Friday, October 9, 2020 –
The Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation of Our Lord (Luke 2: 22-23)
Mary and Joseph take baby Jesus to Simeon in the temple
EVERY CHILD is an arrow shot out of the bow of its mother, but its target is God. Children have come through mothers, but they do not belong to them. Mary acknowledges this claim of divinity on her Child by presenting Him back again to God, as she offers the temple of His Body in the temple made by hands.
Mary here anticipated the joy of every mother who brings her child to the baptismal font, where God may claim His own. But in the case of Mary, the Child was claimed for sacrifice, as the aged Simeon said that He was a sign to be contradicted, for the cross is the contradiction.
Mary was even told that a sword her own soul would pierce. That would happen when her Son on the cross would have His heart pierced with a lance. Through His Body and her soul would go that one stroke of the sword.
She was the only mother who ever brought a life into the world to die.
It is not so much our presents that God wants from us, as it is our presence, as we offer our life to Him.
For each bead (1-10) in the decade, meditate (think) on the list below:
- Observing the law of Moses they take Jesus to the Temple to present Him to the Lord.
- According to the Law the firstborn male child of every family should be consecrated to the Lord.
- Mary offers her Son to the Father, then ransoms Him back at the price paid by the poor.
- Jesus is not subject to the law of Moses, yet to teach obedience, submits to it.
- Mary is not subject to the law of purification, yet in humility she submits to it.
- God had revealed to Simeon that he would not see death until he had seen the Messiah.
- Recognizing the Child, he prays: “Now you can dismiss your servant in peace. You have fulfilled your word.”
- “This Child is destined to be the downfall and rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed.”
- And to Mary Simeon reveals: “And your own soul a sword shall pierce.”
- After they fulfill all the Law requires they return to Nazareth.
Spiritual Fruit: Obedience
House of gold, pray for us!
NOTE: These meditations are a compilation of several different sources that I have found helpful over the years:
- Meditations on the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary by Fulton Sheen
- Praying the Rosary without Distractions from The Rosary Center and Confraternity
- Pray the Rosary Daily from Marian Press
- Quick Meditations on Every Mystery of the Rosary by Ascension Press
