A gesture, a sign, a gift. These are the three carriers of meaning of the event that we celebrate on the 2^nd of February: the gesture is that of the offer, the sign of the light, the gift is of the meeting. The Presentation of the Lord is the feast of the offer, the festival of light, the feast of the meeting.

The purification’s rite of the mother, in Luke's description, runs quickly in the background, actually is the frame of the whole picture, all occupied by the baby Jesus’ offering: Joseph and Mary on the fortieth day after the birth, "brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord." Throughout the Gospel’s story two levels intertwine, as reversed poles: on one side two parents who offer the child to the Lord and for his ransom "offer as sacrifice" a pair of doves or two young pigeons. On the other hand is Jesus himself who enters the world offering himself to the Father to fulfill his will.

The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus "had to make himself very similar to others, to become a merciful and trustworthy priest in things pertaining to God." But we can see a filigree watermark in a deeper layer, which is also marked by the "law of inversion": on the one hand is the Son of God who offers himself to the Father in order to "liberate those who, through fear of death, are subject to slavery for all their life." On the other hand is God the Father, who gives us the Son as a light to reveal himself to the Gentiles and as salvation to the presence of all peoples.

So Jesus becomes the light of the world. Light and offer are in a very close relationship between them. Jesus is the light of the world, because he gave all of himself, he offered himself as a burnt offering, he made himself totally consumed by the fire of pure love to the Father and the brothers. The feast of the Presentation of the Lord is as a bridge between Christmas and Easter. At Christmas God "brings the firstborn into the world" (Heb 1:6). At Easter, Christ offers himself to the Father in his death and the Father restores him to life and giver of life, in the resurrection from the dead. Therefore, the Presentation closes on Christmas and opens on Easter. In the rightly called second announcement to Mary, Simeon plays the angel Gabriel and announces to the Mother the Son's sacrifice, of which she is called to be obedient and faithful partner, "and even to you a sword will pierce the soul." Mother and Son are embraced in one love, close in one pain, associated in one, the same desire: that of the Father.

The theme of light is vividly expressed by the ritual of burning candles, hence the old name for Candlemas. The symbol is striking: the wax is all available to the flame, is consumed in the heat and so spreads the light all around. It is proposed again the forecasting dimension of today's feast. Our procession should be read as an anticipation of the procession of the Easter vigil, when we will follow Christ the Light of the world, symbolized by the Paschal candle.

Today's celebration is also called Ipapante, which means meeting. The meeting of Jesus with Simeon and Anne appears as a symbol of an universal meeting: all the humanity crosses his Savior in the Church. Let's go in procession towards the Lord with lighted lamps, and we become light. Jesus reminds us: "You are the light of the world", and Paul exhorts us: "Offer yourself to God as alive, returned from the dead" (Rom 6:12). We live as children of light, already risen to new life. So we realize our true encounter with Christ: we take from him "Light from Light", and while with him we offer ourselves to the Father, we bring the light to the world to enlighten peoples .

"As the Mother of God took on her arms the true light and walked towards those who sit in darkness, we too, illuminated by his light and clutching the light that shines in front of everyone, we must hasten to him who is the true light "(Saint Sofronius).

In this route, which runs from the offer to the meeting, the religious men will reflect themselves and recognize the genetic code of life, the code of the gift. It is needed here the question: what happens to a young man or woman that decides to burn down his life for the gospel? The dynamics of a religious vocation, at the level of a reflected discourse, can be so articulate.

First is the experience of knowing and believing the Love (cf 1 Jn 4:16), the experience of feeling loved. It is a Copernican revolution. It appears that God gave us life only because he loves us and wants us happy, as the Scriptures sing from the first to the last of its pages. If I’m in the world, it is because God loves me and loves me infinitely more than I love myself or anyone else. If I live is for the Father who, in his merciful love drawing, has "blessed" me: He thought to me individually, He choose me and freely wished me well and without charge, He loved me and called me by name.

What is more, infinitely more. I have been "predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (cf Rom 8:29). The result is striking: like me, before me and after me, there was no history of salvation, and there never will be another "true copy" to the original which is Christ, the same as me. This is the polar star that shines on the horizon of my life: I was "programmed" to play Christ in me, and I'll be up to of my unique and irreplaceable originality as far as I allow Christ to reproduce himself, with a singular profile, in me.

From "knowing" the love of God – it is the second step - comes the recognition in the double sense of recognition of this Love and gratitude to His love. If I acknowledge with gratitude to have been blessed by God (descending blessing) I too feel the irrepressible need to bless him This upward blessing implies a definite not and a clearer and more decisive yes.

I say not to the unrealistic and desperate thought to be the master of my self. I give up any alleged right of ownership over my life. If I did not claim to be born, if I did not pay any entrance fee to enter the world, then getting to the blessing of life - this is yes - it's like entering a friend’s house: with kindliness and discretion, with attention and care. The blessing not only deprives my life to my blind and despotic will, but returns it to the only true lordship, that of God.

From knowing and recognizing the Love that is in your life you come -it is the third time– to the choice of giving back your life to Love. It is the delivery of our self for love to Love. It is the free and thankful offer of our lives to God, the giver of all good. Who at this point decided not to surrender, would inevitably be destined to become a faceless, nameless number, more and more sad and lonely, who does not trust anyone and does not rely on anyone, eventually losing all confidence in himself and then undergoing the conditioning of a multitude of fears, demands and blackmail.

Those who, like Paul, "the prisoner of the Lord" (Ephesians 4:1) have their life totally in the hands of Christ, feel consequently free from everyone and everything: from the illusion of being self-sufficient, the presumption of saving themselves by their own resources, the need to please others, the spasmodic search for self-realization and gratification ... is the code of the gift. It is the logic of freedom that when is born from truth, becomes trust and abandonment, it even allows you the freedom to dispense with itself. Three judgments to confirmation. The first is of Jesus: "Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it". The second is by the Council: the man "can not fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" (GS 24). The third is of Don Milani: "Who gives his freedom is freer than one who is forced to keep it."

So we arrive at the meeting of the soul with God. On this delicate and difficult ridge lies the gulf between Christian and Eastern mysticism. The Oriental "ways" offer mostly a mystical fusion with the Whole. However the Christian mysticism is the mysticism of the meeting, and requires a path to the totally Other. The eastern routes are substantially devoid of love, because they are ways in which the man is in search of himself. The Christian way is going" out of self" to love the Living Being, Father, Brother and Spouse. Mingling in the Whole , the Eastern mystiques are brought to deny action, while Christian encourages action, because it is mystical love. And love opens God, the Other, but also pushes towards the others, starting with the poorest brothers and sisters. The love of Christ impels us, that all might have life.

In summary we can say that living life as a vocation is the vocation to live life. But perhaps we can express the same message with warmer and loose words. Like the bright and glowing words of this prayer: