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104.1
First Point
The Blessed Virgin went to the temple to be purified at the time
prescribed by the Law.[i]
She submitted to this Law and did not wish to claim any exemption even
though she was not obliged by it, because she was the mother of God’s
Son whom she had conceived and brought into the world without losing her
virginity.
Admire Mary’s humility in this mystery, for she appears here as
an ordinary woman although she was far superior to all others by reason of
her two roles as virgin and mother. Learn from her not to want to be
distinguished from others, not to ask for or to seek any exemptions in the
practices of your rules.
The more faithful and exact you are to observe these rules, the
more God will fill you with his grace and the more joy he will give you in
your state.
104.2 Second Point
While
going through the ceremony of purification, the Most Blessed Virgin,
in order to obey the Law to its fullest extent, offered her Son to God
because he was her first born.[ii]
The eternal Father, who willed that this dear Son be one day
immolated
on the cross to expiate our sins, returned him for the time being to the
authority of his holy mother after she had bought him back by the
offering prescribed by the Law.[iii]
This offering which the Son of God made of himself to his Father
was at that moment only an interior one, although on the part of the Most
Blessed Virgin it was made exteriorly. Jesus was waiting to make the
exterior offering of himself on the tree of the cross before the eyes of
all the world.
You offered yourselves to God when you left the world. Did you hold
back anything of yourselves at that time? Did you give yourselves entirely
to him? Have you taken back nothing of the offering you made to God at
that time? You should not be content to have made this offering of
yourselves to God once; you should renew this offering every day and
consecrate all your actions to him by not performing any of them except
for him.
104.3 Third Point
In
appreciation for the offering that was made of Jesus Christ and which he
made of himself in this mystery, and for the humility shown by the Most
Blessed Virgin, God inspired the holy old man, Simeon, to proclaim
publicly the greatness of Jesus, declaring that Jesus had come to be
the Light which would enlighten
the Gentiles and be the glory of the people of Israel.[iv]
He then invoked all blessings on his holy Mother.
Ah! how good it is to give oneself to God! Even in this life he
rewards and fills with very tangible consolations the soul that
consecrates itself to him. He causes others to esteem and honor those who
are happy in humiliations. The more you give to God, the more he will
bless you; the more you are despised by others, the greater you will be
before God.
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Today
this feast is referred to as the feast of the Presentation of the Lord,
which was the original focus of the celebration.
As such, De La Salle's meditation corresponds well in the second
and third points. The day has
also been called Candlemas Day from the time of the tenth century, because
this was the day when candles were blessed and carried in procession,
possibly a devotional practice based on Simeon's words in the Gospel that
Jesus is the light who reveals God to all nations.
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