Sunday, 2^rd February – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Reflection: Luke 2:22-40

DEDICATED FOR A PURPOSE

Happy Sunday beloved in Christ. Today, the universal Church celebrates the presentation of the Lord in the temple. The culture of dedicating a new born child after 40 days of birth can be likened to this glorious occasion. Many Christians see this merely as a routine and end up misplacing its values and significance. This trend also occurs with the Sacraments of the Church which give grace but sometimes lie fallow due to our unpreparedness in receiving them. Do we really know and appreciate what we have?

Friends, to be dedicated to God imprints on us God’s stamp of ownership. This puts to us that we have a specific assignment to accomplish in life just as Simeon and Anna resounded God’s salvation when the child Jesus was dedicated in our reading today. (Luke 2:30-32, 38). To fulfill God’s plan for our lives, we need to constantly rededicate ourselves to Him. This act of faith keeps us renewed in grace to pass the test of time. Since our body is God’s temple (1Corinthians 6:19), we need to constantly make it habitable for God by our conscious rejection of every stain which sin brings. Let us allow God to use us as He pleases by our effort to stay pure and blameless in our world full of temptation.

Stay blessed and have a wonderful week ahead.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself to you today, help me to accept your call to live a holy life and fulfill your plans for me.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: CCC 1131 – The Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.

HIDE A TREASURE: “So then, my brothers and sisters, because of God’s great mercy to us, I appeal to you: offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him.” Romans 12:1 GNB

Readings for today: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24:7-10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40