ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Consecrated Sisters and Brothers,
Today the last of the feasts celebrating the infancy of Jesus is presented to us by the Church so that we may reflect on it and share in the power of its mystery. We have already celebrated the birth of Jesus. His circumcision and naming on the eighth day, the visit of the Magi from the East, and now His presentation in the Temple.

It is often in the simple moments of life that we are able to learn the most, and this Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple offers Scriptural passages which can teach us so much about Jesus, about His Mother and His foster Father, and about the consecrated life, which we celebrate today on this Twelfth World Day for Consecrated Life, in union with the Church throughout the world and with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

Today, Jesus is presented to us as the one who fulfills all the prophecies of the Old Testament, particularly Malachi’s message that "suddenly there will come to the Temple the Lord whom you seek," and that He will be the "messenger of the covenant," teaching us that our covenant with God is based on an all-consuming love. The Psalmist speaks of the Lord as the "Lord of Hosts and King of Glory," who nevertheless is gentle and caring for His flock.

The Letter to the Hebrews portrays Jesus as being able to feel what we feel. It shows that He was tested through His suffering and therefore is able to help those who are tempted as well. And in the Gospel, two wise and holy elderly faithful people hail Him as a revealing light to the nations, the glory of His own people, the rise and downfall of many, and as a sign that will be opposed.

Jesus’ parents are also presented to us in these readings. They are portrayed as one with the poor, for they, too, knew the pain of poverty. When they came to the Temple to offer their thanks to God for Mary’s newborn Son, they could not even afford the prescribed sacrifice of a lamb, but instead offered two tiny pigeons, the gift of those who had nothing of this world’s goods. And they are portrayed as "law-abiding" by their fulfillment of two prescriptions of the Law of Moses: Mary’s purification after childbirth and the presentation of her firstborn Son, both of which were to take place forty days after the child’s birth.

Now, what does this Feast and what do these readings teach us regarding the consecrated life. From Malachi we learn that Jesus is like the refiner’s fire, that He is daily refining us and purifying us if we allow ourselves to be perfected by Him and to be enveloped by His love. All of you who are consecrated by the Church through your profession of the evangelical counsels are called to a life which is truly the "perfection of charity," and which our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, described as originating from "a response without reservation to the initiative of God’s Love" (11th World Day for Consecrated life, February 2, 2007).

The Letter to the Hebrews teaches us that Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted, that He knows what it is like to suffer and that He can help us in times of temptation and suffering if we are open to His help. By choosing to live in chastity, poverty and obedience, despite the temptations of our society and culture, you demonstrate that every attachment to the things of this world is incapable of satisfying the deepest longings of the human heart.

And the Gospel makes it clear to us that, just as the elderly Simeon and Anna waited for the "consolation of Israel" and the "redemption of Jerusalem,"all the people of our time, the old and the young, yearn to satisfy their need to meet God and to find the fulfillment of love in the Kingdom of God. This yearning is the very embodiment of the consecrated life. As the Servant of God Pope John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata: "The experience of this gracious love of God is so deep and so powerful that the person called senses the need to respond by unconditionally dedicating his or her life to God, consecrating to him all things present and future, and placing them in his hands" (no. 17).

The Rite of the Blessing of Candles at the beginning of today’s liturgy reminds us that Jesus is the "light of revelation to all nations." But it also calls to mind Jesus’ challenge to us in the Sermon on the Mount, that we too are meant to be the light of the world. All of us can be a light to others only if we are faithful to God’s covenant, to His Law, which is love. If we strive toward this daily faithfulness to all that is loving, people will recognize the light of Christ shining in us.

Dear consecrated members of the Church: your twofold role of being light in the Lord and of communicating this light is a beautiful expression of your consecration and your mission. The Church, who consecrates you and sends you forth as special witnesses of a loving and praying Christ, loves you deeply, counts on your fidelity and wants you to know how much you are part of her life and her mission. And the Christ who called you personally to intimate friendship with Himself reassures you once again that He is today, and always will be, your deepest fulfillment, satisfaction and joy. And His Virgin Mother Mary and Saint Joseph will help lead you ever deeper into the mystery of God’s Son. Amen.