In honor of the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we present this account of Our Lady’s infancy and Presentation in the Temple, compiled by Raphael Brown from the rich mystical tradition of the Church. – Ed.

Eight days after Mary's birth, all the friends and relatives of the family gathered in St. Joachim's house for the ceremony of naming the baby. According to custom, the mother could not attend the celebration, but remained in her room. Several priests came from Nazareth, and St. Joachim placed his daughter in the hands of their richly robed leader, who lifted her up as if offering her to the Lord, and recited some prayers. Then he wrote the name Mary on a parchment and placed it on her chest. After the singing of some psalms, the ceremony was over and Mary was taken back to St. Ann, while all the guests sat around a long low table and were served a banquet meal.

Later, St. Ann and St. Joachim took Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem for the ceremony of the purification of the mother. St. Ann humbly gave her offerings of a lamb and a turtledove, and prayed to the Lord to forgive her all her faults. Then, entering the Temple with her daughter in her arms, she offered up Mary to God with devout and tender tears. In her heart she heard a voice urging her to renew her vow to give Mary to God's service in the Temple within three years.

The following article first appeared recently on LifeSiteNews.com and is being shared here with the author’s permission.
—Asst. Ed.

The first half of this article appeared in the previous Mother of All Peoples Bi-Monthly Issue.

Meeting with Elizabeth: Visitation and Magnificat

St. Luke relates how after the Annunciation "Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town of Judah. And she entered the house of Zechariah and saluted Elizabeth" (Lk 1:39-40). The Angel Gabriel had informed her of the miraculous pregnancy of her cousin. Mary entered her house, where "we find her engaged in a service of charity to her cousin Elizabeth, with whom she remained ‘about three months’ (1:56) to assist her during the terminal phase of her pregnancy" (107).

The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, "through the envy of the devil," separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.

It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church’s decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code.

This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance in due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.

Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.

"I sleep, and my heart watcheth" (Song 5:2). It is the glorious Virgin Mary who speaks, or rather the Holy Spirit who utters these words through her virginal lips and reveals to us five mysteries most gloriously perfected in her blessed Heart.