Tuesday 2nd February, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as The Purification or Candlemas.

This "Feast of Light” - which is what Candlemas means - opens the transition from Crib to Cross, from Christmastide to the Passover Feast, and the 50 days of Easter.

The child, on the 40th day after his birth, is still in the arms of his mother, but already she is in the Temple in Jerusalem offering him in sacrifice.

Thirty years later she will hold him in her arms again. Then, on that first Good Friday, the sacrifice of her son will be complete, and the sword will have pierced her heart, just as Simeon, the old man, foretold.

Now she holds the warm living body of her baby. Thirty-three years later, she will hold the dead body of her grown son.

Through Mary, and with Mary, we find Christ the the true light of our lives. This true light can supplant all the fake, sham and bogus lights that first attract us, then dazzle, and finally blind us, plunging us into terrible darkness again.

Tuesday's feast celebrates the gift of this light; a light that can shine in us and shine through us.

Come to Mass on that day. Be truly "enlightened". Come, most especially if you are in any darkness, any anxiety, and despair, any loneliness, any crisis. Come! Come to the Light!