In order to help you be prepared for the Feast of Candlemas on the 2nd of February, I offer you the most beautiful and profoundly moving homily on the meaning of the feast from Pope Benedict XVI of blessed memory.

The season of Christmastide flows beautifully into the season of Epiphany. Today the pagan world recognizes that this Child in the manger is not only fully human but is also the fully divine Son of God.

We are brought to the Temple at a point in time when the Lord Jesus was twelve years of age. In this episode, Mary and Joseph “lose Jesus” for a time. As the story of Jesus’ disappearance is narrated, we see in Luke’s Gospel how Mary and Joseph suffer a terrible experience for three days, much like the three days of Jesus in the tomb.