02 February 2025 – The Presentation of the Lord

by Fr Raymond Raj

Before this sermon, I just want to share something, what happened last weekend. 

Last weekend after the Sunday Mass, I was doing the interview with RCIA candidates, Mandarin speaking RCIA candidates. About 11 of them. And what really struck me last Sunday was during one of the interview (no name mentioned here), during one of the interview, this young girl, she asked me a question about one of my sermons here for the past one month.

‘Father, what do you mean by praying without a solution in the mind? I cannot understand it.’

You know, when I heard that, I felt very happy. Very, very happy. At least one person, she is not even a Catholic, at least one person is listening to my sermon. I was very touched last Sunday. I do not know about you. At least a non-Catholic is listening to my sermon.

Brothers and sisters, when it comes to offering or giving, remember this always. You can always give without love. You can always give anything without love but you cannot love without giving. It is impossible to love without giving.

The divine law teaches you and me the more you give, the more it will eventually come back to you. The more you give, the more you receive. This is divine law.

In today’s Gospel, Mary and Joseph gave, offered, presented Jesus to the temple, according to the law of Moses. And what does the law of Moses say?

Every firstborn must be consecrated to the Lord with a pair of animals, animals to be sacrificed. Every firstborn must be presented to the Lord.

So brothers and sisters, this ritual of offering the first child to the Lord in the temple is very much identical to the Sacrament of Infant Baptism in which our parents bring us to the church to be baptised, to be consecrated by an ordained priest. So this ritual is very much similar, identical to the Sacrament of Infant Baptism.

So brothers and sisters, the Presentation of our Lord in the temple reminds us of two important messages that you and I can take away today.

The first message is we are created, we are made for God. Period. You and I, we are created and we are made for God.

Message number 2. Parents play a big role when it comes to faith. Parents. In fact, as a Catholic priest, I personally believe for spiritual growth of any child, parents’ role are more important than any bishop or than any priest, for that matter. Parents play a much important role for the spiritual growth of a child.

You know why? 

Your children only spends one hour or maximum 2 hours in the church every week. The rest of the hours, they are with you. As the golden rule always tells us, as parents, what you sow you shall harvest. This is the golden rule for each and every parent. What you sow today is what you are going to harvest 10 years or 20 years later.

Brothers and sisters, I would like to share this today. 

I can recall, I remember every now and then some parents will come over to me and they will share this thing to me which I think is very important to share with all of you today.

Some of the parents will say,

‘Father, I have a problem, Father. My children’s children, they have grown up. My children, Father, they are very, very, very successful out there in the world. High flyers. They are very successful, Father. The only problem as a parent, Father, that I am facing is this grown up children they only attend Mass, they only come to the church once or maximum twice in a year, which is Christmas and Easter. They only come twice in a year, Father. But Father, rest assured, my children are very good people. They are very good. The only problem is they only attend Mass twice a year.’

So, Father, you are an ordained priest. What can I do now, Father? What can I do now? How can I bring back my grown up children who are successful out there back to the church every week? How can I do it?’

In situation like this, I sympathise, truly. I sympathise with the parents. I only tell them,
‘You can only do two things. The first one – pray. The second one – you must fast. You must also fast for the conversion of your children. What you sow is what you will harvest.’

Brothers and sisters, each one of us were presented to the Lord by our parents during baptism. And the question remains today:-
How faithful are we thereafter? After baptism, after you and I were presented to the Lord, how faithful are we?

It is sad but true. It has become a trend today in the Catholic church, not outside, in the Catholic church to attend Mass twice a year. In between that, some of us choose to stay away, far away from the church unless there is an emergency, funeral or anointing.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a reminder today. You and I, we are made for God. And the best part is we exist because of God. You and I, we exist because of God. Our careers can be important but always remember God is more important than anything else, than everything put together.

God is far important and I hope today as parents, you will remind your children this message. Of course, your education is important. Your career is important. But above all, God is much more important than everything put together.

Brothers and sisters, as Christians, if we only choose to attend Mass once a year or twice a year for the sake of Canon Law, then our identity as Catholics carries no meaning at all.

According to the tradition, the Feast of our Lord’s Presentation is also known as the Candle Mass. Before the Mass begins, we have brought all our candles to be blessed by an ordained priest. Brothers and Sisters, the candles that were blessed today is not meant for decoration. Not decoration but rather all the candles that were blessed today is a reminder that Christ is the light of the world. No one else.

Christ is the only light of the world.

So today, in this Holy Feast Day Mass, let us pray for the grace like Jesus. You and I will always strive to become a light for our family, for our parish and for the rest of the world. In the words of Anita, not this Anita, in the words of Anita Bryant:
When a person attends Mass regularly, God lights a candle in his or her soul.

When a person attends Mass regularly, God Himself lights a candle in his or her soul. We pray for this grace during this Holy Mass.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:

Click to live-stream Mass on 02 February 2025