At the beginning of February, seminarians return back to the College following their January pastoral placements in their home dioceses.
It is significant for us to begin this first week in February with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Our celebration of this Feast in the seminary sees the community gathered just before 7.00am in the semi-darkness of the cloister for the blessing of candles and the solemn candlelit procession into the chapel, marking the beginning of the Mass.
On this feast day I am drawn particularly to the Latin inscription that runs around the walls of the sanctuary, at the same height as the consecration candles, and embracing the Tabernacle. Taken from the first book of Kings 9:3, and referring to the Temple in Jerusalem, it quotes God’s words to Solomon: “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.”
Forty days ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus in which God’s promise is fulfilled in a deeper way than Solomon could ever have imagined. On this feast day we celebrate that moment in human history when God himself enters the Temple as one of us: Jesus, who is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. In Jesus, God’s heart remains forever with His people and has now come in the flesh. No longer a temple of stone but Emmanuel who is God with us.
During the month of February, the Catholic Church honours the Holy Family and it is a time for us to pray especially for families. We celebrate the family as the Domestic Church which is both essential for life of the Church and for the flourishing of society. Pope St John Paul II famously said, “The future of humanity passes by way of the family” (Familiaris Consortio, n86). He also described the family as the “Seedbed of Vocation”, where the seeds of a vocational calling, whether to marriage, priesthood, or religious life are first planted, nurtured, and matured. It is within the family home that a person learns the basic human and Christian virtues to respond to God’s call. In the celebration of infant baptism, parents are described as the first heralds of the Gospel. They provide that environment of love in which the gift of faith can blossom and where children are encouraged to consider God’s call in their lives.
During this month, let us pray for families, that through the intercession of the Holy Family, they may be schools of love where children come to know and love God, generously seeking and responding to his will in their lives.
