I love the month of November! It's heralded by
Halloween night, when the earnest trick-or-treaters arrive at the door, the
cold air wafting in their giggles and shouts. Parents smile sheepishly at
a distance. When morning light comes, November arrives with the feast of All
Saints Day. The Church celebrates the victory of the Saints who triumphed through
Christ, over every darkness and even death. I love the contrast, between the
cold outside and the warmth inside, between the darkness of the night and the
light of the following morning. All Souls Day follows, when we remember our
loved ones who have left this world. We think of their lives, pray for them, and wonder
how they see things from their new shining vantage point. Toward the end of
November we arrive at the centerpiece of the fall season: Thanksgiving. We celebrate God’s largess and blessings to
us, learning better each year to give thanks for all that we have received. The Thanksgiving table, surrounded with family and friends, is a symbol of the abundance of blessings we have been
given.
Tucked
into the warmth and celebrations of November the Marian feast of the Presentation. Unlike many other
Marian feasts, it is not a celebration connected with a mystery of the Lord,
and there is no source in Scripture for it. Instead, the Presentation is based
on a tradition. It commemorates the dedication of a Church in Jerusalem. The
Church, called St. Mary, was built in honor of a long-held story among
Christians, that Mary was offered to the Lord at the temple by her parents, Anne
and Joachim. At Evening Prayer on this feast day, we pray:
Holy
Mother of God, Mary ever-Virgin, you are the temple of the Lord and the
dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Beyond all others you were pleasing to our
Lord Jesus Christ.
This
feast gives me such consolation. I imagine Anne and Joachim, offering thanks
for this miracle baby, this girl they knew had a special role in the work of
God to save. As usual, Mary's feast day teaches us something of our own walk in the footsteps of her Son. We each have our particular childhood history and purpose to offer to
God. We each have our childhood innocence, a time when everything about us was pleasing
to God. Mary, “beyond all others” pleasing to God, is a sign that we can all
please God and become a holy offering of love. As the French Carmelite, Therese of
Lisieux said, when we do everything with great love, it is not hard to please
the good God.
Like
the other amazing days of celebration in November, this one is warm,
encouraging and hopeful. For it is a reminder of how good we have it! We are—all of us—temples of God, by the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. As her children, we were all offered symbolically with her as part of the New Creation in
Christ.
This November, even as we begin the part of coldest winter, we have the greatest of
hope!
Prayer:
Mary, help us to remember that, in your
Son, we are already holy offerings to the Father, for God looks at us with the
tenderness of a mother, and calls us closer by inspiring us to continually seek
his face. Amen
