Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (November 21)

(From the writings of Saint John Eudes)  

All Doctors of the Catholic Church hold that the most Holy Virgin was only three years old when she left the house of her father and mother to be presented to God in the Temple of Jerusalem.
This departure from the home of her parents is closely related to three very remarkable departures mentioned in Holy Scripture, the consideration of which will serve to make us see how rare and excellent was this departure of Mary. The first is that miserable and unhappy going out of Adam from the terrestrial paradise. The second is the departure of the holy and blessed Abraham from his own country and from the midst of his relatives. The third is the divine and admirable going out of the Son of God from the adorable bosom of His Father: “Exivi a Patre, et veni in mundum. – I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.” (John 16:28).
Let us note the relation between these three departures and that of our amiable Infant from the house of her father and mother. We shall herein see how glorious this departure was before the eyes of God and of man.

Adam dwelt in a terrestrial paradise, in a place of grace and sanctification; the home of the little Mary was an earthly paradise, an abode of virtue and benediction. Adam dwelt in a place of delights; Mary dwelt where she was the supreme consolation of her saintly father and mother, who cherished her above the apple of their eye and received from their holy Child nothing but marvelous contentment.

But Adam forfeited his grace and sanctity in the terrestrial paradise through the malignant suggestion of the infernal serpent and his own infidelity; and Mary preserved and augmented hers in her parents’ home by the good example they set before her, by their great care of her education, and by her fidelity in following out God’s designs upon herself. Adam was expelled from the terrestrial paradise by an irrevocable decree of God’s justice; Mary left the home of Saint Joachim and Saint Ann by order of the infinite bounty of God. The going out of Adam from paradise was unfortunate and deplorable for himself and his posterity; but Mary’s leaving the paternal roof was happy and advantageous for herself and the whole human race besides, since she thus disposed herself to give us a Redeemer, by an entire disengagement from self and from all things and a perfect submission to the Divine Will.

Let us come to the patriarch Abraham. I behold him leaving his country, his parents and the house of his father, in pursuance of the express command God gave him and the great recompense promised him; it is not necessary to command our Blessed Mary, nor to offer her a recompense, to induce her to forsake home, parents and friends. It is enough that she knows this will prove agreeable to the Divine Majesty, for she wishes no reward save that of pleasing Him.
It is not to be wondered at that Abraham, who knew God and loved Him, and consequently, could feel only aversion and hatred towards those who dishonored God, should abandon an idolatrous country and even his parents, idolaters and enemies of the true God. But it is a thing to marvel at to see this daughter forsaking a home wherein God was honored and glorified, and parents who were not only saints, but the greatest saints upon earth.

Abraham left his home and parents at the age of seventy-five years; Mary quitted parents who loved her most ardently and whom she loved with intense affection, at the tenderest age of three, when their presence and assistance were a real necessity to her.
It is true, Abraham left the house of his father; but he took with him all that was most dear to him, his wife Sara, and his nephew Lot, together with all his goods: “Tulit universam substantiam quam possederunt.” (Genesis 12:5). Mary, our incomparable Child, carried nothing from her parents’ home. They accompanied her as far as the Temple, but after that she remained there entirely deprived of the sweetness of their holy conversation and separated from all.
However, the going forth of Abraham and the going forth of Mary, daughter of Abraham, from their country, had this in common: as that of Abraham merited for him to become the father of innumerable children, father of all believers, and even of the Messias, the going forth of the daughter of Abraham from the house of her parents was to dispose her to become Mother of all the children of God, even Mother of God Himself; so true is it, that God renders not only a hundredfold but a thousand times a hundredfold to those who leave all for love of Him.
There is a third going forth, infinitely more to be considered than the two preceding. It is that of the Son of God leaving the adorable bosom of the Father to come into this world: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world;” (John 16:28) with which the going forth of Our Lady has more in common than with those already mentioned, for it is fitting that there should be a perfect resemblance between the Son and the Mother.

It was the infinite love of the Son of God for His Father and for men which drew Him forth from the bosom of the Father to come into this world, in order to cause men to know and love His Father and that He might effect their salvation. This love was so tender and so ardent that this amiable Savior, speaking one day to Saint Mechtilde, said that while He was upon earth, the remembrance of the immense love which had brought Him thither in quest of sinners, drew tears from His eyes every time He reflected upon it, but they were tears of love and tenderness towards us. In like manner, the love with which the Immaculate Heart of Mary was inflamed for God, led her to forsake her father and mother, and to go to dwell in the Temple of Jerusalem, knowing this to be a thing agreeable to the Heavenly Father, Who inspired her with this sentiment in order to dispose her to be the companion and co-operatrix/Co-Redemptrix of His Son in the great work of the salvation of sinners.
As the Word Eternal quitted the adorable bosom of the Father, a Temple more holy than the Holy of Holies, where He rendered infinite praise and eternal glory to His Father, to enter the bosom and virginal Heart of His Mother, a sanctuary wherein He rendered adoration and immense honor to the Holy Trinity; so our most holy Infant left her home, a true temple where she praised, adored and glorified God most holily with Saint Joachim and Saint Ann and millions of Angels who accompanied her everywhere, to go to dwell in the holy Temple of Jerusalem, to continue her adorations with the holy virgins who dwelt there.

The Son of God left the bosom of the Heavenly Father, an abode of glory and incomprehensible felicity, and came upon earth, where He found nothing but pain and frightful torments, which, nevertheless, He embraced with a good Heart for the salvation of man. Our little Mary left her parents’ home, for her a place of joy and delights, to go to Jerusalem, where she would have to suffer all manners of sorrow, which she did most willingly, thereby to co-operate with her Son in the Redemption of the world.

Although the Eternal Father gave His Son with Immense bounty and abandoned Him to torments and the death of the Cross for our salvation, it is nevertheless true that the infinite love He bore His well-beloved Son had caused Him an infinite sorrow, were He capable of such, to behold this Son plunge Himself into the awful sufferings awaiting Him here below. In the same manner, Saint Joachim and Saint Ann consented willingly to be deprived of the sweet presence of their only, cherished, and beloved daughter, for they had vowed her to God, Whom they loved better than themselves; it cannot be doubted, however, that this privation was very bitter to them, for this amiable Child was to them most dear and precious. She was their treasure, their glory, their delight, their heart, their soul, their life and all their consolation. Knowing, however, that God called her elsewhere, they gave her to Him with all their heart.

Fathers and mothers who oppose yourselves to the Divine Will when It calls your children to the ecclesiastical or the religious state, how cruel you are to these children, since you deprive them of the greatest happiness that can fall to their lot. How cruel to yourselves, since you wound your own souls and deliver them over to eternal death, in wishing to wrest from God the authority and sovereign power which are His to dispose of His creatures according to His pleasure, the more so as these creatures are infinitely more to Him than to you, who have them only from Him
But let us return to our subject. It is certain that the Son of God could have saved the world without leaving the bosom of the Eternal Father and coming into the world as He did. Why then, my adorable Savior, hast Thou left that abode of glory and of delight? Why hast Thou willed to enter this world of sin and malediction, where Thou wilt find nothing save sorrow and suffering? It was to give us the grandest mark of the infinite love He bore to His Father and to us. In the same manner, it did not appear necessary that the well-beloved daughter of Joachim and Ann should leave her father and mother, to go to dwell in the Temple of Jerusalem with the other virgins who dwelt there, especially seeing that there was more of virtue, piety, and holiness in the house of Saint Joachim and Saint Ann than in the community of these virgins. For this house was a true temple where God was praised, adored, and glorified, night and day, more holily than in the Temple at Jerusalem, Saint Joachim and Saint Ann being the holiest persons in the world (after Saint Joseph). This blessed house was the dwelling place of Angels, of the King of Angels, and a true Paradise. There was no place on earth where our holy Child could have lived more holily, more worthily and more agreeably to herself, because of her parents’ great love for her and her intense affection for them. But she knew that it would be a thing most agreeable to God for her to leave them, and the incomparable love for the Divine Majesty which inflamed her Heart obliged her to make this sacrifice.
Another resemblance between the departure of the Son of God from the bosom of the Father and the departure of the little Mary from the home of her parents is this. The Word Incarnate, in leaving the bosom of the Father, deprived Himself, from the moment of His Incarnation to that of His Resurrection, of infinite glory and of all the things of this world which belong to Him by every title, in order that He might preach to us by His example what He should preach later by word, saying “Whosoever does not renounce all things cannot be My disciple; (Luke 24:23) and, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24). He also inspired her whom He had chosen to be His Mother and ours to do the same thing; to leave father, mother, house, country and relatives; to renounce the world before she had known it; to forsake all things, and, what is more, herself and all her inclinations. She thus became, after her Divine Son, the example and model of an innumerable number of holy women whom Divine Bounty would elect and call to follow this great Princess, eldest daughter of the Sovereign Monarch of the Universe. Oh, how blessed are they who follow this amiable Child from their infancy! For the Holy Ghost declares it is a great happiness for a man to commence to bear the yoke of the Lord from the days of his youth, even from infancy: “Bonum est viro, cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua – It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.” (Lamentations 3:27).
How advantageous a thing to have left the world before having known it or drunk of its poison! What an abuse and insupportable error to say that it is well for those who would consecrate themselves to God, to taste the world before they resolve to quit it. How many are led astray by this false and pernicious maxim! How many, called by God to the ecclesiastical or religious profession, are lost through a too tardy response to the inspiration of God. They have tarried too long in the world, which, being, according to Saint Ambrose, “the body of the infernal dragon, corpus draconis,” full of venom, poisons all its sectaries, but especially those who, by their youth, are more susceptible to its malign influence. Blessed, then, are they who early forsake the world and carry into the house of God their baptismal innocence!

Happy the parents who imitate Saint Joachim and Saint Ann in regard to their children! And miserable those who oppose their children’s vocation! They usurp the power and authority of God, to Whom it appertains to mark out His creatures’ vocation, to choose for them the condition wherein they shall serve Him. Hence, the Council of Trent pronounces anathema against those who prevent maidens or widows from embracing the religious profession, or who force them to do so against their own will.

This is one of the principal causes of the infinity of disorders that abound in the world and of the perdition of a great number of souls. For where there is no vocation from God there is no grace; where there is no grace there is no virtue; where there is no virtue all vices and irregularities abound. For it happens, by a most just judgment of God, that that which parents pretend to seek to the advantage of their children, contrary to the order and the will of God in their regard, turns to their ruin corporal and spiritual, temporal and eternal.
Let us now examine the solemn day that the Blessed Virgin Mary was presented to God in the Temple of Jerusalem.

During the thousand years that the Temple of Jerusalem had been built, there had been kept within its walls many solemn feasts, but there never had been one so holy and solemn as was that whereon the most Blessed Virgin offered herself to God, and was presented by her parents to the Divine Majesty.

The principal subject of this solemnity, the mystery of Mary’s Presentation, is very great and marvelous.
In this mystery there may be considered seven persons, the most noble, holy and worthy in the world, who render both the mystery and the Feast very honorable and altogether admirable.
The first to be noted is the admirable little Mary, who is the most excellent of all persons, after the three Persons Eternal.
Secondly, we behold Saint Joachim and Saint Ann, of all persons in the world the most honorable, after their incomparable daughter (and Saint Joseph), since they were father and mother of this future Mother of God.
In the third place, there were several of their relatives, their kindred and neighbors, among whom very probably was Saint Joseph. He was of the city of Nazareth and of the same tribe, doubtless a relative of Saint Joachim and Saint Ann. We may conjecture that he took part in the joy at the favor God had done them in delivering them from the opprobrium of barrenness. He probably accompanied them in their journey to Jerusalem to present their daughter to God in the Temple.
Fourthly, there were the priests of the Temple who were in the office and actual exercise of their ministry. Among them, on this occasion, was Saint Zachary, soon to be the father of the Precursor.
Fifthly, we behold the blessed Anna, the prophetess, who is canonized in the Holy Gospel, for her rare piety and great sanctity. She was eighty-four years old when Our Lord was presented in the Temple, and had lived there more than fifty years.
Sixthly, Saint Gabriel, the Angel Guardian of the Queen of Angels, was there, and with him the guardian Angels of the city of Nazareth, of Jerusalem and of all Judea. Perhaps even all the Angels were present. At least, it is highly probable that there were a great number of all the nine choirs composing the innumerable army of these celestial spirits.
Finally, in the seventh place, we behold there by the light of faith, the Three Adorable Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.
But let us consider what part these holy and divine persons took in the grand solemnity of the Presentation of our Blessed Infant Mary.
And, in the first place, let us observe what transpired in Mary, exteriorly and interiorly. From the first moment of her entrance into the Temple, Mary realizes that she is in the house of God, a house not less holy than Heaven and meriting the same veneration and respect, since the God of Heaven makes His dwelling there. She persuades herself that she is as much in the presence of God as the Angels in the empyrean Heaven, and consequently, comports herself with marvelous reverence, piety and devotion. There is, in her deportment, nothing puerile nor childish; on the contrary, it is marked by profound recollection and angelic modesty. She does not gaze about; her eyes are modestly lowered. She observes profound silence, speaking only to God. This holy Infant is in the Temple, who is herself a true, living temple, the temple of the Divinity, more august and incomparably more holy than this material Temple. And, nevertheless, she humbles herself profoundly, esteeming herself unworthy to be in this holy place. Her demeanor is full of reverence. She does not stand nor recline upon silken cushions, although she is a royal princess; she does not seek ease upon the benches or chairs, but is kneeling upon the pavement of the Temple, or prostrate with her face on the ground, she adores God. Such is her exterior.
But of her interior sentiments who shall be able to speak? All her mind, her Heart, her will, all the powers and affections of her soul are concentrated upon God. She contemplates, adores, praises, loves, glorifies Him, and offers, consecrates and sacrifices herself entirely to His Divine Majesty. Mary renders to God adoration and praise more holy and more agreeable to Him than all which has risen from this Temple during the thousand years it has been in existence. In a word, on beholding little Mary one would say that she was not a child nor a human being, but a Seraph who had assumed the form of a child.

Saint Joachim and Saint Ann, father and mother of this admirable Infant, adore, praise and glorify God, together with their holy Child. They render Him a thousand thanks for having bestowed upon them so precious a treasure. They offer her to the Divine Majesty with humility, devotion and love altogether inexpressible.
Saint Joseph and the other relatives, friends and neighbors of Joachim and Ann, rejoice at the favor God has done them. They bless Him for having made this Infant so perfect, and they had abundantly more reason to remark of her that which the neighbors of Saint Zachary and Saint Elizabeth said of the little Saint John the Baptist at his birth: “What a one, think ye, shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.” (Luke 1:66)
The priests of the Temple received with joy and admiration this holy Child, as a sacred victim which they offered to God with extraordinary devotion excited in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. They knew not the secret of this mystery, unless perhaps Saint Zachary, who was high priest at that time and engaged in the exercise of his ministry. Saint Germain, Patriarch of Constantinople, and George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, tell us that Zachary, being in the Temple on that occasion, received our holy Infant, who was his relative, and placed her among the virgins who lived in community in a dwelling adjoining the Temple. He offered to God this holy and immaculate host, thereby rendering more glory to the Divine Majesty than that which accrued to It from all the sacrifices ever offered in the Temple.

What were the emotions of the holy prophetess Anna? She dwelt among the virgins and widows who had retired into the Temple, and apparently had authority over them. She considered attentively all that passed, and her eyes and heart were so irresistibly drawn towards this amiable Child that she never lost sight of her. She waited with eager longing the consolation of Israel, that is, the Savior of the world. She knew that according to the oracles of the Prophets, His advent was at hand and that He was to be born of a Virgin. Being a Prophetess, she was filled with the light of the Holy Ghost, and conceived great hope that this tiny Virgin was to be His Mother. On this account, the holy Anna entertained towards the little Mary sentiments of profound respect and affection, and lavished extraordinary care upon her during her sojourn in the Temple.
Saint Gabriel and the other Angels considered attentively the mysteries that were enacted and riveted their gaze upon the seraphic little Mary and upon whatever she did.
Saint Gabriel rejoiced and rendered thanks to God for the very signal favor with which he had been honored in having been constituted guardian of her who was to be the Mother, nurse, ruler, and guardian of the King of Seraphim. All the other Angels rejoiced with him, and blessed God together with him for having chosen one from among their number for so glorious an employment.
The Angel Guardians of Saint Joachim, Saint Ann, Saint Joseph, of the cities of Nazareth and Jerusalem and all Judea, make jubilee and give a thousand thanks to God on account of this amiable Child, whom they regard and honor as the true Judith who shall cut off the head of the proud Holofernes and shall be the glory of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel, and the honor of the people of God, but especially of her parents and of him who shall the happiness and glory of being her spouse.
The Seraphim marvel to behold in the Heart of this Child a furnace of divine love more glowing than that in their own hearts.
The Cherubim, in astonishment, behold a daughter of Adam, in the midst of the darkness of this earth, all replenished and environed with the beautiful light of Heaven.
The Thrones admire her as the most high throne of the Divinity.

The Dominations revere her as one who, bearing the name of Mary, is Sovereign Lady of the Universe, even in her infancy, although, as yet, she has not the use of her sovereignty.
The Virtues honor her as the most worthy sanctuary of all virtues.
The Powers respect her as one to whom all power is given in Heaven and on earth, and who has, after the Almighty, more power than all the inhabitants of Heaven.
The Principalities honor her as the greatest Princess in the kingdom of God.
The Archangels are ravished to behold this tiny creature so marvelous.
The Angels glorify God for having rendered a Child of three years more pure, more holy, and more agreeable to His Divine Majesty, than all the heavenly spirits.
The Angels whom God has destined to guard those whom He foresees will belong particularly to this admirable Virgin by reason of their special devotion towards her, commence from this instant, in the name of their future clients to serve and honor her, as their Queen, their Mother, their Protectress, their hope and consolation.

Finally, all the angelic Choirs give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for having made of this earth a heaven and elevated it above Heaven, since It placed therein the little Mary in whom and by whom the Divine Majesty is more loved and glorified than by all the inhabitants of the empyrean Heaven. Thus, did all the Angels keep this great Feast.
Let us, with the eyes of faith, here contemplate the Three Eternal Persons of the Most Adorable Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Let us consider and adore what They have done. Oh, how They regard this admirable Infant, the first object of Their love! What complaisance do They not take in her humility, her piety, her love and all her actions, attended with so great perfection!

It seems to me I hear the voice of the Eternal Father saying of her what He will one day declare regarding His Son, Jesus: “This is My beloved Daughter in whom I am well pleased.” The voice of the Son exclaims: “This is My most amiable Mother, chosen from all eternity from among an infinity of others.” While the voice of the Holy Ghost resounds throughout the universe: “This is My most worthy and dear Spouse, whom I love above all pure creatures.” Oh, how pleasing to Them was the holy and immaculate host offered on that day in the Temple! And if Divine Bounty renders a hundredfold and a thousand times a hundredfold to those who renounce all, what must It have rendered to Saint Joachim and Saint Ann in return for this precious gift? What abundance of light, what profusion of grace inundated the minds and hearts of the father and the mother, and still more of the daughter!

O great God, Who didst make fire descend from Heaven to consume the material sacrifice of Elias, what fire, what flames, were lighted up in the holy hearts of Joachim, Ann and Mary, three hearts which were but one, to consume the holy victim they there offered! On the one hand, this blessed and amiable Child Mary presents herself, gives, consecrates and immolates herself entirely, with all her Heart, to the glory of the Divine Majesty; and, on the other hand, Divine Bounty receives and accepts the gift and appropriates it to Itself, taking full possession of it and uniting it to the Divinity by a union the closest possible, enclosing this precious gift in Its Bosom and Heart, preparing to operate in her and by her the grandest marvels of all powerful Bounty, disposing this Child to become the Mother of the Redeemer and to cooperate with Him in the work of our salvation. She must also become our true Mother, to whom the Eternal God will communicate His power, His wisdom and His bounty, to the end that she may be able, that she may know how, and that she may be willing to extricate us from all sorts of miseries and bestow upon us all sorts of good. Immortal and infinite thanks be given to Thee, Most Adorable Trinity!
O holy Infant Mary, I give myself to thee with all my heart, together with all who are mine. Employ the great power God has given thee to take entire and perfect possession of us. Present us and immolate us with thyself to the honor and glory of the Most Holy Trinity!