Christ Presented in the Temple

Depending on your heritage, you might know February 2 as:  the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary; the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple; Candlemass; and, of course, Groundhog Day.

Following Jewish law, Joseph took Mary to the Temple for purification forty days after Jesus’ birth.  That is February 2.  They sacrificed two turtle doves and presented Jesus to God as their firstborn.  And a very important encounter occurred while they were at the Temple.

A certain “Simeon” was at the Temple when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus, and declared his canticle, the “Nunc Dimittis”.  “Now let thy servant depart in peace”.  Simeon was assured by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah.  He identified the baby Jesus as the light of the world, took the child in his arms, and rejoiced. 

Metropolitan has two McCausland lights in the northwest corner of the lower sanctuary which depict this recognition.  These windows were installed in 1941 for Harry Struthers in honour of his parents.  In the south lancet, Joseph holds two turtle doves for sacrifice.  He and Mary are haloed, and Mary is in her traditional blue robe.  The Jerusalem skyline is visible in the background.  

In the north lancet, Simeon the patriarch holds the infant, haloed Jesus.  Simeon is accompanied by Anna the prophetess, who also recognized Jesus as the Christ.  Stonework of the Temple is evident in both windows.  The windows are a grand depicture of an event which inspired one of the oldest feasts in Christianity, dating to the 4C AD.

-RW