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Beloved brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus Christ is today presented/dedicated to God in the temple. This practice is based on the regulation of the law. The purification and presentation of the first child is a Mosaic law “every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the child” (Ex 13:2). This ceremony is based on the understanding that a child is a gift from God. Prophet Micah had foretold the presentation of Jesus Christ. He said in our first reading: “I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.”

“Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, which consisted of men, women, and those children old enough to understand. Standing at the end of the open place that was before the Water Gate, he read out the book from daybreak till midday, in the presence of the men, the women, and those children old enough to understand: and all the people listened attentively to the book of the law… Ezra read plainly from the book of the Law of God, interpreting it so all could understand what was read.”

St. Paul says in our second reading that, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but all are given by the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service but given by the same Lord, different kinds of work given by the same God.” The Spirit distributes all these variety of spiritual gifts for service and for the building up of the church, the body of Christ. In the gospel, we see Jesus and Mary using their gifts to serve a couple and to save them from humiliation. Prophet Isaiah in our first reading says, “Nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory.” The gospel concludes with the saying, “Jesus did this… and so revealed his glory and all his disciples began to believe in him.”

The prophecy of Isaiah is about John the Baptist. “A voice cries out in the desert prepare the way of the LORD Make straight …the highway for our God.” This John spoken about is given the privilege to baptize our LORD. According to the account of Luke, “…Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son and with you I am well pleased.’”