♔ THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD - ST. JOSEPH PRESENTS HIS SON ♔

♔ THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD ♔

The holy spouse Saint Joseph was, by these prophecies (of Simeon), made to see many of the mysteries of the Redemption and of the labors and sufferings of Jesus. … However Saint Joseph was not to be an eyewitness of them during his mortal life. — Venerable Maria de Agreda 

ST. JOSEPH PRESENTS HIS SON

Joseph fulfills the Law’s requirement to present his son to God to be redeemed by a sacrifice of two turtledoves. St. Joseph had just fulfilled his second official act as father to Jesus, having presented and consecrated him at the Temple of Jerusalem. Just as with the circumcision of Jesus, the Law required that the first-born son be redeemed. Joseph brought Jesus into the Inner Court of the Temple, in which women were not allowed, Our Lady waiting outside. He carried into the temple the True High Priest though no one would recognize the child as such nor would they pay him homage. In the midst of the temple was the Messiah Himself—the one’s arrival the Jews were earnestly praying for, though it was only the venerable Simeon and Anna who saw the Redeemer in this child. Jesus was to become the Sacrificial Lamb who years later would carry the cross upon which he would die for the redemption of the world. At the Presentation, his burden is not yet apparent as he is carried into the temple by his most faithful servant Joseph, consecrated to his Heavenly Father.

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “Consecrate to me every firstborn that opens the womb . . . for it belongs to me.” — Exodus 13:1-2