Consecrated to the Father, Hated by the world

At the Main Altar of Holy Family Church

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

The reason for the ritual of the presentation of the child Jesus to God is a law that requires every firstborn son to be consecrated to the Lord. This goes back to the night of the exodus when God sent the angel of death to take the life of every first-born male throughout the land of Egypt with the exemption of those who were behind the doors marked by the blood of the slaughtered lamb. Every first-born  son belongs to the Lord and he had to be redeemed from the Lord at the price of an animal sacrifice…in the case of Mary and Joseph, a pair of turtle doves which were the offering of the poor.

Obedient to the law, Mary and Joseph brought the 40-day old Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord. Even without the ritual, the Lord Jesus already belongs to God. After all, God is his Father. Remember our meditation on Christmas night? We said that Jesus was born in one of the caves outside Bethlehem because there was no room in the inn. This also signified that Jesus did not belong to the world. He belongs to the Father. He is consecrated to the Father. He who is Mary’s first-born Son is the Only Begotten Son of the Father. “And we have seen his glory: the glory of the only begotten Son coming from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And because he is consecrated to the Father, he will be a sign that will be contradicted by many. He came to his own and his own did not accept him. Contradicted will he be because he does not belong to the world. His teachings will directly contradict the teachings of the world. The values of the Kingdom are directly contradictory to everything that the world holds dear: wealth, power, influence, pleasure… His consecration to the Father was the reason for his life of obedience. He obediently accepted death, death on a Cross.

Abraham was promised a son even in his old age. When the promise was fulfilled, Abraham was put to the test. He was asked to offer his son in a sacrifice…something which, though difficult, Abraham was willing to do: “he who had received the promise was ready to offer his son.” Of course we know that before the sacrifice was consummated, an angel of the Lord kept Abraham from harming his boy. Isaac, Abraham’s son, became an image of Jesus, the only Begotten Son of the Father. Like Abraham, the Father was willing to offer his Son in the sacrifice on the Cross. But in his case, there was no angel who came to abort the sacrifice. The sacrifice was consummated. Christ obediently accepted death on the Cross. In the temple, Mary brought in the Lamb of sacrifice, Jesus her Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Simeon foresaw that Jesus would have to suffer deeply from those who rejected him and as a consequence, Mary would herself suffer with him in her heart: “A sword will pierce your heart.” Mary, being the first of the disciples, would be the very first to experience the hatred of the world on account of her association with Jesus: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me first. Like Mary, the disciple would have to suffer because he belongs to Jesus, and belonging to Jesus, he belongs not to the world but to the Father. Therefore, “Let us approach God who is thrice Holy to offer our life and our mission, both personally and as a community of men and women consecrated to the Kingdom of God. Let us make this inner gesture in profound spiritual communion with the Virgin Mary. As we contemplate her in the act of presenting the Child Jesus in the Temple, let us venerate her as the first and perfect consecrated one, carried by the God whom she carries in her arms; Virgin, poor and obedient, totally dedicated to us because she belongs totally to God. At her school and with her motherly help let us renew our ‘here I am’ and our ‘fiat’." (Benedict XVI, Homily on the Presentation of the Lord, 2010.)

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Consecrated to the Lord

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

John the Baptist, who is to be born of Zechariah, a priest from the division of Abijah, and to Elizabeth his wife who is from the tribe of Aaron, is himself born into a priestly clan. Thus, like Samson of the Old Testament, “this boy is to be consecrated to the Lord from the womb.” To be sanctified by the Holy Spirit in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, John will perpetually live “in the tent of meeting”, that is, he is a priest not only at certain moments, but with his whole existence. Consecrated to the Lord, John the Baptist belongs to the Lord and only to him.

This year is the Year of Consecrated Life for the whole Church. This is a year of thanksgiving for the countless men and women who have decided to follow Christ more closely by living out the evangelical counsels of Poverty, chastity, and obedience. Like John the Baptist, religious men and women are consecrated to the Lord. When we talk about consecrated people, we often have the impression that we are dealing with very serious, long faced people.  And yet, Pope Francis tries to change this false impression by emphasizing that the beauty of consecrated life is joy. “There is no holiness in sadness.” He reiterates that consecrated people must always be seen as happy people. Their lives must radiate the joy and beauty of living the Gospel and following Christ to the full. “We are called to know and show that God is able to fill our hearts to the brim with happiness; that we need not seek our happiness elsewhere; that the authentic fraternity found in our communities increases our joy; and that our total self-giving in service to the Church, to families and young people, to the elderly and the poor, brings us life-long personal fulfilment.” (Apostolic Letter to all Consecrated Persons on the occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life, II, 1)

John the Baptist was a prophet. Like him, consecrated persons are also called to be prophets “since the distinctive sign of consecrated life is prophecy.” (Letter, III, 2.) “’Radical evangelical living is not only for religious: it is demanded of everyone. But religious follow the Lord in a special way, in a prophetic way.’ This is the priority that is needed right now: ‘to be prophets who witness to how Jesus lived on this earth… a religious must never abandon prophecy’ (29 November 2013).” Thus, the Pope calls on the religious to “wake up the world.”

Who are the prophets? “Prophets (are people who) receive from God the ability to scrutinize the times in which they live and to interpret events: they are like sentinels who keep watch in the night and sense the coming of the dawn (cf. Is 21:11-12). Prophets know God and they know the men and women who are their brothers and sisters. They are able to discern and denounce the evil of sin and injustice. Because they are free, they are beholden to no one but God, and they have no interest other than God. Prophets tend to be on the side of the poor and the powerless, for they know that God himself is on their side.” (Ibid.)

To be prophets of joy: this is our task. Our joy is to bring God’s consolation to a world where there is a lack of joy: “We are not called to accomplish epic feats or to proclaim high-sounding words, but to give witness to the joy that arises from the certainty of knowing we are loved, from the confidence that we are saved.” Bearers of the consolations of God, we speak of his Divine Tenderness. “Every Christian, and especially you and I, we are called to be bearers of this message of hope giving serenity and joy, God’s consolation, his tenderness towards all. But if we first experience the joy of being consoled by him, of being loved by him, then we can bring that joy to others.”

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Consecration to the Blessed Virgin

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the Purification of Our Lady is an opportune time for priests and religious to renew their self donation to the Lord through our Lady. In the blog of Fr. Mark Kirby, I found this prayer of St. Ildefonsus of Toledo (+667) which is a beautiful consecration to the most holy Virgin:

Prayer of Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo, bishop

The Abundance of the Sweetness of Thy Son

I come to thee, only Virgin Mother of God.

and fall prostrate before thee,

who alone didst cooperate in the Incarnation of God.

I humble myself before thee, who alone wert found to be the handmaid of thy Son:

obtain that my sins be wiped away;

command that I be cleansed of the wickedness of my deeds,

and, that I may love the glory of thy virtue,

reveal to me the abundance of the sweetness of thy Son.

Thou art His Co-worker in my redemption

bestow upon me the gift of proclaiming the true faith of thy Son,

and of defending it.

Grant that I may cleave to God and to thee,

that I may serve thy Son and thee,

that I may be His bondsman and thine;

His, because He is my Creator.

and thine, because thou art the Mother of my Creator;

His, because He is the Lord of the angelic powers,

and thine, because thou art the handmaid of the Lord of all;

His, because He is God,

and thine, because thou art the Mother of God;

His, because He is my Redeemer,

and thine, because thou art His co-worker in my redemption.

The Body by which He healed my wounds

that which He wrought for my redemption,

verily He formed in thine own person.

that He might be my Redeemer,

He became thy Son.

That He might be the price of my ransom,

He became Incarnate of thy flesh.

The Body by which He healed my wounds,

He took from thee so that He, in it, might be wounded.

The mortal Body by which He took away my death,

He took from thy mortality.

The Body b y which He brought my sins to nought,

He received sinless from thee.

This nature of mine that ahead of time, in Himself,

He placed above the angels in the glory of His Father's right hand,

He assumed - humbling Himself - out of thine own true body.

I am thy slave

Therefore, I am thy slave,

because Thy Son is my Master,

Therefore thou art my Lady,

because thou art the handmaid of my Lord.

Therefore, I am the slave of the handmaid of my Lord,

because thou, my Lady, didst become the Mother of my Lord.

Therefore I have become thy slave,

because thou didst become the Mother of my Maker.

By the Holy Spirit

I pray thee, I pray thee, holy Virgin,

may I, by the Spirit through Whom thou didst give birth to Jesus,

have Jesus, and hold Him.

By that Spirit through Whom

thou didst conceive this same Jesus in thy flesh,

may my soul receive Jesus.

Let the Spirit gift me with the knowledge of Jesus,

this Spirit by Whom it was given thee to bear Jesus and to give Him birth.

Let the Spirit in Whom thou didst declare thyself the handmaid of the Lord,

choosing that it should be done unto thee according to the Angel's word,

grant me to proclaim the heights of Jesus with lowliness.

To Love Jesus and fear Him

In the Spirit thou didst adore Jesus as thy Lord

and gaze upon Him as thy Son;

in that same Spirit may I love Him.

And may I fear this same Jesus,

with that reverence by which He, truly being God,

became subject to His parents.

link

On the total dedication of the Consecrated Life

With the dancing nuns still fresh in our memory, it is good to consider the Holy Father's homily las February 2, 2011, the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord:

"...the evangelical icon of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple manifests the wisdom of Simeon and Anna, the wisdom of a life dedicated totally to the search of the face of God, of his signs, of his will; a life dedicated to listening and to proclaiming his Word.

"'Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram': thy face, O Lord, do I seek" (Psalm 26:8). Hence, the consecrated person witnesses the joyful and laborious commitment, the assiduous and wise search of the divine will" (cf. Congress for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, Instruction The Service of Authority and Obedience. Faciem tuam Domine requiram [2008], No. 1).

Dear brothers and sisters, be assiduous listeners of the Word, because every wisdom of life is born of the Word of the Lord! Be scrutinizers of the Word, through Lectio Divina, because consecrated life "is born from listening to the Word of God and accepting the Gospel as its norm of life. To live following the chaste, poor and obedient Christ is in this way a living "exegesis" of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, in the strength of which the Bible was written, is the same who illumines the Word of God to men and women founders with new light. From it flows every charism and every rule is an expression of it, giving origin to itineraries of Christian life marked by evangelical radicalism" (postsynodal apostolic exhortation "Verbum Domini," No. 83).

Today we live above all in the most developed societies, a condition often marked by a radical pluralism, by the progressive marginalization of religion from the public sphere, by a relativism that touches fundamental values. This calls for our Christian witness to be luminous and consistent and for our educational effort to be ever more attentive and generous. In particular your apostolic action, dear brothers and sisters, must become a life commitment, which accedes with persevering passion, to wisdom as truth and beauty "splendor of the truth." Be able to orient your life with wisdom, and with trust in the inexhaustible possibilities of true education, and the intelligence and the heart of men and women of our time to the "good life of the Gospel."



Follow the link: ZENIT - Pope's Homily on Day for Consecrated Life