Forty days after his nativity in the flesh, Christ was brought to the Temple, in accordance with the established conditions of the Law. Because he was welcomed there by people motivated by the Spirit, and, especially because Symeon took him in his arms, the feast is called the Reception, in the sense of an official welcome. The Church has decided that this great feast of the Lord and his Mother is to be celebrated on February 2, because this is the date which falls 40 days after December 25, the Nativity. It is part of the way in which the year is divided into stages marking the divine dispensation and gives us the opportunity to be inducted into the great mystery ...
