The Feast of the Lord's Presentation in the Temple

The Feast of our Lord’s Entry into the Temple is celebrated on the 8th day of the month of Meshir, and is among the Seven Minor Feasts of the Lord.

In order to fulfill the Law, the Virgin Mary took the newborn Christ to the Temple and offered a burnt offering. It was the commandment of God to the Jews in the Old Testament that a woman, after completing her purification (which is forty days if the newborn was male and sixty if it was female), would go to the Temple to offer thanks and the appropriate sacrifice.

If the mother was rich, she would offer a lamb of at least one year of age as a burnt offering sacrifice, and with it a pair of pigeons or doves as a sin offering. On the other hand, if she was poor, she is to bring two doves or a pair of pigeons, one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering (cf. Lev. 12:2-8).

The Virgin Mary fulfilled the Law despite knowing that the Child born of her was Christ without the defilement of sin.

Source: Mikhail, Deacon Albair Gamal, The Essentials in the Deacon’s Service, (Shobra, Egypt: Shikolani, 2002), p. 347.

Quote: For this reason it seems wonderful that the sacrifice of Mary was not the first offering, that is, “a lamb a year old,” but the second, since “she could not afford” the first. For as it was written about her, Jesus’ parents came “to offer a sacrifice” for Him, “according to what is said in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’ ” But this also shows the truth of what was written, that Jesus Christ “although He was rich, became a poor Man.” Therefore, for this reason, He chose both a poor mother, from whom He was born, and a poor homeland, about which it is said, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephratha, who are little to be among the clans of Judah,” and the rest.

Quote Author: The Scholar Origen, Homilies On Leviticus 8.4.3

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