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Circle of Giovanni Bellini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Friday, January 24, 2025Faith

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Throughout the Mass this day, the prayers emphasize Simeon's words about Christ, the light of the nations.

One of our pastors dropped a note regarding this column. "If you are not planning a column for the Presentation, you should." Excellent idea, even if it interrupts the Holy Year prayer series.
This feast of the Presentation of the Lord is celebrated annually on Feb. 2. In 2025, it will fall on a Sunday. Because it is a feast of the Lord, it bumps the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary time. Other feasts of the Lord occurring on Sundays in Ordinary Time also trump a Sunday. Other examples include the Transfiguration of the Lord on Aug. 6, and the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica on Nov. 9.
Before the reform of the calendar, requested by the Second Vatican Council and decreed by Pope St. Paul VI, this was the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, making it a feast of Mary. It is now, as the title tells us, a feast of the Lord.
The feast also has the nickname "Candlemas" -- a contraction of Candle Mass -- since the annual Blessing of Candles is celebrated at this Mass.
The source of the feast is the Gospel of Luke 2: 22-38. You remember -- according to the Jewish custom, Mary and Joseph brought the child Jesus, 40 days after his birth, to the Temple to present him to God, placing him at God's service.

The aged Simeon, who provides a bridge between the Old and New Covenants, takes the child into his arms and utters the words we call the "Canticle of Simeon" or the "Nunc Dimittis," and which concludes compline or night prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours each night.
"Now, Master, you may let your servant
go in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel."
Luke also tells us that the venerable prophetess Anna similarly speaks about the child to his parents.
Pope St. John Paul II also designated this day as the World Day of Consecrated Life, and he, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all celebrated this day with and for the men and women who have been consecrated for the service of their sisters and brothers in the church, by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in religious orders, institutes of apostolic life, and secular institutes.
There are some differences at Mass this day. Since the candles (and if possible, all the candles to be used in a parish during the coming year) are to be blessed, options are available to the parish.
Before that, here is a quick reminder that since only wax candles may be used as "altar candles," it follows that only wax candles can be blessed. If the members of the assembly have wax candles that they want to keep at home for their devotional use, they may also bring these to Mass for the blessing. It is also customary that the candles to be used for the Blessing of Throats on the Memorial of St. Blaise on Feb. 3 should also be blessed at this Mass.
The Roman Missal for this feast provides options for the beginning of Mass with the Blessing of the Candles. Either the procession in its preferred form or an abbreviated one replaces the usual introductory rites up to and including the collect prescribed for the Mass, after which the Gloria is sung or said.
The First Form (and so the preferred one at the principal Mass on Feb. 2) has all or at least some of the assembly gather in a place separate from the place where Mass is being celebrated.
Those assembled have unlighted and unblessed candles that are lighted when the priest arrives vested for Mass. He makes the Sign of the Cross and greets those assembled with one of the apostolic greetings in the Missal. He then addresses the assembly about the feast and blesses the lighted candles. Then, the procession to the place for the celebration of the Mass begins accompanied by the processional hymn. Once all have arrived at their places, he sings or says the opening prayer, and then the Gloria is sung or said. After that, the Mass continues as usual.
If this cannot be carried out, then the simpler version called the Solemn Entrance is provided.
Throughout the Mass this day, the prayers emphasize Simeon's words about Christ, the light of the nations.
Here in the archdiocese, Feb. 2 is a special day for many of our priests who celebrate this as the anniversary of their ordination. Beginning in 1955 and continuing through 1965, Cardinal Richard Cushing celebrated priestly ordinations on this day or another very close to it. Ad multos annos to those priests!