From Vatican Radio:

On the afternoon of Wednesday 2nd of February , Feast of the Presentation of the Lord , Pope Benedict XVI will preside over vespers in Saint Peter’s Basilica at 5.30 pm.

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In an effort to prepare for this evening celebration , on this day which is also dedicated to the XVI World Day of Consecrated Life we bring you a musical meditation focusing on the Presentation: “Mary and Joseph came to the Temple to present the Child Jesus to the Lord as the Law required.The Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary focuses on the Presentation in the Temple. We celebrate it liturgically forty days after Christmas on the Feast of Candlemas , when we process with lighted candles , bearing witness before the world to the light of Christ”.

In this programme presented by music historian Monsignor Philip Whitmore you can listen to a setting of the Magnificat antiphon for the first vespers of the Feast of the Presentation by Catholic composer in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , William Byrd.

A programme produced by Veronica Scarisbrick .

“All who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem”

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an excerpt from today’s reflection by Don Schwager:

What do you hope for? The hope which God places in our heart is the desire for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness. Hope grows with prayer and perseverance. Anna was pre-eminently a woman of great hope and expectation that God would fulfill all his promises. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she was found daily in the house of the Lord, attending to the Lord in prayer and speaking prophetically to others about the Lord’s promise to send a redeemer. She is a model of godliness to all believers as we advance in age. Advancing age and the disappointments of life can easily make us cynical and hopeless if we do not have our hope placed rightly. Anna’s hope in God and his promises grew with age! She never ceased to worship God in faith and to pray with hope. Her hope and faith in God’s promises fueled her indomitable zeal and fervor in prayer and service of God’s people. How do we grow in hope? By placing our trust in the promises of Jesus Christ and relying not on our own strength, but on the grace and help of the Holy Spirit. Does your hope and fervor for God grow with age?

“Lord Jesus, may I never cease to hope in you and to trust in your promises. Inflame my zeal for your kingdom and increase my love for prayer, that I may never cease to give you praise and worship”.

for the full reflection visit : Daily Reading and Meditation

“This child is set for the fall and rising of many”

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an excerpt from today’s reflection by Don Schwager:

Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph and he prophesied to Mary about the destiny of this child and the suffering she would undergo for his sake. There is a certain paradox for those blessed by the Lord. Mary was given the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God. That blessedness also would become a sword which pierced her heart as her Son died upon the cross. She received both a crown of joy and a cross of sorrow. But her joy was not diminished by her sorrow because it was fueled by her faith, hope, and trust in God and his promises. Jesus promised his disciples that “no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). The Lord gives us a supernatural joy which enables us to bear any sorrow or pain and which neither life nor death can take way. Do you know the joy of a life fully surrendered to God with faith and trust?

“Lord Jesus, may I recognize your visitation and be prepared for your action in my life today, just as Simeon Anna were prepared and ready to respond to your visitation and action in their day.”

for the full reflection visit : Daily Reading and Meditation