Homily for Friday, 21 November 2014– Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Friday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Zechariah 2:14-17; Responsorial Canticle: Luke 1:46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55; Matthew 12:46-50

Does anybody here know of somebody who has arisen from poverty or social obscurity to become rich or famous? Do we not enjoy a good rags-to-riches story from time to time?

If we want to hear a good rags-to-riches story, the story of the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is not one of them. Mary probably came from very humble beginnings, raised by her parents Anne and Joachim, belonging to the peasant class. Beyond a few elites, the people of Israel at the time were poor and socially inconsequential. Mary’s presentation in the Temple of Jerusalem, which we remember today, was probably like most other presentations of children in the Temple.

In our Gospel reading today, even Jesus seems to minimize the importance of his own mother. Jesus addresses not Mary and his close relatives, but his disciples in our Gospel reading: “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, my sister, and my mother.”

So why do we celebrate today’s memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary?  We could think of several answers to this question. We celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary because she is the mother of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Mary is the Mother of God. Mary is first among Jesus’ disciples, present at his birth, during his life, at his death, his resurrection, ascension, and when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples at Pentecost.

But all of what makes Mary important she did not do on her own. God made this all possible for her. Mary’s own hymn, the Magnificat, which we pray today in our responsorial verse from Luke’s Gospel, points to this truth: “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.” Any importance we ascribe to Mary is really about God.

But all the reasons why Mary is so important to our faith are also about us. “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother,” Jesus says. Mary is the model for us in doing “the will of [our] heavenly Father”; model for us of Church. She is first among Jesus’ disciples.

And so we celebrate the moment when Mary was presented by Anne and Joachim in the Temple, God’s holy place. She became God’s holy place in which, to borrow the words of our first reading from Zechariah, God made human first “stirred forth from his holy dwelling,” all because Mary said “yes” to God’s work within her. This is why today we celebrate her presentation in the Temple; holy presented to the source of holiness, hers and ours.

We also celebrate today the anniversary of the founding of the Basilian Fathers. I pray especially today for my brother Basilians. Let us pray for all of us here. We present ourselves here in this holy place, a holy people before God, the source of our holiness. With Mary as our model, may we say “yes” to God’s work in us, in whatever vocation we are called to; “yes” to God, who is why Mary is so important to our faith; why we celebrate this feast of her presentation.