“Thank you for being here and for sharing your faith,” Bishop Edward Malesic told those who gathered in St. Francis Chapel on the campus of John Carroll University. About 200 members of the JCU community filled the chapel on a dreary Sunday night for a Mass celebrated by the bishop.
Several members of the Jesuit community concelebrated the Feb. 2 liturgy, which marked the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and Candlemas. The faithful received candles as they entered the chapel. The candles were blessed and lit during the liturgy.
Ed Peck, JCU vice president for university mission and identity, welcomed all to the celebration.
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The bishop said he was happy to be back on campus, noting it brought back memories of his time in campus ministry when he was a priest in the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “So many memories are running through my mind,” he said.
“We gather here tonight to give praise to God. Make your worship the best you can,” he told the faithful.
The bishop talked about what the presentation of Jesus meant, explaining that Jews were obligated to present their firstborn sons in the temple and to offer gifts to God. “Mary and Joseph were devout Jews,” he said, and they fulfilled this requirement. Jesus was born poor, so his parents could afford only the minimum offering.
To most, Jesus’ presentation in the temple was routine. However, two people – Simeon and Anna – recognized the significance of the event. “They, along with Mary and Joseph, were the only ones to understand what was happening,” the bishop said. According to Scripture, Anna was a devout 84-year-old widow who spent all her time praying in the temple. Simeon was a prophet who longed to see the promised savior before he died. Once he saw Jesus in the temple, he acknowledged he had seen “a light for revelation to the gentiles and glory for your people Israel.” God’s glory, which left the temple in 586 B.C., returned that day in the person of Jesus.
The bishop said as we take Jesus with us into the world, our bodies become his temples. When we receive him in Communion, we become tabernacles.
Anna was one of the first evangelists, the bishop said, telling all about the child Jesus.
He reminded the congregation about the pastoral letter he released in December, encouraging them to read it. The document, “A Flourishing Apostolic Church,” asks the faithful to spend more time in prayer and notes the three things active parishes must do: worship, evangelize and serve. “This is the trifecta of good Catholic living,” he added.
Reflecting on life in the early Church, Bishop Malesic said Christians listened to the word of Jesus, they went out and shared it and they cared for the poor.
“You do that here, too,” he added.
After Mass, the bishop greeted students and mingled with them at a reception.