Pope St. John Paul II designated Candlemas, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2 February as a special World Day for the Consecrated Life. This year 2 February fell on a Sunday, making a special gathering on that day less convenient. So our Bishop Hugh decided to gather the Religious of his Diocese together, here at Pluscarden, on the Monday following.
Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
40 days after Christmas, the Lord comes to his Temple. In this way he fulfils the prophecy of Malachi, which we had in our first reading today. All lovers of Handle’s Messiah will instantly recognise these words: The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple... Who shall stand on the Day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire… And he shall purify the sons of Levi...
Jerusalem: probably around 80 years after the decree of Cyrus, allowing the Jewish exiles to return home from Babylon. A Second Temple, much inferior to the First, is more or less up and running. But the Jewish people remain dominated by enemies all about. If some of them inhabit the holy City, they do not possess it.
The word “phenomenon” came into English from the Greek, and technically means a thing or fact perceived, the immediate object of actual perception. Today we are celebrating the Epiphany of the Lord. The word “epiphany” is related to the word “phenomenon” and denotes a manifestation of a supernatural being.
God created the world ex nihilo, out of nothing, meaning that there had been nothing there before, of course, but also that the stuff that the world is made out of is simply nothingness.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, in him was life” – outside of him nothing at all.
Lux fulgebit hodie super nos – Today a light will shine upon us, for the Lord is born for us. This is the text for the Entrance Antiphon of today’s Mass. The ancient Gregorian Chant setting for this is in the noble Eighth mode. The Antiphon is a slightly adapted version of verses from Isaiah Chapter 9. The Oracle of Isaiah Chapter 9 is one of the strongest, most explicit, most exalted of all the Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament.
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