The feast of purification rites recapitulates the whole mystery of the incarnation

The feast is called the feast of purification rites, and no one would go wrong in calling it the feast of feasts, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, the holy of holies. For it recapitulates the whole mystery of Christ's incarnation; it sketches out the entire presentation of the only-begotten Son. In it Christ was carried as an infant and confessed as God, and in arms he was brought forward as though seated on a throne, the maker of our nature. And he offered a pair of rational turtledoves to Simeon and Anna.

Let us, if you will, set ourselves within the very words of the Gospel, for there we shall see God's encampment. This is how Luke set out the story of the feast for us: "And when the days of their purification rites were completed according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, that every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice, according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:22-24).

It was fitting that the one who became a servant for our sake should offer purification rites on our behalf, that the one who did not spare his own blood should not spare a pair of turtledoves. See, then, how he works according to the law yet above the law, as its lawgiver. Though he himself grants the freedom of the Spirit, he still does not refuse the slavery of the letter. He does not set Moses aside, so that in due time he may become a trustworthy witness.

"And when the days of their purification rites were completed, according to the law of Moses" (Luke 2:22). "Their," whose? Joseph was not the father, nor was he subject to purification rites. But neither did Mary nor the infant need purification rites. For it says: "A woman who has conceived and bears a male shall be unclean for seven days" (Leviticus 12:2). But Mary did not conceive; therefore she did not need purification rites.

"A woman who has conceived and bears a male shall be unclean for seven days" (Leviticus 12:2). Why? Because she has brought another Adam into life. "But if she bears a female, she shall be unclean for twice seven days" (Leviticus 12:5). Why did he assign double the days here? Because Eve is again born from Eve, a woman is born, the fragile vessel, the weak jar, the shattered pot, the rod of deceit, the guide of disobedience, the counselor of the serpent.

But just as you have heard the charges against woman, come now and learn the achievement that came from her. A woman brought virginity into the world. She contained in her womb the God whom creation cannot contain. She bore in the flesh the one who fashioned our race. She was the first to receive Jesus from the dead, the first to begin the proclamation of the rising, the first to announce the joy to the disciples.

"A woman who," it says, "has conceived" (Leviticus 12:2). But the Mother of God was a woman, yet she did not undergo what women undergo. For her womb did not receive a man's seed. The field of Mary saw no plow; the virginal vineyard endured no mattock. So the offering was not for her sake, but for the sake of the whole race.

For our sake Christ is circumcised; for us he is also baptized; for us the purification rites of the law are performed. If he weeps, he washes our nature clean. If he is struck, he sets our captivity free. If he carries the cross, he lightens the yoke of sin for us. If he is spat upon, he delivers Adam from the spitting of the curse.

"When the days of their purification rites were completed," it says, "they brought him up to Jerusalem, as it is written in the law of the Lord, that every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" (Luke 2:22-23). This is what the law contains.