HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE - THURSDAY 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE – THURSDAY 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

THEME: My eyes have seen your salvation

BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

READINGS OF THE DAY
Malachi 3:1-4
Psalm 23:7-10
Luke 2:22-40

LITURGICAL COLOUR
WHITE

INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple of Jerusalem by his parents, in accordance with the Jewish Law. Today is also the World Day for Consecrated Life. Simeon and Anna remind us of those men and women who have consecrated themselves to serve the Lord in the religious life. Today we thank God for them all and we ask God’s blessing upon them.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In today’s first reading, the prophet Malachi announces that the Lord will one day enter his Temple in Jerusalem as the refiner and purifier of his people, so that their worship will be as the Lord desires it. The prophet Malachi himself was the last in the long line of prophets whom God had sent to the people of Israel, speaking and prophesying about what would come to happen. The prophet Malachi spoke of the coming salvation from God and reassured the people who had been waiting a long time for the coming of God’s Saviour. This would all be fulfilled and completed through the coming of St. John the Baptist, the one who preceded the Lord’s coming, preparing the path for Him to come into our midst, calling on all the people of God to repent and turn away from their sins.

FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In our Gospel passage today, we therefore heard of the account of the moment when the Lord Jesus as a newborn Child, was presented at the Temple of Jerusalem, at the House of God. This event, which is the main focus of our celebration and commemoration today, is a reminder of this role that Our Lord has in being our High Priest and as the One Whom the Lord had promised to us, and Whom therefore had been sent to us, appearing before us, as the perfect manifestation of His love and compassionate kindness, as He reached out to us, never giving up on us and desiring for us to be reconciled and reunited with Him. The Lord Jesus was consecrated and offered to God, His Heavenly Father from early in His life, that He may truly, in accordance with the Law, be a worthy High Priest to offer for us the sacrifice in atonement for our many sins.

CONCLUSION
Throughout his adult life, Jesus presented himself as a living sacrifice to God, in the words of Saint Paul. He lived his life with a clear focus on God at all times. Jesus calls on us to have that same focus. Because Jesus is the full revelation of God, to live our lives with a clear focus on God amounts to living our lives with a clear focus on Jesus, our risen Lord. Today’s feast encourages us to keep presenting ourselves, our hearts, minds and bodies, to the Lord. We are to keep our relationship with the Lord to the fore in all we say and do. In that way, our whole lives will be a worship of the Lord.
May the Lord continue to guide and bless us in our whole lives, in everything that we say and do.

Happy Feast Everyone and have a Blessed Day.

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