Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

As soon as she could walk, Mary was brought to the Temple by her holy parents, Joachim and Anne. With what an ecstasy of delight she must have entered into the Temple, crying out: “How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts; my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord.” (Psalm 83:1,2) Have I any of the same desire to consecrate my life to the Lord?

After the Divine Liturgy today there was a special candle light procession and blessing of children in celebration of Mary's Presentation in the Temple. Maria was really cute walking with the other children in procession behind the statue of Mary; we didn't let her have a candle.

I turned in my term paper for my ecclesiology class. At first I thought to write on the subject of evil (as a deprivation of good), which is found well laid out in St. Augustine's City of God. Having already written a couple of papers on evil at AMC, though, I decided at the last to tackle a new question: What is sacrifice? St. Augustine's answer in the City of God has made a lasting impact on the Christian understandind of sacrifice, which is obviously central to our holy Faith. So, here it is: Love and Self-Gift: Sacrifice in St. Augustine's City of God. Enjoy!

Your comments and critiques are, of course, very welcome. I fear in the end that I have only said something rather obvious in this paper. I hope at least that you'll find Cardinal Ratzinger's reflections on sacrifice and the Mass (found mostly in the early footnotes of my paper) interesting enough to read his short lecture Theology of the Liturgy.