"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. |
IVe ÉLÉVATION.
L'offrande des deux tourterelles, ou des deux petits de colombe.
The Fourth Elevation
Offering a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons
« On offrira un agneau d'un an en holocauste pour un fils et une fille, et un petit de colombe ou une tourterelle pour le péché : que si l'on n'a pas un agneau d'un an, et qu'on n'en ait pas le moyen, on offrira deux tourterelles ou deux petits pigeons, l'un en holocauste et l'autre pour le péché (1). » Dieu tempère sa loi selon les besoins : sa rigueur, quoique régulière, est accommodante; et il permet aux pauvres, au lieu d'un agneau qui dans son indigence lui coûterait trop, d'offrir des oiseaux de vil prix, mais agréables à ses yeux par leur simplicité et par leur douceur. Quoiqu'il en soit, il est constant que les tourterelles et les pigeons sont la victime des pauvres : dans l'oblation du Sauveur l'Evangile excluant l'agneau et ne marquant que l'alternative des colombes ou des tourterelles, a voulu expressément marquer que le sacrifice de Jésus-Christ a été celui des plus pauvres. C'est ainsi qu'il se plait dans la pauvreté, qu'il en aime la bassesse, qu'il en étale les marques en tout et partout. N'oublions pas un si grand mystère ; et en mémoire de celui « qui étant si riche s'est fait pauvre pour l'amour de nous, afin de nous enrichir par sa pauvreté (1) » aimons-en le précieux caractère.
"She shall offer a lamb of a year old for a holocaust for a boy and for a girl, and a young pigeon or a turtle for sin; and if ... she is not able to offer a lamb, she shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, one for a holocaust, and another for sin:"[1] God tempers His Law according to needs; His rigour, although regular, he's accommodating; and he permits the poor, instead of offering a lamb which in their poverty would cost them too much, to offer birds which are cheap but pleasing in His sight by their simplicity and their gentleness. In the offering of the Saviour, the Gospel by omitting mention of the lamb and referring only to the alternative of pigeons and turtles, has wished to show explicitly that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the one for the poorest. In this way He shows the pleasure He finds in poverty, but he loves what is low and humble, and that He displays the signs thereof everywhere and in everything. Let us not forget such a great mystery; and in memory of Him "that being rich became poor, for your sakes; that through His poverty you might be rich."[2]
« Pour moi, disait Origène , j'estime ces tourterelles et ces colombes, heureuses d'être offertes pour leur Sauveur ; car il sauve et les hommes et les animaux , » et leur donne à tous leur petite vie. Allez, petits animaux et innocentes victimes, allez mourir pour Jésus : c'est nous qui devions mourir à cause de notre péché : sauvons donc Jésus de la mort, en subissant celle que nous avions méritée. Dieu nous en délivre par Jésus qui meurt pour nous, et c'est en figure de Jésus notre véritable victime qu'on immole des animaux : ils meurent donc pour lui en quelque sorte, jusqu'à ce qu'il vienne, et nous sommes exempts de la mort par son oblation. Une autre mort nous est réservée : c'est la mort de la pénitence, la mort aux péchés, la mort aux mauvais désirs : par nos péchés et nos convoitises nous donnons la mort à Jésus « et nous le crucifions encore une fois . » Sauvons au Sauveur cette mort seule affligeante pour lui : mourons comme des tourterelles et des colombes, en gémissant dans la solitude et dans la retraite : que les bois, que les rochers, que les lieux seuls et écartés retentissent de nos cris, de nos tendres gémissements : soyons simples comme la colombe, fidèles et doux comme la tourterelle : mais ne croyons pas pour cela être innocents comme le sont ces animaux : notre péché est sur nous, et il nous faut mourir dans la pénitence.
" It is my judgment," wrote Origen [3], " that these turtles and pigeons were happy to be offered for their Saviour; for He saves men and animals [4], and gives to each of them their little life. Go then, little animals and innocent victims, go and offer your lives for Jesus. It is really us who should die because of our sin; so let us save Jesus from death by undergoing that which we have deserved. God deliver us from this death through Jesus who dies for us, and it is as a figure of Jesus, our true victim, that the animals are sacrificed; accordingly they die for Him in a certain manner, until He comes, and we are exempt from their death through this oblation. Another sort of death is reserved for us: it is the death coming from penance, death to sin, and death to evil desires. Through our sins and our concupiscence we condemn Jesus to death and crucify Him again.[5] letters save our Saviour from this death which afflicts Him alone; letters die like turtles and pigeons, crying and withdrawn in solitude; letter the wards and the rocks and the lonely, isolated places echo to our groans, to attend a size; letters by simple has a pigeon, faithful and gentle as a turtle dove; but for all that, let us not believe that we are innocent like these creatures; our sin is upon us, and we must diary in penance.
Notes
[1] [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,
[8] And if her hand find not sufficiency, and she is not able to offer a lamb, she shall take two turtles, or two young pigeons, one for a holocaust, and another for sin: and the priest shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed.
Quod si non invenerit manus ejus, nec potuerit offerre agnum, sumet duos turtures vel duos pullos columbarum, unum in holocaustum, et alterum pro peccato : orabitque pro ea sacerdos, et sic mundabitur.[1 Levit., xii 6, 8.]
[2] [9] For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor, for your sakes; that through his poverty you might be rich.
Scitis enim gratiam Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quoniam propter vos egenus factus est, cum esset dives, ut illius inopia vos divites essetis. [II Cor. viii. 9.]
[3] — 2 Origen. in Luc., hom. XIV.
[4] [7] Thy justice is as the mountains of God, thy judgments are a great deep. Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord:
Justitia tua sicut montes Dei; judicia tua abyssus multa. Homines et jumenta salvabis, Domine,— [Psal. xxxv 7]
[5] [6] And are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery.
et prolapsi sunt; rursus renovari ad poenitentiam, rursum crucifigentes sibimetipsis Filium Dei, et ostentui habentes. [Hebr. vi. 6.]
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