The Woman At The Well

Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple

Life in the Jewish community, at the juncture of BC and AD, was centered in the temple.  The temple was a place of sacrifice, an offering of rams, bulls and doves to a monotheistic God who guided man from the mountaintop.  God was seemingly far away, but now was the dawn of new life:  God was coming down from above; God was being made known as a man in all ways of life but sin.  God was coming down to earth; God being born to a virgin woman, living among man in a loving Jewish family where life centered on the temple.

God in his wonderful plan of salvation for man uses that which is familiar, that which is known; God uses circumstances into which each man is born to further his divine plan.  Here, the “temple of life “acquires new meaning.  Here, Mary dedicates her life in the temple; she is led along the path of the temple by virgins with lights.  This is the prelude of the coming of Light into the temple of the womb of a virgin who has dedicated her life to him.   This is the foretaste of new life; the light of the world comes into Mary’s body, soul and heart. 

This is the Mother of God coming to do Your will; the beginning of her lifelong gift of self- “let it be.”   This is the new temple where “Obedience is better than sacrifice; and submission (better) than the fat of rams.” (1Sam15:22)

The presentation of Mary reminds one of another later presentation in the temple- that of Jesus.  Jesus, presented by his parents as was Mary, is given over to the world.  He is dedicated to loving man, to do the will of His Father, to teach man of His heavenly father, to bring God down from the mountainside into the heart of man, to dwell in man, into man’s very depth of man’s being.

Man’s gift of faith received, given to man by Mary and Jesus by their love and obedience to the Father.  Their love inspires man to journey with Jesus and Mary, to follow the perfect path where they trod, a path leading to the temple of eternal life.