Feb 2 Fri
The purification of our Lady is a demonstration of the humble acceptance of God's will.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is also in the Temple to fulfill a command of God's Law for the ritual purification of the mother, forty days after giving birth. “This time it will be you, my friend, who carries the cage with the doves. Just think: she - Mary Immaculate! - submits to the Law as if she were defiled.
“Through this example, foolish child, won't you learn to fulfill the holy law of God, regardless of any personal sacrifice?"
She, who was conceived and did conceive without the least stain of sin, gives us an example of humility. We are, in truth, just worthless servants, and any humiliation we suffer is just, since we are sinners. Humility really consists in acknowledging our nothingness, and then, continue walking in the truth. The more humble we are, the more we try to destroy the facade of importance with which we sometimes invest ourselves; which is not realism, but fantasy, a fruit of our pride.
“I like to use this story, which you have heard before, St. Josemaría would say, but it is so clear. Think of the dust lifted by the wind into the skies where it reflects the sunlight and takes on the appearance of a golden cloud. In the same way, the grace of God can raise us up very high and then there reflects from us the goodness and wisdom, the power and the beauty which is all God's."
By being docile to the Holy Spirit we will fulfill the will of God.
Among that crowd that filled the Temple, only two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, recognized Christ, in the arms of his mother. Then Simeon took him in his arms and embraced him. The Holy Spirit led him to the temple. You, too, if you want to hold Christ and embrace him, if you want to be freed from prison, try your best to be led by the Spirit.
“We have to follow with docility the interior inspirations which the Holy Spirit causes in our souls; helping us choose those options which bring us closer to God. Sometimes this happens in little things: accepting serenely the sacrifices asked of us in our work, or in the effort to live amiably with others; choosing something which is not to our taste, or taking for ourselves some task or place which is far from the best... At other moments, these indications of the Holy Spirit will move us to live more generously; and to give of ourselves more. Expressing it briefly: we forget about ourselves and abandon ourselves into our Lord's hands."
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