The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (2:22-40)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  It is the day when the Mother of God and Joseph the betrothed brought Our Lord Jesus Christ into the temple in order to fulfill the days of purification and to dedicate the child to God.  Today we follow this model for each woman who gives birth and returns to the church after 40 days.  This is called the churching and it contains prayers of purification for the woman to restore her back into communion since she has been away from the church and from the liturgy for an extended period of time.

This liturgical act reminds us that it is not normal to be away from the Sunday gathering, the liturgical worship, for an extended period of time. In fact, in the early church the canon law says that when a Christian missed three Sundays in a row without serious sickness or injury, that person was to be excommunicated from the Church. Likewise, if a bishop, priest or deacon was missing from the assembly for three Sundays in a row without being very ill, that clergyman was to be defrocked and restored to the ranks of the laity. All of this demonstrates how serious it is to commit your life to becoming an Orthodox Christian who has received the fullness of the faith and who comes to receive the holy body and precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is for a Christian who understands reality, a matter of spiritual life or death.

In the west, this feast of the presentation or meeting of the Lord is also called Candlemas.  This name is given because of the blessing of candles that takes place on that day in the western tradition. In fact, this practice was at times also done in the eastern tradition as you will see in a moment.  Finally, this great feast also closes the celebration of the season of the Nativity.  And as we mentioned last week, we begin to draw ever closer to the season of Pre-Lent and Lent. I wanted to conclude with a brief but lovely sermon on this feast from St. Sophronios, bishop of Jerusalem, who lived between 560-638 ad.

Sermon on the Presentation of the Lord by St. Sophronios of Jerusalem

“Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendor of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ. The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him.

The light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows; the Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God. The true light has come, the light that enlightens every man who is born into this world. Let all of us, my brethren, be enlightened and made radiant by this light. Let all of us share in its splendor, and be so filled with it that no one remains in the darkness. Let us be shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the aged Simeon the light whose brilliance is eternal.

Rejoicing with Simeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Father of the light, who sent the true light to dispel the darkness and to give us all a share in his splendor. Through Simeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves. As Simeon was released from the bonds of this life when he had seen Christ, so we too were at once freed from our old state of sinfulness.

By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have seen him present among us and have mentally received him into our arms, we are called the new Israel. Never shall we forget this presence; every year we keep this feast in his honor.” Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons