Saturday, 2 February, 2008
FIRST SATURDAY
PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
CANDLEMAS DAY (II)
“The Feast of Candlemas, which derives its origin from the local observance of Jerusalem, marks the end of the Feasts included in the Christmas cycle of the Liturgy. It is perhaps the most ancient festival of Our Lady. It commemorates not only the obedience of the Blessed Virgin to the Mosaic Law in going to Jerusalem forty days after the birth of her Child and making the accustomed offerings, but also the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, and the meeting of the Infant Jesus with the old man Simeon - the Occursus Domini, as the Feast was anciently termed. This is the principal theme of the liturgy on this day: Jesus is taken to the Temple 'to present Him to the Lord.' So the Lord comes to His Temple, and is met by the aged Simeon with joy and recognition.

The procession on this day is one of the most picturesque features of the Western Liturgy. The blessing and distribution of candles, to be carried lighted in procession, precedes the Mass today - a symbolic presentation of the truth proclaimed in the Canticle of Simeon: Our Lord is the 'Light for the revelation of the Gentiles.' The anthems sung during this procession, eastern in origin, will express the joy and gladness of this happy festival, and the honour and praise we give to our blessed lady and her Divine Son by its devout observance.”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, we humbly beseech Thy Majesty, that as Thine only begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh, so Thou wouldst cause us too with purified hearts to be presented unto Thee. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, world without end.
Lesson: From the Prophet Malachias. 3:1-4.
Gospel: Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke, 2:22-32.



Remarks are abstracted from The Daily Missal and Liturgical Manual, from Editio Typica of the Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962
(Baronius Press Limited, London, 2004, in conjunction with the Fraternal Society of St. Peter, www.baroniuspress.com)