"And thy own soul a sword shall pierce" are words spoken by Simeon to Our Blessed Mother when she presented her first-born in the Temple, in accordance with the Law of Moses.
It is traditional to reflect on the Sorrows of Mary in the month of September. To this end, in the following posts I offer the words of the French scholar and preacher Bossuet, taken from his Elevation* on the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. I have added my own (fairly literal) translation and occasional notes on Scriptural references.
*élévation: THÉOLOGIE. Mouvement de l’âme vers Dieu ; prière qui favorise et traduit ce mouvement. Elevation: theology. A movement of the soul towards God; a prayer that favours and translates this movement.
Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata.
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| The presentation in the Temple. J-J Tissot. |
LA PRÉSENTATION DE JÉSUS-CHRIST AU TEMPLE, AVEC LA PURIFICATION DE LA SAINTE VIERGE.
The Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple, with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin.
[French text reproduced courtesy of Oeuvres complètes de Bossuet, F. Lachat.]
PREMIÈRE ÉLÉVATION.
Deux préceptes de la Loi sont expliqués.
The First Elevation
Two precepts of the Law are explained.
La loi de Moïse ordonnait deux choses aux parents des enfants nouvellement nés. La première, s'ils étaient les aînés, de les présenter et les consacrer au Seigneur, dont la loi rend deux raisons. L'une générale : « Consacrez-moi tous les premiers-nés; car tout esl à moi, : » et dans la personne des aînés, tout le reste des familles m'est donné en propre. La seconde était particulière au peuple juif : Dieu avait exterminé en une nuit tous les premiers-nés des Egyptiens; et épargnant ceux des Juifs, il voulut que dorénavant tous leurs premiers-nés lui demeurassent consacrés par une loi inviolable, en sorte que leurs parents ne pussent s'en réserver la disposition, ni aucun droit sur eux qu'ils ne les eussent auparavant rachetés de Dieu par le prix qui était prescrit. Cette loi s'étendait jusqu'aux animaux; et en général tout ce qui était premier-né, ou comme parle la loi, « tout ce qui ouvrait le sein d'une mères » et en sortait le premier, était à Dieu.
The law of Moses prescribed two obligations for the parents of new born babies. The first, if they were the first-born children, was to present them and consecrate them to the Lord, for which the Law gives two reasons. Firstly, a general one: "Sanctify unto me every firstborn ... for they are all mine;" and all the rest of the family is given to me as of right. The second reason was particular to the Jewish people: God had exterminated in one night all the first born of the Egyptians; and sparing those of the Jews, He wished that henceforth all their first born should be consecrated to Him by an inviolable law, such that their parents could retain no power over them, nor any right over them, until they had previously redeemed them from God by the price that was prescribed. This law included animals; and in general all first born, or in the words of the Law, "every one that openeth the womb" of a mother and emerged first belonged to God.
La seconde loi regardait la purification des mères, qui étaient impures dès qu'elles avaient mis un enfant au monde. Il leur était défendu, durant quarante ou soixante jours, selon le sexe de leurs enfants, de toucher aucune chose sainte, ni d'approcher du temple et du sanctuaire. Aussitôt qu'elles étaient mères, elles étaient comme excommuniées par leur propre fécondité ; tant la naissance des hommes était malheureuse et sujette à une malédiction inévitable. Mais voici que Jésus et Marie venoient la purifier, en subissant volontairement et pour l'exemple du monde, une loi pénale à laquelle ils n'étaient soumis qu'à cause que le secret de l'enfantement virginal n'était pas connu.
The second law had regard to the purification of mothers, who were impure from the moment they had brought a child into the world. It was forbidden unto them, during a period of 40 or 60 days, depending on the sex of their child, to touch any holy thing, and to approach the Temple and the Sanctuary. As soon as they became mothers, they were excommunicated by the fact of bearing a child; so much was the birth of men unhappy and subject to a curse that could not be avoided. But here Jésus and Mary have come to purify her, setting an example to the world by submitting voluntarily to a penal law but only because the secret of the Virgin Birth was not known.
Dans cette purification les parents devaient offrir à Dieu un agneau; et s'ils étaient pauvres et n'en avaient pas le moyen, ils pouvaient offrir à la place « deux tourterelles ou deux petits de colombes, pour être immolés, l'un en holocauste et l'autre» selon le rit du sacrifice « pour le péché (1). » Et voilà ce que portait la loi de Moïse, à l'opprobre perpétuel des enfants d'Adam et de toute sa race pécheresse.
In this purification, parents were required to offer to God a lamb; and if they were poor and didn't have the means, they could offer instead "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons" to be sacrificed, one for a holocaust and the other, according to the rite of sacrifice, "for sin." This was what the Law of Moses required, to the everlasting shame of the children of Adam and of all his sinful progeny.
Notes
[2] Sanctify unto me every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, as well of men as of beasts: for they are all mine.
Sanctifica mihi omne primogenitum quod aperit vulvam in filiis Israel, tam de hominibus quam de jumentis : mea sunt enim omnia.[Exodus xiii]
[13] The firstborn of an ass thou shalt change for a sheep: and if thou do not redeem it, thou shalt kill it. And every firstborn of men thou shalt redeem with a price.
Primogenitum asini mutabis ove : quod si non redemeris, interficies. Omne autem primogenitum hominis de filiis tuis, pretio redimes.
[14] And when thy son shall ask thee tomorrow, saying: What is this? thou shalt answer him: With a strong hand did the Lord bring us forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Cumque interrogaverit te filius tuus cras, dicens : Quid est hoc? respondebis ei : In manu forti eduxit nos Dominus de terra Aegypti, de domo servitutis.
[15] For when Pharao was hardened, and would not let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beasts: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the womb of the male sex, and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.
Nam cum induratus esset Pharao, et nollet nos dimittere, occidit Dominus omne primogenitum in terra Aegypti, a primogenito hominis usque ad primogenitum jumentorum : idcirco immolo Domino omne quod aperit vulvam masculini sexus, et omnia primogenita filiorum meorum redimo. [Exodus xiii]
[6] And when the days of her purification are expired, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, a lamb of a year old for a holocaust, and a young pigeon or a turtle for sin, and shall deliver them to the priest:
Cumque expleti fuerint dies purificationis suae, pro filio sive pro filia, deferet agnum anniculum in holocaustum, et pullum columbae sive turturem pro peccato, ad ostium tabernaculi testimonii, et tradet sacerdoti, [Leviticus xii]
[24] And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons:
et ut darent hostiam secundum quod dictum est in lege Domini, par turturum, aut duos pullos columbarum.[Luc. ii]
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