My Morning Offering

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen.

Quote of the Day:

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”–ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA

Today’s Meditation:

“We do find, it is true, great battles to fight, and great hardships to master; but that good Mother makes herself so present and so near to her faithful servants, to enlighten them in their darknesses and their doubts, to strengthen them in their fears, and to sustain them in their struggles and their difficulties, that in truth this virginal path to find Jesus Christ is a path of roses and honey compared with other paths.”—St. Louis de Montfort, p.

82

We all need community.  Grandpa’s 84 year old cousin came to give Andrew some lessons.

“Today we celebrate the official close of the Christmas cycle, marked by the presentation of Our Lord in the temple.

This feast reveals the profound humility of the Blessed Mother in obeying the Mosaic Law.

The Law stated that every woman who gave birth to a son could not approach the temple for forty days. After that term, she had to go to the temple and offer a sacrifice in order to be ritually purified. The child himself, if he was the first-born son, was considered the property of the Lord and had to be “ransomed”; that is, an offering was given to the temple on his behalf.

The Law of purification and presentation, however, concerned those shackled with sin. The Child Jesus and His Mother were both immaculate. These rituals were, moreover, meant to be performed by creatures in obedience to their Creator—but Jesus is the Creator!

Why did Jesus and His Mother obey these commands, which did not concern them?

The reason, though simple, is astounding:

[T]he holy Mother of God must go to the Temple like other Hebrew mothers, as though she had lost something which needed restoring by a legal sacrifice. He, that is the Son of God and Son of Man, must be treated in all things as though he were a Servant, and be ransomed in common with the poorest Jewish boy. Mary adores the will of God, and embraces it with her whole heart.

—The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger

The Incarnate Deity—the eternal, all-powerful Word—wished to live as a humble slave, a slave “obedient even unto death” (Phil. 2:8). By presenting herself and her Child in the temple for purification, the Blessed Mother demonstrated a most profound humility and perfect obedience to God’s will.

This Fourth Joyful Mystery offers much to emulate and meditate upon.” (Source: The Catholic Company)