Mary in the Temple

Today's feast of The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in the East, The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple). is one of the oldest Marian feasts - if also one of the most historically problematic. The event it ostensibly commemorates is found in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, according to which Mary's parents (there identified as Joachim and Anne) brought Mary as a child of three to the Temple to thank God for having at last given them a child and to consecrate her to God. More elaborate versions of the legend suggest she may have remained longer in the Temple as preparation for her exalted role as Mother of God.

What actually did happen on this date in 543 was the dedication of a Byzantine church (The New Church of the Theotokos) near the site of the Jerusalem Temple, the anniversary of which became the commemoration of Mary's legendary presentation as a child in the Temple. In the post-Tridentine liturgical reform of 1568, Pope Saint Pius V suppressed the feast, but popular piety won out and it was soon restored by Pope Sixtus V in 1585. In his 1974 encyclical Marialis Cultus, Pope Saint Paul VI mentioned this feast's "lofty and exemplary values." 

Christianity is in important respects an historically-based religion, in that the principal events in salvation history happened in the course of. human history. However, Christianity transcends mere history, and it is good on occasion to celebrate, as we do today, a non-historical event rich in religious symbolism. Mary's imagined presentation in the Temple highlights her life-long commitment (dogmatically elaborated in the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception) to align herself with God's will and God's great plan for the salvation of the human race. Insofar as Mary is also a symbol of the Church, her lifelong commitment challenged each of us, as members of the Church, to imitate her in our own journey through this life.

Photo: Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Paul the Apostle Church, NY.