Divine Mother did. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar