The Presentation of Jesus: Every Child is a Present

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses,
they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law
of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") …
And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they
returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became
strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. - Luke 2:22-23, 39-40

Today's feast celebrates Mary and Joseph offering the infant Jesus to the temple in

fulfillment of the Jewish practice of offering their first-born offspring to God.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people,

Simeon and the widow Anna. They were just and devout persons who embody Israel in

their patient expectation, believing that God would renew his chosen people and

consequently bring salvation to the Gentile nations.  Upon accepting the baby Jesus,

Simeon immediately recognized this humble child of Bethlehem as the fulfillment of all

the messianic prophecies, hopes, and prayers.  And inspired by the Holy Spirit, he

prophesied that Jesus is to be "a revealing light to the Gentiles" (thereby giving the feast

its popular name: Candlemas, the mass dedicated to the blessing and distribution of

candles). Since Mary and Joseph could not afford the customary offering of a lamb in

order to redeem Jesus, they gave instead two pigeons as an offering of the poor. 

This rite, along with circumcision and the redemption of the first-born point to the

fact that children are gifts from God.  Parents are therefore bound to realize that their

children are not possessions or things they simply own but gifts which have been given

and entrusted to them by God.  By offering the child Jesus in the temple, Mary and
Joseph did not simply fulfill their role as parents but likewise enunciated an important

act: acknowledging their child as God’s gift and symbolically offering back their child to

God as an act of thanksgiving.

While it is true that the hardest part for any parent is the lifetime process of

"letting go" of their children, it is the only way for children to truly discover the world

and their part in it, even through their own mistakes. Part of cherishing our children is

loving them enough to release them from our constant care so they can grow. Like Mary

and Joseph, may we all learn to offer our children up to God with a blessing and ask that

we might fulfill our roles as parents and guardians reverently and gratefully.