Letter from the Pastor
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February 2, 2025Welcome to the shortest and the snowiest month of the year. Welcome February!
This year the following feasts and solemnities occur on a Sunday: Presentation of the Lord, the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul, the Exaltation of the Cross, Commemoration of All Souls, and the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Unless you attend daily Mass, you would not encounter these feast days. So we are blessed in this Jubilee Year to celebrate these days on Sunday.
Today we start with the beautiful and ancient feast of the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary. It is also known as Candlemas Day when the candles used for Church are blessed on this day. Today also is the day we pray for the cloistered religious and all the consecrated religious, reflecting the life of Simeon and Anna, who lived in and never left the Temple to the outside world.
It is the 40th day after Christmas and prior to 1969; the crèches in Churches would stay up until today. The feast is an ancient feast of the Church. The Church at Jerusalem observed the feast as early as the 300’s and likely earlier.
The original reason for this feast day goes back to the Jewish Mosaic law that a mother was ritually unclean after giving birth; therefore, was in need of ritual purification before she was allowed back into the Temple and in public. She would be in semi-seclusion for 40 days for a boy, longer for a daughter. At the end of that period, the mother would then present herself for purification first and then present her first born to God.
The firstborn male child belonged to God, and the parents had to “buy him back” or “redeem” him by offering a sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons” to God in the temple. After the sacrifice, the boy could be with his parents.
Obviously, our Blessed Lady did not need such purification, for the birth of Jesus was a miracle. However, Mary and Joseph submitted to the Law of Moses in bringing their Son to be offered, as the first-born, to God and for the purification of the mother after giving birth. They were a religious family.In the secular world, it is Groundhog Day. The fate of spring hangs in the balance as a groundhog from Pennsylvania looks for its shadow. Where did this fun little custom come from? From today’s feast day, of course!
February 2nd is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, so the date has always had significance with many local customs. Throughout Europe February 2nd was connected to animals such as bears, badgers, hedgehogs and other such critters that are beginning to stir from their winter hibernation. The German immigrants coming to the United States who had looked to the hedgehog in their native country found the groundhog of Pennsylvania and simply transferred their allegiance. Candlemas became linked to weather predictions about the end of winter because of an old English poem:If Candlemas be fair and bright,Come winter, have another flight.If Candlemas bring clouds and rain,Go winter, and come not again.
This English poem appears to be the source of the shadow connection: “fair and bright,” the sun casts shadows means more winter. While “clouds and rain” casts no shadows, spring arriving soon. Sun or clouds?
We people of faith know that Groundhog Day is truly the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and the same light that shines on the beloved Punxsutawney Phil is the same light that shines on all of us: Jesus Christ, The True Light of the World.
Welcome to the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians to our 4:30 PM Saturday evening Mass for their Annual St. Bridgid Mass. The Ladies AOH began in 1894 to protect the young immigrant Irish girls coming to the United States, to assist them in securing employment, to give them the opportunity to socialize, and to keep them from becoming homesick and discouraged. Their Patron Saint is Saint Brigid of Ireland. St. Patrick baptized Brigid, with whom she later developed a close friendship. Brigid was one of the most remarkable women of her times. She died at Kildare on February 1, 525 AD. The Mary of the Gael, she is buried at Downpatrick with St. Columba and St. Patrick, with whom she is the patron of Ireland. Welcome Ladies and thank you for all your many works of charity.
