The human memory is very important to God who wants us to remember the wondrous things He has done for us.  But one of the effects of Original Sin is forgetfulness and the tendency to focus on what is negative.  And so God tells people to focus on Him and His blessings.  This is why God told Moses to have the Israelites remember the way God saved them from slavery in Egypt and to do this with a ritual in which they offered every firstborn child to Him.

In the Book of Exodus, Chapter 13, we read:

The Lord spoke to Moses and said: “Consecrate to me every firstborn; whatever opens the womb among the Israelites, whether of human being or beast, belongs to me. … And when your son asks you later on, ‘What does this mean?’ you will tell him, ‘With a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstborn of human being and beast alike. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord every male that opens the womb, and why I ransom every firstborn of my sons’” (1-2, 14-15).

Of course, God was not asking the people to engage in human sacrifice like the pagan tribes that surrounded the Israelites.  But God did want His people to remember how He saved them by performing a sacred rite in which they offered their children to God.

Being good, observant Jews, Mary and Joseph performed this ritual and presented Jesus to God in the Jerusalem Temple.

On the first Passover night, when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, it was the blood of a lamb, smeared on the doorposts of the Jewish households, that saved them from death and slavery.  Christians remember a much more important event, one that saved us from the slavery of sin and even death itself.  We remember how it was the Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, smeared on a Cross and gushing forth from His Pierced Heart, that saved us.

We have been saved and redeemed.  Our lives are not our own to do with as we want.  We belong to God.  As St. Paul wrote: “Do you not know that … you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20).

As Jesus was offered to the Father in the Temple, so we were offered at Baptism.  Let’s remember this and renew our own “presentation” every day with Jesus and Mary.

I am Yours and all that I have is Yours, O Jesus,
through Mary, Your Most Holy Mother.