Feb. 2 was the Feast of the Presentation, that is when we commemorate the event of the child Jesus being brought to the Temple forty days after his birth, according to Old Testament Biblical Law. As it says in Luke 2: “When the days were completed for their purification, according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.” Why do we celebrate this on Feb. 2? Because Feb. 2 is 40 days AFTER Christmas (Dec. 25th), when we celebrate the BIRTH of Jesus.
There is also a tradition on this feast day of blessing candles, hence why historically this feast is also referred to as Candlemas. The blessing of candles become attributed to this day, because when the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple, Simeon proclaimed recognized Jesus as the light of the world and proclaimed, “…my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles (peoples/nations).”
Some cultures also traditionally used this feast day as a way to predict the length of winter, that if “Candlemas is fair and bright, winter will have another flight,” (winter will still be long). But if “Candlemas brings cloud and rain, winter will go and not come again,” (winter will end soon and spring will come early). And of course, some of those cultures started to use an animal for these predictions, and thus, the American Groundhog’s Day was born, thanks to this Catholic Feast Day!
Finally, I want to share with you this poem by Saint John Henry Newman that he wrote about “Candlemas” as transitioning us from the final remnants of the Christmas Season and turns our hearts to prepare for Lent, Holy Week, and eventually Easter. We turn from the light of Christmas towards the light of Easter.
“The Angel-lights of Christmas morn,
Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.
Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,
Old Simeon’s tapers shine.
And then for eight long weeks and more,
We wait in twilight grey,
Till the high candle sheds a beam
On Holy Saturday.
We wait along the penance-tide
Of solemn fast and prayer;
While song is hush’d, and lights grow dim
In the sin-laden air.
And while the sword in Mary’s soul
Is driven home, we hide
In our own hearts, and count the wounds
Of passion and of pride.
And still, though Candlemas be spent
And Alleluias o’er,
Mary is music in our need,
And Jesus light in store.”
“Candlemas” – St. John Henry Newman (The Oratory, 1849)
Peace,
-Fr. Kevin
