The golden legend of the Purification of Our Lady

By Rear Admiral Shemal FERNANDO

In the liturgical calendar, the feast of Our Lady of Purification is celebrated on February 2, 40 days after the feast of Nativity of Our Lord on December 25. Besides, 'Purification of Our Lady', the feast is also identified in the titles of 'Presentation of Our Lord', 'Success of Our Lady' and 'Meeting of Simeon with the Infant Jesus'.

This year, St. Mary's Church in Nayakakanda marks the 150th Jubilee and the Festive High Mass today will be officiated by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Colombo.

Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatillake, the energetic parish priest spearheaded the herculean task of renovating the church and has successfully completed same with the crowning of the statue of Our Lady of Purification winning the admiration of all Catholics in the country.

He has made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the solemn occasion befittingly and is ably supported by his two assistants, Rev. Fr. Nirmal Malaka Silva and Rev. Fr. Shiran Dasa.

According to the Old Testament, a mother would take her son 40 days after his birth to the Temple to present herself to be purified and to offer the child to God. This was a precept that every good Israelite mother observed. It was moreover a beautiful law that reflected the holiness of God.

A child is born amid the dangers that accompany every gestation. But finally he is born.

As soon as the mother recovers enough to travel, she takes the child and goes to the Temple. She goes and presents her child to God because He was the one who created him so he might be offered to God and live for Him. The Old Law made this presentation obligatory.

Our Blessed Lady, the purest of virgins, in her great humility, came like every other mother for this ceremony of her 'Purification', desirous as she was to honour God by every prescribed observance and act of religion. And being poor, she and St. Joseph brought the offering meant for the poor.

Presentation of Our Lord

The second great mystery honoured on this day is the 'Presentation of Our Lord' in the Temple. A first born son had to be offered to God and then ransomed back.

So, Our Blessed Lady would have offered her Son to the Father, and then St. Joseph would have paid the priest five shekels. Then she would have received Him back in her arms and they would have been free to go home.

Because she did not have original sin, Our Lady was above the Old Law. Likewise, Our Lord who is God, was not subject to the Law that He Himself made.

The Legislator is superior to the Law.

So, in principle, He was not obliged to go and Our Lady was not obliged to take Him to the Temple in Jerusalem. But she wanted to do so. She wanted to do out of respect for the law and for tradition.

Loving tradition and animated by her intense love for God, she took her Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, to the Temple of Jerusalem.

Our Lady of Good Success

The relation of this event to 'Our Lady of Good Success' is an event worthy of note, something that demands care, sacrifice and dedication and which gives a result.

When this result is good, one says that it is a good success.

There was much good success in the birth of Our Lord: the gestation of Our Lady was perfect; it was followed by a blessed and happy delivery, and the Child was healthy and perfect.

Therefore, to commemorate such good success and to fulfil the precept of purification Our Lady took Him to the Temple.

In the broadest sense of the word, good success applies also to all those who carry out an arduous work, who take on a great responsibility, who desire to do difficult things to reach the result they were striving for.

When their efforts are accomplished with the desired good result, they have a good success. Our Lady is the patroness of all those who seek a good success in the service of her cause.

Then we have the story in the Gospels on that episode at the Temple.

It is God Incarnate Who enters the Temple built to worship Him. Even if the Temple had been much more splendid than the Temple of Jerusalem, it still would not have been sufficient for the Incarnate God to enter.

It was the greatest hour, the blessed hour, the perfect hour.

One can say that at that moment, the angels filled the Temple and began to sing to celebrate the solemn moment.

Our Lady entered holding Our Lord. Yet almost no one realised the magnitude of the event.

At the time Our Lord was born, the Temple was filled with booths of people doing business of all kinds. Almost everything was in ruins, a moral decadence. Then, the One Who is the Author of all things entered into these spiritual ruins. He came to fulfil the ritual of presentation, and a prophet, Simeon, who was the Prophet chosen by God for this act of receiving the Son of God in the Temple, came forward.

Receiving the Divine Child in his arms, he spoke the words of that canticle: "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant in peace, O Lord, according to thy word. Because my eyes have seen my salvation, which thou hast prepared in the face of all peoples, A Light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."

Our Lady, joyous, heard these words spoken by Prophet Simeon, who seemed embittered by life, by a promise that still had not been fulfilled.

Then, when he saw the Messiah arrive, he cried out "Now, Lord, I can die in peace because my eyes have seen the Saviour."

He blessed them, and told the mother the future of that Child. He foresaw the Glory and the Cross. He said: "Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted."

The Prophetess Anna also sang the glories of the Child.

By divine inspiration, Simeon and Anna were given to know that which until then only St. Joseph and Mary and a few others knew, that He was the Son of God.

History of Nayakakanda church

As gleaned from the preserved details, a cadjan thatched church had existed in early 1860s at Hendala and same had been destroyed due to an unfortunate incident that occurred a day following the first Festive Holy Mass.

The permanent structure for the first church commenced in 1862 on a property donated by a group of devout Catholics of the area.

Then Vicar General of Colombo Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Mathew Cajitan, OMI on a request by Rev. Fr. Dominic Pulicano, OMI bought more land to build the church.

The pioneering efforts of Rev. Fr. Pulicano came into fruition with the completion of the construction of the church supported by Rev. Fr. Carlo Mario Cardano, the administrator from 1878 to 1881.

It is said that the church had been blessed several times by Blessed Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka.

Original church

The original church at Nayakakanda not only served the parish community for almost 100 years but also fulfilled the needs of the faithful of Wattala and its surroundings.

In 1934, Nayakakanda was declared a Parish.

The continuous increase of parishioners over the years and the progressive deterioration of the building prompted Rev. Fr. Joseph Aloysius, OMI to initiate steps to commence reconstruction to the existing structure in 1952 and later Rev. Fr. J. L. Mique, OMI completed the task in 1962.

Today, over 4827 families of all ethnic groups constitute the parish.

Besides, the church functions as the coordinating centre for over 32 societies which serve the spiritual and temporal needs of the faithful.

In the Archdiocese of Colombo, Nayakakanda is the largest parish and includes two sub parishes, Kerawalapitiya and Balagala, that serves 750 and 1,400 families respectively.