As we count the days down to the new year – the First Sunday of Advent coming quickly at the end of this week – the Church challenges us today to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice of Mary … the complete giving of herself to service to the Lord.
Without Mary, there is no Jesus.
Without Mary, there is no Lord.
Without Mary, there is no Church.
Today we observe the Memorial of the Presentation of Mary, a scene from the life of the Virgin Mary that is not recounted in Scripture, but is part of our tradition in Western Christianity, and even more so in the tradition of the East.
On this day, we think back to Anna and Joachim, the parents of Mary (the grandparents of Jesus) who bring the young child, Mary, at the age of 3 to the Temple. There, they leave her to a life or perpetual virginity and service to the Lord and to the Temple.
The story goes that Anna and Joachim had been without children for many years and had longed for a miracle similar to that given to our forefathers Abram and Sarai. In apocryphal writings of this event, it was indeed the Angel Gabriel who was sent with good news that they would become parents of a child through whom salvation would come to the world.
Imagine how they felt as they approached the Temple that day – THIS day – to give their daughter Mary completely to the church! Parents of daughters who choose a consecrated life of service know exactly how they must have felt. So, too, parents of sons who choose to become priests.
It is a great sacrifice to give up one’s child for the benefit of others.
Of course, God the Father would know a little bit about that, Himself.
Today’s Gospel – while not explicitly recounting this story of Anna and Joachim and the young child, Mary, does provide a similar experience.
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
What does it mean to offer our “whole livelihood” to the Church?
As noted above, it can mean giving up your son or daughter to a life of service as priests, nuns, monks, etc. The way Anna and Joachim did.
It can also apply to young couples getting married in the Church, vowing to offer their lives to each other – and to God – in such a way that will bear fruit. And even for those who live as single adults, it can mean giving up pursuits of this world and instead giving their all to the Lord and to the Church.
It can also apply to you and I today! Whatever keeps us from devoting more of our time, our talents, our treasures to the service of the Lord, we must strive to remove.
Especially this week as we prepare for the great season of Advent, when our liturgies amplify Mary and her role as Mother of Jesus, Mother of God, Theotokos!
The Church, in her wisdom, challenges us to become more fully vested in the faith that will ultimately help lead us to salvation.
As our focus sharpens and our hearts soften, we become more open to the sacramental graces that will ensure that we will be among those chosen to stand and sing new hymns to the Lamb with our names on our foreheads and no blemish on our souls.
If I make it, that will be 144,001 … won’t you be counted as well?
