Entrance into the Temple of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.
Feast of the Mother of God. Holy Day of Obligation.
Hebrews 9:1-7. Luke 10:38-42, 11:27-28.
Read Hebrews 9:1-7
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos. We remember when the Virgin Mary entered the temple in Jerusalem as a young child. Although this event is not recorded in the New Testament, it is recorded in a text called the Protoevangelium of James which dates from the second century. On this day, we reflect on Mary’s dedication to God and can turn our focus ahead to the upcoming celebration of the Nativity of Christ.
In today’s reading from the letter to the Hebrews, we hear about the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries. We read a description of how the earthly sanctuary was set up and how the high priest alone went into the innermost part of the temple called the Holy of Holies once per year with the “blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people” (Heb. 9:6). However, Jesus, the true Great High Priest, entered the heavenly sanctuary: “he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). After dying upon the cross, Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary with His own spotless blood.
The Virgin Mary whose entrance into the temple we commemorate today is herself an image of the temple. The temple is the dwelling-place of God, and God was conceived in Mary’s womb and was born of her. Just as the earthly sanctuary was but an image of the heavenly one into which Jesus entered as our Great High Priest, Mary herself is an image of the sanctuary. By God’s grace, our bodies have become temples of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). God dwells within our bodies, and we must treat our bodies and the bodies of others with care and respect.