Explanation of Candlemas, the Purification of Our Lady

[Elizabeth]

FEBRUARY 2nd - THE PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

PURPOSE OF THIS FEAST

     Benedict XIV believes that the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin has an apostolic origin. It is certain, at least, that it was already ancient in the fifth century. - For a long time, it was a feast of precept.
     The Greek Church and the Church of Milan rank the solemnity of February 2nd among the feasts of Our Lord. But the Roman Church has always counted it among the feasts of the Blessed Virgin. "Without a doubt," says D. Guéranger, "the Child Jesus is offered today in the temple and redeemed; but it is the occasion for the Purification of Mary, of which this offering and redemption are a consequence. "
     Our Lord, as St. Paul remarks, in becoming man, wanted to be born under the law; that is to say, without being obliged to do so, since He was the Supreme Lawgiver, He deigned to submit to all the observances that this law imposed on the Jews. He also subjected His Mother to it.
     Now, there were two precepts concerning mothers to whom God granted a newborn child.
     The first one was general and addressed to all. He commanded the women of Israel, after they had given birth, to stay forty days, if they had given birth to a son, and eighty, if it was a daughter, without coming near the tabernacle. When this time had expired, they were to offer a sacrifice to be purified. This sacrifice consisted of a lamb that was to be consumed as a burnt offering. A turtledove and a dove were added to it, to be offered, according to the ritual of the sacrifice, for sin. Mothers who were too poor to present a lamb could replace it with another turtledove and dove. The sin sacrifice was for the sin in which the child was born. The holocaust meant the consecration of the child to God. That is why the child was presented to the Lord at the same time.
     The second precept only concerned the first-born, both men and animals. All the firstborn of Israel were to be redeemed from the Lord, for He had reserved them for Himself as His own possession, when He had spared His people by striking the firstborn of Egypt, from man to beast of burden.
     If Mary had been an ordinary woman and Jesus a child like the others, They would have been under the obligation of the law. But, apart from the fact that the law is subject to the legislator, it was irrelevant here. For the Most Pure Virgin had not contracted any defilement through Her virginal birth, and the life of the incarnate Son of God did not need to be redeemed for money, since it was to be sacrificed for the redemption of all. But the Word made man wanted to be like His adopted brothers in everything except sin. He submitted Himself and His Mother under the humiliating yoke of the law.
     When the forty days marked by the law had passed, Mary came to the Temple, carrying her Son in Her arms and accompanied by St. Joseph.

FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECIES ABOUT THE NEW TEMPLE - SIMEON AND ANNE

     Jesus' entry into the Temple in Jerusalem fulfilled a prophecy of the prophet Haggai.
     When Zerubbabel returned from the captivity of Babylon and raised the Temple from its ruins, the old men, who had seen the Temple of Solomon in its glory, were saddened when they compared the new construction to it, and the Temple of Zerubbabel was in their eyes as if it were not, said the prophet. Haggai consoled them, saying:
     "Take courage, Zerubbabel; take courage, Jesus, Son of Josedec, Supreme Pontiff; take courage, people of this earth. For this is what the Lord, God of hosts, says: A little while longer; I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the continents; I will shake the peoples; and the desire of all nations will come; and I will fill this house with glory. The glory of this second house shall be greater than that of the first, and in that place, I will give peace, says the Lord God of hosts. »
     Malachi, the last of the prophets of Israel, confirmed the words of Haggai: "The Dominator you seek, and the Angel of the testament you desire, will come quickly into His temple. Here He comes, says the Lord of hosts. And who will be able to know the day of His coming, and who will be there to see Him when He comes?”
     The prophet means that Israel, as a nation, will not recognize and receive its desired Messiah. Many, however, will receive Him and be saved.
     These happy faithful, children of peace and salvation, are represented in the Temple by the old man Simeon and Anna the prophetess. "Who will be there to see him," Malachi asked. Behold, these two holy figures are awakening to answer the prophet's desire.
     There was in Jerusalem, says St. Luke, an old man named Simeon, a just and God-fearing man, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was with him. He had known by revelation that he would not see death until he had contemplated the Lord's Christ. He knew, moreover, by prophecy, that the time of His coming had come. "This is why, " says St. Vincent Ferrier, "he went to the temple every day and when he saw a mother entering the temple with a child in her arms, he would ask: Is it a son or a daughter?" And the Holy Ghost said nothing to him until the day when Mary came with Her Son.
     On that day, the Holy Ghost said to him, "Today you will meet the Messiah, your King, in the Temple, and you will be able to contemplate Him. "
     So, Simeon got up early in the morning, purified himself and put on his best clothes; he was fit to receive a king. Then he hurried to the Temple.
     When Mary entered with Joseph, the Holy Ghost said to him, "Simeon, this is the Mother of the One you are waiting for, and Her Son is the King and the Messiah promised in the law." Immediately the old man worshipped Him weeping with joy. He took the Child in his arms and sang this song:
     "Now, O Lord, Thou will let Thy servant go in peace, according to Thy word; for my eyes have seen the Savior Thou were preparing, the Light that is to enlighten the Gentiles, the Glory of Thy people Israel.”
     This inspired hymn is the cry of the Old Testament that fades before the New and prepares to disappear.
     But who can tell the displacements of Simeon, in whom lived all the desires of the patriarchs and prophets, when he held in his arms Him Who was the fulfillment of them? St. Francis de Sales meditating on this mystery, with his naive tenderness, cried out: "But, this Simeon, is he not blessed to embrace this Divine Child? Yes, but I cannot be grateful to him for the bad trick he wanted to do; for, being out of himself, he wanted to take Him with him into the other world:  Now, he says, let Thy servant go in peace. Alas! We still needed Him, the rest of us!"
     Mary and Joseph were in awe because of all that was said about Jesus. No doubt They knew perfectly well that Jesus was God's beloved Son and the promised Savior of the world, but They admired the wonderful way God had revealed some secrets that Their humility had revealed to no one.
     Simeon showered Them with blessings and then, seeing prophetically in this Child the victim who was to be immolated for sinners, he said to Mary, His Mother: "This Child is established for the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel, and to be a sign of contradiction. And Thy own soul shall be pierced with a sword of sorrow, that the thoughts of many, which were hidden in the depths of their hearts, may be revealed.”
     There was also in Jerusalem a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, and had lived only seven years with her husband, and she had remained a widow until the age of eighty-four, not leaving the Temple, serving God day and night in fasting and prayer. So, when she came at the same time as Simeon, she also began to praise the Lord, and since then she has spoken of Him to all those who were waiting for the redemption of Israel.

HOW MARY HUMILIATED HERSELF IN THE TEMPLE

     The Gospel, after speaking of the meeting of the old man Simeon and Anna the prophetess, only adds that Mary fulfills all that was prescribed by the law, that is, the ceremony of purification and redemption of Her Firstborn. We will borrow again from Saint Vincent Ferrier the pious considerations he makes on these two subjects.

     "There was a place in the Temple," he says, "and this custom is still observed among Jews today, a place reserved for noble and wealthy women, another for women of low status, and a third for virgins. Mary, on entering, examined to see which group She should join. She belonged to the highest nobility, since She was the daughter of David; but She was poor and simply clothed, for She had given, for the love of God, all the gold brought to Her by the kings of the East and wanted to live only by the work of Her hands. If She had gone to the side of the rich, those haughty women could have said to Her, "Go to the place that suits Thee. What! the Wife of a craftsman claims to take Her place among us!" She had the right to associate with virgins, being Herself the most excellent of virgins. But the virgins would have said to Her: "How can Thou come with us, Thou who have a husband and a Son?”
     "So, She went to be with the poor women of the people. And so, the prophecy of the book of Canticles was fulfilled: "My Beloved is among women like a lily among thorns." And this was the first example of humility that Mary gave on that day.
     "She gave a second no less astonishing one by complying with the prescriptions of the law. For the law commanded that the woman, forty days after giving birth, should come to the temple, and kneeling before the priest, she said, "This is my oblation; offer the sacrifice for me, that God may forgive me my sins." The priest offered the sacrifice and then blessed the woman, and she withdrew.
     "The Virgin Mary wanted to go through all these observances. She said to the priest: "Today is the fortieth day since I gave birth to this Son; He was circumcised on the eighth day and received the name of Jesus." And She gave him Her offering of two turtledoves and two doves, asking him to pray for Her. O height of humility! The Blessed Virgin said to the sinner: “Pray for Me.” And the priest did not know Her. But Isaiah knew Her better when he said, "Behold, the Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and His name will be Emmanuel," that is, God with us.

     Jesus did not cede Himself in humility to His Mother when He wanted to be presented to God. He certainly did not need it, for He had not left His Father to come to the earth, but He had come down as the ray that does not separate from the sun to come and lighten the earth. Yet He wanted to be presented to Him as a stranger.
     He was born so poor, that His Mother could not offer a lamb to the priest for Him. It was not fitting, moreover, that She should present this figurative lamb, when She carried in Her arms the true Lamb of God and came to offer to the Heavenly Father the Great Victim who was to be immolated for the salvation of all men. So, Mary was content to offer, like the poor, two turtledoves and two doves.

THE SON OF GOD IS REDEEMED ACCORDING TO THE LAW

     The law of redemption of the first-born had yet to be fulfilled.

     "The first-born child," said Saint Vincent Ferrier, "belonged to God and to the priest. But he was redeemed at the price of five shekels of silver. If his parents could not provide the five shekels, the child remained with the priest and was brought up to serve in the temple.
     "Mary gave Her Son into the hands of the priest, who offered Him to the Lord. Foolish! If he had known Him, he would have bowed down before Him. Seeing the poverty of the Mother, the priest prepared to keep Him. But Our Lady said to him, "Do not hold him back; here are five shekels which I have brought."
     "She had earned them by Her own labor, and perhaps She had cut back on Her food, so that She could redeem Her Child. So, She opened Her purse, which was not made of silk or woven of gold and took the money from it and gave it to the priest as the law prescribed."

 

THE BLESSING OF THE CANDLES

     And so, the mysteries of that day were fulfilled, and so the Light of the world, which was destined to enlighten all the nations of the earth, entered the Temple of the Lord and shone before Him.

In order to represent this heavenly light, the Church is accustomed to making a splendid blessing of candles on February 2nd. This ceremony was instituted by Pope St. Gelasius towards the end of the fifth century and gave the feast its popular name of Candlemas.
     The candles that are blessed before the Mass of the Purification, therefore, signify Our Lord Jesus Christ. According to Yves de Chartres, the wax that composes them, formed from the juice of the flowers by the bees, which antiquity has always considered a type of virginity, signifies the Virgin Flesh of the Divine Child, Who has not altered, in His conception, nor in His birth, the integrity of Mary. In the flame of the candle, we must see the symbol of Christ Who came to illuminate our darkness.
     Saint Anselm, developing the same mystery, tells us that there are three things to consider in the candle: the wax, the wick and the flame. The wax, the work of the virginal bee, is the Flesh of Christ; the wick, which is interior, is the soul; the flame, which shines in the upper part, is the Divinity.
     The candles blessed by the Church are carried by ministers and all the clergy in a procession that was instituted by Pope Sergius in the seventh century. This procession symbolizes the Holy Church setting out to meet the Emmanuel and is an imitation of the marvelous procession that is taking place at this very moment in the Temple of Jerusalem.
     "Today," says St. Bernard, "the Virgin Mother introduces the Lord of the Temple into the Temple of the Lord; Joseph presents to the Lord, not a son of his own, but the Beloved Son of the Lord, in Whom He has put His mercy. The Righteous Man recognizes the One he has been waiting for; the widow Anna exalts Him with her praises. These four people celebrated today's procession for the first time, which was to be solemnized in the joy of the whole world, in every place and by all nations. Let us not be surprised, therefore, that this procession was so small, for He Who was received in it had become small. No sinner appeared in it: all were righteous, holy and perfect."
     It is the same thought that the Church expresses in the antiphon She sings in the procession:
     "Decorate your bridal chamber, Zion, and receive Christ the King; welcome with love Mary, Who is the door to heaven; for She holds in Her arms the King of glory, Who is the new light."
The Candlemas procession thus appears to us as the march of the Christian people in the light of Christ, represented by the candles carried by the clergy, the chosen portion of the Church, just as Jesus Himself was carried in the arms of Mary, between those of the holy old man Simeon and of the Pontiff who offered Him to the Lord.
     Candlemas candles are not only meant to represent for one day the mystery of Christ. They are still a blessed object for the use of the faithful and one of the most precious to be preserved in a Christian family.
     In the past, the faithful themselves brought candles to the church on the Day of the Purification, so that they could be blessed with those that the priests and ministers carried in the procession. This custom still exists in many places, and it would be desirable that it be revived everywhere.
     Today's Christians, by leaving behind these ancient practices established by the Church, in Her maternal solicitude, have deprived themselves too much of a precious safeguard against the malice of the devil and of a powerful support of the supernatural spirit that many particular devotions, unknown to the Saints, will never replace.
The candles thus blessed at Candlemas, kept in the homes of Christians, are a pledge of Divine Protection and a symbol of the spiritual illumination of souls by the Holy Ghost. This is what is taught by the very formula of the blessing that the Church consecrates to them:
     "Lord Jesus Christ, true light that enlightens every man coming into this world, pour Thy blessing on these candles and sanctify them with the light of Thy grace, and as these torches, burning with a visible fire, drive out darkness, so deign to make our hearts, burning with an invisible fire, that is to say, from the splendor of the Holy Ghost, be delivered from the blindness of all vices, so that, the eye of our soul being purified, we may see the things that are pleasing to Thee and useful for our salvation, and merit, after the shadows and dangers of this age, to come to the light that never goes out."
     In another prayer, the Church asks God to bless and sanctify the candles "for the use of men and for the health of bodies and souls, whether on earth or on the waters. "
     It is in the spirit of the Church to light the candles of Candlemas whenever it is a question of repelling the spirits of darkness which, as St. Paul teaches us, are everywhere in the air and which constantly seek to harm us in our souls, in our bodies, in our possessions.

     They are lit, in particular, during a storm, to appease it; when thunder rumbles; to obtain the protection of heaven in a place where the presence of the devil is felt to drive him out; but especially near the bed of a dying man, to keep away from him the enemy of men who then makes his supreme effort, and often a terrible effort, to snatch from God the soul that struggles in agony. It is then, in fact, that we must call to our aid with greater insistence the Redeemer, Whose sight illuminated with joy the last days of Simeon, and the Virgin Helper, so that They may give us, before our departure, the kiss of eternal peace. May our souls thus reach the blessed light of heaven.

La Vie des Saints (Lives of the Saints)
E. Petithenry, Imp.-gérant, 8, rue François Ier, Paris.

  Explanation of Candlemas.pdf (Size: 159.05 KB / Downloads: 2)