The Presentation of the Lord

This weekend we celebrate The Purificaion of the Blessed Virgin Mary or as we call it in our times, "The Presentation of the Lord". Also, we are only one week away from Windfall, Superbowl event. I hope you have purchased your tickets already. If you did not, I encourage you to do so. It is one of the major fundraisers for our parish. There are always two big winners in this "game". The winner of Windfall, and the parish. Once again, thank you for supporting the parish with your contributions.

I would like to clarify one thing that I was not aware of that Larry Roberts was in charge of making food and sndwiches for ChristNet. John, Stella, and other team members helped Larry to provide the help he needed. Once again, thank you very much.

The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or as we call it in our times, "The Presentation of the Lord" is celebrated on February 2nd. This feast celebrates the ceremony of purification of Our Lady on the fortieth day after the birth of our Lord, and of the presentation of offering of our Lord to the Eternal Father in the Temple, as also prescribed in the Law of Moses for first-born male childrn. The ceremonies of this celebration in our church tradition consist of four parts, the blessing of candles, their distribution, the procession with lighted candles, and the Mass which follows. At the beginning of the Mass we are going to have the blessing of candles which can be taken home after Mass. The suggested offering for each candle is $3.00. The whole ceremony that procedes the Mass, and especially the lighted candles, refers to our Lord as the Light of the world according to the words of holy Simeon, who on the day of the Presentation took the divine infant in his arms and said of Him: "A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."

The feast of the Purification is one of the oldest feasts of the Virgin. At Rome in the seventh century, it ranked after the Assumption. It is the last one in the Cycle that shows any connection with Christmas: Mary, wishing to obey the Mosaic Law, had to go to Jerusalem forty cays after the birth of Jesus (December 25-February 2) to offer the prescribed sacrifice. Mothers were to offer a lamb, or if their means did not allow, "two doves or two young pigeons."

As we find in the Gospel. The Blessed Virgin took the Infant Jesus with her to Jerusalem. The Candlemas procession recalls the journey of Mary and Joseph going up to the temple to present "The Angel of the Covenant" as Malachy had prophesied, or "the light to the revelation of the Gentiles" (Gospel) to God.

"The wax of the candles signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant," says St. Anselm, "the wick figures His soul and the flame His divinity."

The Purification to which the mother of the Savior was not obliged to conform, as her motherhood was beyond ordinary laws, is now placed in the foreground by the liturgy and the Presejntation of Jesus. This is the principle object of this feast.

                              May God bless all of us,

                                               Fr. Dariusz

Is the weather looking bad and want to be notified if Mass is cancelled?

Would you like to be reminded of upcoming or changes of events?

We are now offering a group messaging opportunities call Calling Post.

To register to be connected to this notification system, text 'Angels' to 24251.

To register your child go to: https://cabriniparish.org/religious-education.