LIKE THE WIND IN OUR SAILS || FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

The Feast of the Holy Meeting.
The Feast of Light.
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of Mary.
The feast of pancakes round and golden like the sun that we eat with friends.





Without forgetting the day of the marmot which makes you dream of spring.

So many titles for this event, so many reasons to celebrate.

I love when Christian holidays blend with the thread of life and the cycle of nature.
40 days after the birth of Jesus,
40 days after the winter solstice, in the heart of the cold, almost halfway to the spring equinox.
Let's not forget also, our 40 days and more of confinement.
Don't we feel like celebrating together! And when the liturgy invites us to do so, the meeting is even more significant.

And what a pleasure to reconnect with these old traditions! Candlemas, in my St. Matthew Christian community, is one of those traditions that we rediscovered in the 90s and which has since brought together more and more people. Even in times of confinement, it is on Zoom that we will celebrate it again this year.

Simeon and Anna, the two heroes of this Holy Meeting, are people like you and me. They look so much like us, these two “old person”. We have been going to them for almost 30 years. From Candlemas to Candlemas, we have grown old with them, and many of us have touched our seventies and eighties. Anna and Simeon are part of our Christian family.

Even if they have no children, they are for me the image of grandparents whose most beautiful mission is to welcome and recognize the promise of God, the coming of God through every new birth. A divinely significant mission, especially in these times when many of our grandchildren are not baptized.

And the same story, casually, revisited over the years, continues to shape our view of believers. Celebrating is unifying: it marks the passage of time; it sometimes helps to reinterpret meaningful encounters in our lives.
And let us remember that meals are sacred in the Bible, as are the bonds that unite us around the same table.

On the Candlemas menu,
small candles,
Pancakes, round and golden brown, like the “spring” sun, as tradition dictates.
Why pancakes?
Because in less cold countries, where the tradition comes from, February 2 announced the season for sowing and full of confidence in the new season, old flour was used to cook pancakes.


Today, in our prayer, if we give thanks to God for all the grandchildren who are given to us and who, in these difficult times of confinement, need our gaze and our recognition so much. Why not send a message of love to these children in our lives. This year, we will celebrate it happily each at home, but all together on ZOOM. Anna and Simeon would be so surprised!




Françoise Lagacé, Pastoral Council of St Matthew

To join us this Sunday at St Matthew's parish : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84477313223