Salesian Literature

3. The Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple

Sermon for the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady, November 21, 1617, concerning Our Lady's childhood, the journey of Mary to Jerusalem with St. Anne and St. Joachim for Mary's Presentation, the renewal of religious vows. God's grace and our cooperation, the total gift of self to God in the religious life, Cain and Abel, and the overcoming of self-will.

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Holy Church celebrates today the feast of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. I can say of this feast what is written of the Queen of Sheba when she visited Solomon: Never was there seen so much perfume in the city of Jerusalem as she brought with her to offer to this king [1 Kgs. 10; 1-2, 10].

 

Similarly, never was "so much perfume" and ointment offered to God in His Temple as the most holy Virgin brought with her on this day. Never until then had the Divine Majesty received so excellent and pleasing a gift as the offering He received from the blessed St. Joachim and St. Anne. They went to Jerusalem to fulfill the vow they had made to God to dedicate their glorious child to Him in the Temple, where young maidens were brought up for the service of the Divine Majesty.

 

You can imagine with what fervor this heavenly child longs to leave her father and mother's home to dedicate and consecrate herself more definitively to the service of her heavenly Spouse who attracts and draws her with the fragrance of His perfumes, as the Shulammitess says: O my Beloved, Your name spoken is a spreading perfume—that is why the maidens love You and have gone after You. You are not only perfumed, but perfume itself [Song 1:3-4], Do you not see that our glorious Lady was longing to see the day when her parents would offer her to God, for it is true that she had the use of reason from the time of her Conception? Certainly we must not believe that this privilege granted to St. John the Baptist was denied to the holy Virgin.

 

Here is a wonderful, excellent and profitable belief which, because it is to useful, I cannot pass over. The Saviour, being clothed with our humanity, would not depart from the laws of infancy. He grew and performed all His little actions just like all other children, as though He could not do otherwise. Moreover, the holy Virgin and her glorious Son, Our Lord, had the use of reason from their mothers* wombs and were, consequently, endowed with much knowledge. Nevertheless, they concealed it under the law of a profound silence. For, though able to speak from birth, they would not do so, but rather subjected themselves to speak only at the normal time. And the rest of us, who hardly have the use of reason at 40, are so unreasonable that we affect a learned air and speak before we can lisp; and because we wish to appear as savants and sages we cannot conceal our folly [Rom. 1:22]. How amazing! Despite being so self-assured, we cannot talk for long without blundering and making mistakes. Yet we are nevertheless always so eager and quick to speak—even about things of which we know nothing! And then we find it strange that in religion there are times during which silence is imposed and we cannot speak!

 

This was an act of admirable simplicity on the part of our glorious darling who, while clinging to her mother's breasts, still did not fail to converse with the Divine Majesty. She abstained from speaking till the usual time, and even then she spoke only as other children of her age, although she always spoke straight to the point. She remained as a gentle lambkin by the side of St. Anne for three years, after which she was weaned and brought to the Temple, there to be offered like Samuel who was led there by his mother and dedicated to the Lord at the same age [1 Sam. 1:24-28].

 

Oh, my God, how I wish I could adequately picture to myself the sweetness and consolation of this trip from St. Joachim's home to the Temple of Jerusalem! What contentment this little child displayed in seeing that the long-awaited hour had finally come! Those who went to the Temple to adore and offer gifts to the Divine Majesty sang all along the way. The royal prophet David composed a psalm expressly for this purpose, and Holy Church has us say it every day in the Divine Office: "Beati immaculati in via" [Ps. 119] — "Happy are they whose way is blameless," who walk in Your way, Lord, without stain of sin. "In Your way"—that is to say, in the observance of Your commandments.

 

The blessed St. Joachim and St. Anne sang this canticle along the way, and our glorious Lady and Mistress with them. O God, what melody! How she sang it a thousand times more sweetly than the angels ever sang. So much were the angels taken with this that choir after choir of them came to hear the heavenly harmony. The heavens opened up and they leaned over the balustrades of the heavenly Jerusalem to see and admire this darling child. I mention this in passing in order to give you a subject of reflection for the rest of the day: the sweetness of this trip. I also mention this to move you to listen to this divine canticle, which our glorious Princess sings so melodiously, with the ears of your soul, for St. Bernard calls devotion the ear of the soul.

 

Let us come now to our own celebration of today, when we once again renew and reconfirm our vows.[1] The first Christians had great spiritual feasts on the anniversary of their Baptism, which was the day of their dedication—that is, the day on which they were dedicated to God.[2] They took no notice of their birthday, for at birth we are not children of grace, but rather Adamites or children of Adam. So they celebrated the day on which they were made children of God—the day of their Baptism.

 

In like manner, Abraham held a great and solemn feast, not at the birth of his son Isaac, but on the day of the child's weaning [Gen. 21:8] because, as some say, a baby is so frail at birth it is not the time for such great joy, given the danger and peril of death to which infants are subject at so fragile an age. Others hold that, because the feast was being held in Isaac's honor, it was quite reasonable that he should take part in it and eat with the company, which he had not done before the time when he was five years old. And it is not unreasonable to have remained so long at his mother's breast, given the great age to which people then attained. Or again, and this is the most probable reason, Abraham prepared this banquet now because at this age he was able to have greater hopes for his son, inasmuch as at this age children are given the direction in which they are to grow up.

 

It is fitting, then, that every year religious should have a special feast on the day of their dedication to God and of their entrance into religion.[3] However, since religious should not have anything of their own, we have considered it proper that our sisters celebrate this feast together on the same day. Every year Holy Church commemorates the principal actions of our Divine Saviour, of Our Lady and Mistress, and of many of the saints whom she presents to us as patrons to imitate. In giving us this particular feast, she testifies to her desire that at least once every year we should enter into ourselves and renew the vows and promises made to the Divine Majesty; and especially is this the case for religious and the rest of us who are dedicated and consecrated to Him in a special and irrevocable manner.

 

In our Order we have selected this most appropriate feast of the Presentation of Our Lady on which to renew our resolutions, to present and offer ourselves to the Divine Majesty under her protection, uniting our own offering with the one she made of herself to God. And in doing this is seen verified the prediction of the great prophet David: Behind her the virgins of her train follow and enter the palace of the king [Ps. 45:15-161], to be offered and consecrated in imitation of her as His servants forever. He says that they will come with gladness and joy. Thus, this day which commemorates our dedication to the Divine Goodness is one of joy and consolation. Indeed it really is so, for this day is the more joyful as we have experienced more deeply the sweetness of being entirely dedicated to God.

 

But when the holy prophet declares that many virgins will be brought after Our Lady, he certainly does not mean to exclude widows, for they will not be rejected from this happy troop for having lost their virginity, since this loss can be repaired by humility. Do you think that those great saints who had been married and who dedicated themselves to the service of the Divine Goodness in their widowhood, such as St. Paula, St. Melanie, St. Frances and so many others, are not of the number of those "virgins"? On the contrary, they have gained by their humility a very glorious virginity. Humility is not only the guardian of virginity, but is also its restorer.

 

This commemoration of our vows is made principally to strengthen our fervor, to renew our promises, and to reaffirm our good resolutions. As a consummate lute player has the habit of testing the strings of his instrument from time to time to see if they need tightening or loosening in order to render the tone in perfect harmony, so it is necessary at least once a year to examine and consider all the affections of our souls to see if they are in tune so as to sing the canticle of the glory of God and of our own perfection.[4] Thus, annual confessions have been enjoined so that we might discover our strings that are out of tune, our affections that are not really in balance, and our resolutions of the preceding year that have not been kept. After having tightened the pegs of our lute, which are our resolutions, we come with our glorious Lady and Mistress and under her protection, to place all our affections on the altar of the Temple of the Divine Goodness, in order that, without reserve, they may be burned and consumed by the fire of His burning charity.

 

But since we have preached these past several years on this very day on the subject of the renewal of our souls, let us now turn our discourse to ourselves to see what must be done in order to renew ourselves well. It is a very necessary exercise, since our misery is so great that we always suffer some spiritual loss, and only too frequently fail in our designs. Therefore it is expedient to check ourselves and to consider by what means we can recover what by our weakness, even our negligence, we have lost.

 

True, we must not be surprised at this, since in this world that is the way it is. Indeed, it seems that even the sun needs to start its course anew once a year, to repair the losses suffered during the year by those places that do not have a favorable climate. Don't you agree that the earth decays during the winter, and when spring comes it has to repair the losses it has suffered during the severe cold? We ought to do the same, making our course like the sun over all the affections and passions of our souls in order to repair the losses caused by their immortification during the year. Then, coming to spring, which is the time of our renewals, we ought to take courage to repair the decay which we have suffered during the wintry time of our lukewarmness.

 

I consider that in the Presentation of our glorious Mistress there are three points which must be observed in order to make the renovation well. The first is that she comes in her childhood, leaving her parents after being weaned; the second, that she is carried part of the time in her parents' arms and walks the other part with her own feet; the third, that she gives and offers herself entirely, without reserve.

 

As to the first point, namely, that she came to dedicate herself to God in her early childhood, how can we observe that, inasmuch as we have definitely passed that age and can never more return to it, for time lost cannot be recovered? You say there is no longer a remedy? O pardon me, but there is a remedy for everything! If virginity is restored by humility, and if the chaste widow becomes a glorious and triumphant virgin, why would you hold that we cannot recover time lost by the fervor and diligence with which we use the present time? [Eph. 5: 15-16]. It is very true that the happiness of those who are dedicated and consecrated to the Divine Majesty from their youth is very great — the more so as God desires it and greatly delights in it [Eccl. 12:1], complaining of the contrary when He says through His prophet that people are so perverted from their youth that they have abandoned His way and taken the road to perdition [Gen. 6:5, 8:21; Is. 47:13,15].

 

Infants are neither good nor bad, for they do not yet have the ability to choose either good or evil. During their infancy they walk like those who, upon leaving a town, go straight ahead for some time; but in a little while they come to a fork in the road that divides it in two. It is in their power to take the right or left, according to what seems better to them in order to reach their destination. The Lord wants to indicate that, in like manner, during its infancy humanity followed the path of righteousness, but when it came to a fork in the road it took the left road and has "forsaken Me, the source of living water" [Jer. 2:13] and of all blessings, to follow the way of evil.

 

It is quite certain that the Divine Goodness desires our youth as the most fitting time for us to give ourselves to His service. But do you think that youth is always to be taken and understood in terms of our age, and that the divine spouse means those that are young in years when she says in the Song of Songs that the maidens love their celestial Spouse and are drawn to Him by the fragrance of His perfumes? [Song 1:3-4]. Oh no, without doubt she is speaking of those who are young in zeal and courage and who, in their later years, come to consecrate to the service of His holy love not only every moment of their lives, but all their actions—and this without any reserve. You will say: After we have completed our youth, when is the most fitting time for us to consecrate and devote ourselves to God? Oh, when is it? It is the present moment, now, immediately[5] [2 Cor. 6:2]; for the past is no longer ours, the future may never be ours, so the present moment is the best.

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What must we do to regain lost time? As I have already said, it must be regained by fervor and diligence in running our course; just as stags that run so lightly, when pursued by the hunter so redouble their speed that they seem to fly, even so should we try to run our course. But at the time of our renovation and reaffirmation we should not only run, but fly, and ask with the holy prophet [Ps. 55:7] for the wings of a dove in order that we may fly swiftly, without lagging, until we rest "in the clefts" [Song 2:14] of the wall of holy Jerusalem. By this I mean that we should be totally united to Our Lord crucified on Mount Calvary by a perfect conformity of life.

 

But I have also considered that our glorious Lady and Mistress, coming to dedicate herself to God, was carried by her mother and father a part of the way, and the other part she came on her little feet—always aided, however, by her parents. For when St. Joachim and St. Anne came upon a level stretch, they put her down and allowed her to walk on her own. This little heavenly and glorious child then held up her little fingers to grab hold of her Papa and Mama's hands, lest she trip. As soon as they came upon some rough road, they immediately took her in their arms. They allowed her to walk—not to relieve themselves, because it was a great consolation to carry her, but for the pleasure it gave them to see her taking those little steps.

 

This is the second remark on the Feast of the Presentation that I want to make, and the second way of imitating our glorious Princess. In order to present ourselves well so as to re-offer to her Divine Son that which we once offered and dedicated to Him — that is, ourselves — we renew our vows, as we have just done. For this custom of renewing our vows can repair any faults we may have committed when we first made them.

 

During our long pilgrimage on this wretched earth Our Lord leads us in these two ways. He either leads us by the hand, causing us to walk with Him, or He carries us in the arms of His Providence. I mean that He holds us by the hand and lets us walk in the exercise of virtue- For if He did not hold us by the hand it would not be possible for us to travel this road of blessing. And who does not see that usually those who abandon His fatherly hand do not take a single step without tripping and falling head first to the ground. His Goodness is willing to lead us and to carry us, but He also wants us to take our little steps alone, doing on our part all that we can, helped by His grace. And Holy Church, tender and solicitous for her children's well-being, teaches us to pray each day a prayer in which she begs God to accompany us along our earthly pilgrimage and to assist us with His prevenient and accompanying grace, without which we can do nothing.

 

Leading us by the hand, our Saviour does with us the deeds for which He asks our cooperation. Later He carries us and does in us works altogether performed [by Him], by which I mean that it seems that we do nothing. These are the Sacraments, For, tell me, please, what does it cost us to hear the words, "I absolve you of all your sins," or to receive the Most Holy Sacrament in which is contained all heavenly and earthly delights?[6] [Wis. 16:20J.

 

Oh, how happy are the souls who travel through life in this way and leave the arms of the Divine Majesty only to walk and do on their part what they can in the practice of virtue and good works, still always holding on to the hand of Our Lord! For we must not think that we can do anything of ourselves [2 Cor. 3:5]. The spouse testifies to this clearly in the Song when she says to her Beloved: Draw me, we will follow You eagerly [Song 1:4]. She says: "Draw me" to show us that she cannot do anything of herself if she is not drawn and assisted by His loving kindness. And to show that she desires to correspond to His attraction freely, not through constraint, she adds: "We will run." Provided You hold out Your hand to us to draw us, we shall never cease running until You have taken us into Your arms and we are united to Your Divine Goodness.

 

Let us pass on now to the third point, which is the absolute surrender of our glorious Mistress to the Divine Majesty. It is thus that we must give ourselves totally to the Lord because the Saviour does not want us to do what He Himself cannot do — which is to give Himself to us partially. His goodness is so great that He wishes to give Himself to us totally. Similarly, He desires, and it is only just, that we give ourselves to Him without reserve. I know that people of the world give themselves to God in their fashion, but I am not speaking of them here—but of us who are dedicated and consecrated to Him. We must leave all to have the All which is God. We must forget "our father's house" [Ps. 45:11]. Is this such a great thing? Isn't it at times more of a consolation than not to do so?  We must give up marriage. 0 God, all things considered, what are we giving up? The toil of housekeeping, where, most often, things go awry or contrary to our will. What else do we have to give up? Conversations? I am convinced that ordinarily there is only discontent in them. Either someone will not honor you as much as you desire or will not cherish you enough, or someone will say something that displeases you. In short, the pleasures that are found in conversations are more often than not displeasing, rather than pleasing, to us.

 

But is that all you must give up? Oh, no. There remains what is most difficult to give up, yourself, your own will. It must be annihilated entirely, without reserve. I do not say our self-love, for that will die only when we die, it will live as long as we live; but it is enough if it does not reign in us. It is then self-will which must be destroyed. The thought that we must leave all to become good religious reminds me of a senator who was inspired by God to abandon the world, for he thought that to avoid the perils of the waves of the sea of this miserable world he must put in at the port of monastic life. In fact, he resolved to become a monk and to withdraw into the desert, and he did so. But the poor man wished at the same time to retain some of his attire and maintain some of his worldly connections. Now, what happened to him?

 

The blessed St. Basil, who loved him very much because of his piety and good life, knowing this, wrote him a letter which contained these words: "0 poor man, what have you done? You left the position of senator and the duties of your office, and therefore you are no longer a senator. Yet, you are not a good monk." It is as if he said: "Consider your name, 'monk,' and you will find that it means 'one,' 'alone.'" Now by this word, "alone," I do not understand simply being withdrawn or shut up in a desert. Rather, to be a good monk we must have God alone as the end in all that we do; and that is to be alone.

 

Do you wish to become a good daughter of the Visitation? You must leave all, not only what is outside yourself, but your own self, and be absolutely weaned from self-will, which we tenderly love as if it were our mother. God is not satisfied with our offerings when they are not accompanied by that of our own heart, for He is like the eagle which relishes far more the heart of the birds it takes as prey than the other parts of their body.[7] In the same way, the Divine Majesty asks first for our heart. "My son, give Me your heart" [Prov. 23:26], says this incomparable Goodness, and after that your offerings will be pleasing to Me.

 

The example of Cain demonstrates sufficiently the truth of what we are saying [Gen. 4:3-8]. When he offered his sacrifice, it was not found pleasing to the Divinity, as was his brother Abel's. This was so not only because he had made a bad division [Septuagint], offering the smallest and worst of his flock, but also because he had not given his heart. Recognizing this afterwards, he was so miserable that instead of blaming himself for his fault and acknowledging it, he laid hold of poor Abel, whose offering was pleasing to the Divine Goodness because he had first offered himself and only then offered his sacrifice. Cain conceived indignation against his brother because of the great envy he bore toward him. Notice how envy intrudes everywhere. God rebuked him and said to him; "Why are you troubled? If you have offered well there is no reason for it. If your offering is good, but you have not offered it properly, repair your fault." There is a remedy for everything.

 

Here, then, is the way we must make our sacrifices and offerings to the Divine Goodness. If we wish to be pleasing to Him, we must offer ourselves fully and without any reserve. If, on this day of your renewal of vows, you do that as perfectly as we have just instructed you, in imitation of Our Lady and glorious Mistress, she will lead you to Heaven, and inspire your hearts to sing in this life the "Laudate Dominum omnes gentes" ["Praise the Lord, all you nations" — Ps. 117], inviting each person to glorify the Divine Majesty. Then you may add: For steadfast is His kindness toward us, attracting us by His goodness to the enjoyment of so many graces and blessings in this perishable life, so that afterwards we may sing eternally in Heaven in the company of our most holy Mistress and the saints: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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[1] From 1615 on, the Sisters of the Visitation renewed their vows on the Feast of the Presentation. That tradition continues today, not only in the Visitation Order but among many other religious as well.

[2] Introduction to the Devout Life, Part V, Chapter 2.

[3] To "enter religion" means to make the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in a religious order. The making of these vows on the day of religious profession has traditionally been considered a "second Baptism" which wipes from the soul all sin and all debt of temporal punishment due to sin.

[4] St. Francis de Sales proves himself once again an excellent psychologist, affirming as he does the need for people to renew and reown vows, promises and resolutions from time to time. He insists that relationships not be placed on "automatic pilot"—above all, our relationship with God. One can find similar advice in his Introduction to the Devout Life, Part V.

[5] St. Francis might easily be considered a Christian existentialist by the emphasis he gives in his spirituality to the present moment. The past is gone and the future is not yet. God speaks to us now. Therefore, we must be docile to His will at this present moment.

[6] St. Francis de Sales is dealing here with subtle issues in the theology of grace. His position is clear. Divine grace has absolute priority; it precedes, accompanies and perfects all our deeds. Yet, God in His grace invites and enables human cooperation.

[7] Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 18.

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