Consecrated to the Lord

The infant Jesus is presented in the Temple because for the Jews every firstborn child belongs to the Lord and must be dedicated to the Lord.

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The event also coincides with the purification of Mary—40 days after the birth of her child. This day is also called the Feast of the Encounter, especially in the Eastern liturgy.

The Holy Family, with Simeon and Anna—two representatives of God’s people—find their convergence in Jesus in the Temple, the house of God. Today is World Day for Consecrated Life. Pope Francis shares this message with religious women and men: “Jesus comes to us in the Church through the foundational charism of an Institute: It is nice to think of our vocation in this way! Our encounter with Christ took shape in the Church through the charism of one of her witnesses... And in the consecrated life we live the encounter between the young and the old, between observation and prophecy. Let’s not see these as two opposing realities! Let us rather allow the Holy Spirit to animate both of them, and a sign of this is joy: the joy of observing, of walking within a rule of life; the joy of being led by the Spirit, never unyielding, never closed, always open to the voice of God that speaks, that opens, that leads us and invites us to go towards the horizon” (Feb. 2, 2014).