“We proudly present…”

Our liturgical calendar for the beginning of February starts off with the Feast of the Presentation.   It remembers and celebrates the bringing of the child Jesus by his parents to the Temple and links us back to the feast of Christmas.

That got me thinking about all the times we present – emphasis here on the second syllable.  We present a child for Baptism, we present a married couple at the end of the wedding ceremony, we present a graduating class to the assembly. 

We make presentations, we make presents.  What connects this world of Presentation to our lives in these weeks of Ordinary Time?  The connector is this amazing truth:  Everything is a gift and all is connected to the ultimate gift of Incarnation, to the gift of God’s humanity that transforms our own and the entire universe forever.  We are challenged to make present, in our own daily lives and common experiences, the beauty and the reality of this gift of God’s life and transformation.  

How we do that – in small ways, in loving ways, in selfless ways – continues the cycle of presence, of presents, of grace and of goodness to which we are all invited.

Priscilla Wood, OP   

Dubuque, IA