[Dear Friends, We took the above photo of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success many years ago in Quito as she was about to be taken back into the Upper Choir Loft of the Conceptionist Monastery on February 3rd after her great feast day.
To me, she looked as if she was abandoned, left to weep alone as she gazed out on the world seeing the terrible universal corruption of souls... Let us recall what the Feast of the Presentation and Candlemas represents.]
There is a strong mystical aspect to this historical event of the Presentation that we celebrate on Candlemas which was explained by St Alphonsus de Ligouri. It is the premise that Our Lady acted as a victim soul or Co-Redemptrix officially beginning at the Presentation when Simeon pronounces these words:
“And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed."[Luke 2:35] Saint Alphonsus writes in “The Glories of Mary”: “Thus, Mary not only offered her Son to death in the Temple, but she renewed that offering every moment of her life for she revealed to St Bridget that the sorrow announced to her by the holy Simeon never left her heart until her Assumption into heaven. In the Presentation how much more deeply did she submit to God’s will and repeat ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy word.’” (Luke 1:38).
St Alphonsus goes onto say: “The wills of Christ and Mary were then united, so that both offered the same holocaust; she thereby producing with Him the same effect, the salvation of the world.”
To listen to a wonderful yet short sermon given on the Feast of Presentation and Candlemas:
