The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Their story

The Presentation of Mary is not described in the Bible. It comes from an ancient Christian tradition, recorded in a second-century writing known as the Protoevangelium of James. According to this tradition, Mary’s parents, Sts. Joachim and Anne, had long been unable to have children. When God blessed them with a daughter, they promised to dedicate her to him. When Mary was still a small child, they brought her to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented her to God. Whatever the historical details, the Church sees in this feast a profound truth: from the very beginning of her life, Mary belonged entirely to God. Her whole heart was open to him, so that when the angel Gabriel came to her years later, she was ready to answer, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” The young girl presented in the Temple would herself become the living temple in which the Son of God dwelt. The feast has been celebrated in the Eastern Church since the sixth century and spread to the West in the Middle Ages. Since 1953 the Church has also marked November 21 as a day of prayer for cloistered religious, the monks and nuns who dedicate their lives to God in prayer.