• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

  • Online Masses
    • Passionist Online Masses and Services
  • 300th Jubilee
    • Jubilaeum Video
    • Opening Mass of the Passionist Jubilee Year
    • Video: 300th Jubilee – English
    • Video: Jubileo Pasionista – Español
    • Jubilee Icon Itinerary
    • Jubilee Resources
    • Jubilee Song
  • Pray
    • Lent 2021
    • Daily Reflections
    • Prayer Request
    • Sunday Homily
    • Passionist Spirituality and Prayer
    • Stations of the Cross
    • Prayer and Seasonal Cards
  • Grow
    • Journey into the Mystery of Christ Crucified
    • Celebrating the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross
    • Subscribe to E-News
    • Passionist Magazine
      • Passionist Magazine, Spring 2020
    • Passionist Ministries
      • Preaching
      • Hispanic Ministry
      • Haiti
      • Parish Life
      • Earth and Spirit Center
      • Education
      • Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP, Live with Passion!
    • Retreat Centers
    • Passionist Solidarity Network
    • Vision Fulfillment Newsletters
    • Sacred Heart Monastery
      • History of Sacred Heart Monastery
      • A Day in the Life of Senior Passionists
      • “Pillars” of the Community
  • Join
    • Nicholas Divine, CP, Ordination to the Diaconate
    • Are You Being Called?
    • Discerning Your Call
    • Pray With Us
    • Passionist Vocation Directors
    • Lay Partnerships
  • Connect
    • Find a Passionist
    • Passionist Websites
    • Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP, Live with Passion!
    • Passionist Alumni Association
      • Reunions
      • 2019 Passionist Alumni Reunion
      • Welcome
      • Letter from the Provincial
        • These Men We Call Our Brothers
      • Mission Statement
      • CrossRoads Bulletin
      • Alumni Enrollment Form
        • Alumni Survey
      • Reunion Photo Gallery
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
    • Leave a Legacy
      • Giving Matters
      • Ways to Give
      • Donor Relations
      • Testimonials
    • Prayer and Seasonal Cards
    • Privacy Policy Statement
  • Learn
    • Our Founder
    • History
    • The Letters of St. Paul of the Cross
    • The Diary of St. Paul of the Cross
    • Mission and Charism
    • Saints and Blesseds
    • FAQs
    • Find a Passionist
    • STUDIES IN PASSIONIST HISTORY AND SPIRITUALITY
  • Safe Environments

Daily Scripture, November 21, 2012

The Presentation of Mary

Scripture:

Zecariah 2:14-17
Luke 11:27-28

Reflection:

St. Paul of the Cross fostered a special devotion to this feast commemorating an event in the life of Mary.  He manifested this by naming his first community residences for both Passionist men religious and Passionist women religious in honor of Mary’s Presentation as a child in the temple, by her devout parents.  Paul did this so as to indicate the sense of mission that impelled him to begin the Passionist community, in the first place.

We know his mission orientation was centered on the preaching of Christ Crucified to those in need of appreciating God’s outreach to them.  As he often remarked, the Passion was the greatest manifestation of God’s love for us.  It is this same notion of God’s care for us that underlies this feast of Mary’s Presentation.  Presented to God (in the temple) by her devoted parents, she became a sign and a major instance of all those presentations of God’s presence that can occur in life to open peoples’ eyes to His loving concern for us.  This is mission, alerting us to God acting on our behalf.

So when Luke, in the day’s gospel, records the event in which a woman admirer of Jesus praised his mother for bringing Him forth and nourishing Him, to the benefit of so many like herself, Jesus moves beyond that testimony to recognize all those who hear His preaching and follow His direction.  In other words, Jesus extends the witness His mother provides, to God’s activity on behalf of the rest of us who cannot bring Him into the world as His mother did through birth and upbringing, but who can imitate that broader witness she provides of  hearing God’s word and acting on it-a witness that can engage us all.   We see Mary thereby initiating a way of witnessing  God to others, that is available to us: not a physical accomplishment, but the way of discipleship .   By her presentation Mary is on mission to us, so that we in turn can go out on mission to others by presenting our way of encountering God to them. 

A similar message is found in the prophet Zechariah today.  He foresees the city of Jerusalem emerging in significance before God, because it so clearly manifests God’s predilection and favor among the peoples of the world.   In this way Jerusalem goes out on mission to other places, as they become aware of God’s presence within it.  This is very apropos of Mary, in the way she manifests to others God’s favors to her.  She is a presentation of God to them in the same way Jerusalem is a presentation of God to others.

Describing In this way Mary’s function in our lives, these scriptural readings open up new avenues for appreciating her capacity to present God to us, and, in the process, they alert us to the fact that, in our own way, we can do much the same thing.  For example, we can illustrate for others, from our own enrichment by the word of God, that they too can be similarly favored, and we can also model for others the way we try to center our lives on God.   We thereby go out on mission to them, presenting them ways and means of coming to terms with God by their observation of the way we lead our lives.  By absorbing the meaning of Mary’s presentation in our lives, we become a facsimile of her presentation, and carry on the mission St. Paul of the Cross that he had in mind by naming two important foundations of his nascent community after the feast of Mary’s Presentation.

 

Fr. Sebastian MacDonald, C.P. is a member of the Passionist formation community at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. 

Footer

Facebook Feed

Support the Passionists

Contact the Passionists

The Passionists of Holy Cross Province
660 Busse Highway | Park Ridge, IL 60068
Tel: 847.518.8844 | Toll-free: 800.295.9048 | Fax: 847.518.0461
Safe Environments | Board Member Portal | Copyright © 2021 | Log in