607. November 21, Presentation of Our Lady

Meditations no. 534 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Virgin Mary was totally dedicated to God’s service.

Today we commemorate the presentation of Mary in the temple. Several ancient Christian writers say that our Lady’s parents, Joachim and Ann, took her to the temple in Jerusalem when she was about three years old to present her to God. There she remained dedicated to the Lord’s service until she was twelve. Nevertheless, our faith does not need these pious stories to venerate Mary. As in the case of Jesus, after our Lady was presented in the temple she would have remained at home with her parents, leading a perfectly normal life. She who was full of grace was subject to Joachim and Ann, as her heart filled with desires to serve God and all men out of love for God.

This is the meaning of today’s feast. The liturgy invites us to discover Mary’s unique destiny. For, more than any other creature in heaven or on earth, she was called to live in intimate union with God. God’s mother was eternally predestined to have the closest place next to the Holy Trinity. In the words of the Old Testament that the liturgy places on her lips, the Blessed Virgin can say, From eternity, in the beginning, he created me… In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion. In the beloved city likewise he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my dominion. I so took root in an honoured people, in the portion of the Lord, who is their inheritance.

The temple in Jerusalem was a figure of Christ and a sign of God’s presence in the midst of his people. Jesus said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body.

Mary’s whole life was directed to the Sacred Humanity of Christ, the instrument of his divinity. She was conceived without original stain because she was to be the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Her holy body is superior to any building. The liturgy calls her templum Domini, the temple of the Lord, because in her the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an eloquent expression of her absolute dependence on God and of her complete dedication, in body and soul, to the mystery of salvation, the mystery of a Creator who seeks out his creatures.

Our vocation leads us to serve God without seeking human glory.

We too have placed our whole life at God’s service, including our family, professional and social duties. The only ambition, the only desire of Opus Dei and of each of her children is to serve the Church as she wants to be served, within the specific vocation given us by God. Nos sumus servi Dei coeli et terrae (1 Esdr 5: 11). We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. Our whole life, my daughters and sons, is a service aimed exclusively at supernatural goals.

God has given us a vocation which is completely directed to the salvation of souls. He wants us to be saints and to work for the sanctity of others without leaving our place, in our own state in life, carrying out a professional activity that is both a human service and an instrument of apostolate. In our personal and entirely free dedication to God, we wish to serve. We feel honoured in serving. And we are convinced that we could not imitate Christ, which is our sole desire, if we were to lose our desire of serving. My sons, that is why our Lord came to earth: Filius hominis non venit ministrari, sed ministrare (Mt 20: 28). The Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve. No one wishing to follow him can adopt any other course of conduct.

In the Work our eagerness to serve moves us to give ourselves and to make ourselves and our talents completely available. In order to be useful, serve, our Father tells us. The place in which the directors have placed us is the place where we can be most effective: that is God’s will.

That is where his grace will give us maximum effectiveness, not anywhere else, no matter how well suited some other place might seem for our dispositions, our abilities, or perhaps our fancies.

For our service to be effective, we need the grace of God. And to obtain it we must be humble, since God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God’s grace is the only thing that can make our human talents effective in the divine work of the redemption. Your brother may be a street-sweeper and be very holy in the sight of God and have an extraordinary effectiveness. Another may be a professor, a minister or even the president. If he is as much of a saint as the street-cleaner, he will have the same worth, neither more nor less. If he is less so, then his worth will be less. In God’s service there are no unimportant tasks. All of them are very important.

Our dedication to God’s service is always joyful.

In today’s Gospel we see a clear statement of Mary’s dedication to God’s service and her faithfulness in carrying out God’s will. A woman spontaneously shouts words of praise for Christ from the depths of her heart, showing that love for Jesus always leads to honouring his mother. “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked.” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Mary is worthy of praise because of her free and personal love for God. Our Lady listened attentively to God’s word and gave herself completely to carrying it out, calling herself the handmaid of the Lord. This is the source of her joy. When we are faithful, we too will be rewarded with the happiness of knowing that we are children of God, the gaudium cum pace granted to those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Our Lady’s life teaches us to serve God humbly and quietly, without looking for recognition or applause. What humility, that of my holy mother Mary! She’s not to be seen amidst the palms of Jerusalem, nor-except that first one at Cana-at the hour of the great miracles.

But she doesn’t flee from the degradation of Golgotha: juxta crucem Iesu, by the cross of Jesus, stands his Mother. We ask her to help us love sacrifice that is hidden and silent, when so many souls today refuse to serve God and their fellow men. Mary will teach us to serve quietly, joyfully and unselfishly, wherever we may be.

Our Father tells us, With the spirit that you have received, be prepared to go joyfully wherever the service of God’s holy Church requires. And wherever you may be, the natural manner of your life as Christian men and women will make you be very effective instruments for supernaturalising all earthly activities, even in places where the Church is persecuted or the name of Jesus is unknown. United to the apostolate of the entire Mystical Body, you will restore all things in Jesus Christ (cf 1 Cor 15: 27-28; Eph 1: 10). Remember, I am not working for any payment in this world. But God is so good that he pays me by your faithfulness.

As our Father assures us, the certainty that our mission is supernatural will make us very happy to sacrifice ourselves to help the Work of God become a reality on earth. And the joy that our service brings us already in this world will become everlasting happiness in heaven.

In today’s liturgy we pray, O God, you were pleased that on this day blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, should be presented in the temple. Grant that through her prayers we may be found worthy to be presented in the temple where you dwell in glory.