Depart in Peace: The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

Malachai 3:1-4
Hebrews 2:14-18
St. Luke 2:22-40

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
(St. Luke 2:29)

Today, the Feast of the Presentation (historically the Feast of the Purification of Mary), marks the end of the celebrations of the Incarnation. In today's Gospel, Christ is taken to the Temple to be presented. According to Exodus 13, God claims the firstborn sons of Israel because they were spared in the Plague of the Firstborn in Egypt, making them holy. The image of Christ in this observance is startling: death passes over the firstborn of Israel, redeeming them from slavery and sanctifying them to God, a symbol of the death and resurrection of the firstborn of the Father.

Mosaic of the Presentation. Jesuit infirmary, Rome.
At the Temple, the Holy Family encounters the prophet Simeon, who utters the canticle above, which is still sung every day in the night office of prayer. It is appropriate that we are sent out from the season of Incarnation with  this canticle. We have seen the Salvation of God in our midst, who comes to call us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And now we are about to enter Lent, when our Lord approaches his cross, when darkness falls over the earth (St Mark 15:33). But before going to the cross, Christ promises his disciples, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (St John 14:27)


Having seen so great a salvation (Heb. 2:3), the Incarnation of God, we enter into the season of repentance and mourning, not without the awe proper to repentance, not without "fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12), but also with Christ's peace. The season of the Incarnation has been a season of joy, when we were invited into the warmth and light of the Holy Family, and it has come time to depart into the wilderness of our testing. But we are not sent out alone. We are sent out with the Comforter to teach and remind us (St John 14:26), and with the peace of Christ, our Redemption.

M.D. Wiseman

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