Need Music Crescendo "Faithfully"
© Grace Soileau All graphics scan out of my old family Bible
The high priest greets Mary at the temple doors as Saint Anne comes to dedicate her daughter to the Lord.
November 21, PRESENTATION OF MARY. Mary was 3 years old when her parents took her to the temple and presented her to GOD, promising to dedicate her life to GOD. The only reliable and pertinent source concerning the presentation of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Temple by her parents is the Mosaic Law; the apocryphal (or non-canonical) "gospels" speak in detail of her birth and presentation, but with no definite historical basis. Firstborn males were necessarily dedicated to God (Ex 13:12-16), and at the time of Jesus was done by a ceremony in the Temple (Luke 2:22) Since the firstborn of humans and beasts were to be in general consecrated to God (Ex 13:1-2), there may have developed some pious custom of bringing firstborn girls to the Temple with the mother as she performed her duty of purification (Lv 12:5-8). When a woman gave birth to a daughter she was to spend 80 days in seclusion after which she must present herself to the priest in the temple with an offering of a yearling lamb as a thanksgiving holocaust and a pigeon or turtle-dove as a sin offering. The apocryphal writings indicate that Mary was presented in the Temple as the result of a vow made by her parents rather than because of a law or universal custom. The Protoevangelium of James (7:1-2) has it that Joachim and Anna agreed to fulfill their vow only after Mary was 3 years old, lest the child be immature and long for her parents. She was then left in the Temple for permanent residence and applied herself more diligently than did the other virgins. According to the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (4), when Mary was 3 years of age her parents took her to stay in the Temple; at the gates she was so eager that she ran up the steps without ever looking back and never asked for her parents as would an ordinary child. It must be chiefly from apocryphal accounts that there has arisen a special interest in Mary's presentation as a symbol of self-offering and dedication to the spiritual life. The feast was not finally extended to the universal Church until 1585, by Pope Sixtus V. It is now an obligatory memorial, celebrated on Nov. 21, its significance being that from her earliest moments Mary was dedicate to Christ. The presentation of Mary has been a favorite subject of Christian iconography from the Middle Ages on. October, 1995 Supplement of the Catholic Twin Circle
The only reliable and pertinent source concerning the presentation of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Temple by her parents is the Mosaic Law; the apocryphal (or non-canonical) "gospels" speak in detail of her birth and presentation, but with no definite historical basis. Firstborn males were necessarily dedicated to God (Ex 13:12-16), and at the time of Jesus was done by a ceremony in the Temple (Luke 2:22) Since the firstborn of humans and beasts were to be in general consecrated to God (Ex 13:1-2), there may have developed some pious custom of bringing firstborn girls to the Temple with the mother as she performed her duty of purification (Lv 12:5-8). When a woman gave birth to a daughter she was to spend 80 days in seclusion after which she must present herself to the priest in the temple with an offering of a yearling lamb as a thanksgiving holocaust and a pigeon or turtle-dove as a sin offering. The apocryphal writings indicate that Mary was presented in the Temple as the result of a vow made by her parents rather than because of a law or universal custom. The Protoevangelium of James (7:1-2) has it that Joachim and Anna agreed to fulfill their vow only after Mary was 3 years old, lest the child be immature and long for her parents. She was then left in the Temple for permanent residence and applied herself more diligently than did the other virgins. According to the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (4), when Mary was 3 years of age her parents took her to stay in the Temple; at the gates she was so eager that she ran up the steps without ever looking back and never asked for her parents as would an ordinary child. It must be chiefly from apocryphal accounts that there has arisen a special interest in Mary's presentation as a symbol of self-offering and dedication to the spiritual life. The feast was not finally extended to the universal Church until 1585, by Pope Sixtus V. It is now an obligatory memorial, celebrated on Nov. 21, its significance being that from her earliest moments Mary was dedicate to Christ. The presentation of Mary has been a favorite subject of Christian iconography from the Middle Ages on.
October, 1995 Supplement of the Catholic Twin Circle
Typical of the apocryphal stories of Mary are in the Book of James (about 150 A.D.), which is the main source of the stories of Our Lady's parents, Joachim and Anne. From this we get that they were living in Jerusalem, near by the Probatic Pool, in the vicinity of the temple. They were pious Jews, and Joachim, was a prosperous Shepherd. He was generous with the fruit of his labors, offering in the temple gifts for the whole people as well as for himself. In spite of all this Joachim and Anne were without Children. At one time when Joachim went to the temple to offer his gifts, the priest Ruben told him he was unworthy since he alone among the tribes had failed to raise an offspring in Israel. In sorrow and humiliation Joachim withdrew into the desert, where he fasted for forty days. At the end of this time Joachim in the desert and Anne in garden in Jerusalem both received an angel visitor who told that God had had mercy on them and He would answer their prayers for a child. Anne was forewarned of his coming and ran to greet him. They meet at the Golden Gate, the eastern entrance to the city and joyfully embraced, mutually exulting at God's blessing Text out of my old Family Bible.
Saint Anne & Joachim at the Golden Gate The Shepherd and his wife joyfully reunited at the Gate;