Totally Dedicated

Note:  A phone call just before the deadline prevented this slice from being posted yesterday.  It appears today as a bonus

Today's Memorial of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple highlights several facets of Mary's life for our contemplation today.  Although the presentation is not found in the Bible, it has become part of our tradition stemming from the Protoevangelium of St. James, an apocryphal work of the 1st century. According to the story, Mary is born to Anna and Joachim, and elderly couple,  similar to Abraham and Sarah, and Zechariah and Elizatbeth, recalling the special intervention of God in her birth...for a purpose:  to be the Mother of God.  She is presented in the Temple, yet later becomes the Temple of the Holy Spirit from which comes the Son of God.  She is totally dedicated to God her whole life and particularly from the moment of her "FIAT"...let it be done to me when Jesus is conceived in her and shares in his role of Savior of the World.  The grace of salvation comes to us to us through this totally dedicated woman who also serves as a model of dedication to us as dedicated disciples of Jesus.
Bro. Rene