How I Say the Rosary...the Presentation

I'll repeat the structure I devised, then post the Bible verses which I consider to be relevant to a consideration of the named Mystery.


ROSARY STRUCTURE:

The Sign of the Cross.

The Apostles Creed.

One Our Father.

One Hail Mary.

One Glory Be.

One Oh My Jesus ("Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins," etc.)

Then, the announcement, "First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation."

Then, one Our Father.

Then, I actually really do "contemplate the Mystery."

Then, after contemplating the Mystery, I say one Hail Mary, one Glory Be, and one Oh My Jesus.

Then I repeat the cycle, beginning with the announcement of the next Mystery, and the Our Father, followed by contemplation of that Mystery, and so on.


BIBLE VERSES TO CONTEMPLATE:

Almost nobody knows what the Presentation is, because almost nobody really ever "contemplates" it.

The Presentation is really about sacrificial death -- not a joyous moment about a newborn's new life.

To more fully understand this, we have to understand God's perfect Justice.

It is brutal.

For the sins of Peter J. Dawson, and the sins of Jane Roe the Reader and John Doe the Reader, God's perfect Justice exacts perfect payment.

This won't magically "turn off."

But because Gode is a perfectly Merciful perfect Lover, God addressed the "problem" of His perfect Justice (in fact, we are the problem) in another way...

I have found that the best way to understand how God handles the "problem" of His perfect Justice is through a homespun myth -- an imaginary conversation within the Trinity.

GOD THE FATHER: "As we knew would happen, these humans we created out of love are disgusting. All they worry about are themselves -- not others. Our justice is outraged. Our justice makes me want to smash them in their selfish, hate-filled faces.

"But, I love them. I want to have mercy on them.

"Someone has got to pay for their faithlessness and sins -- to the last penny."

GOD THE SON: "I will. I volunteer. I'll pay."

GOD THE FATHER: "Because the humans hate to death, the price exacted by our justice is horrible suffering and death by a perfect one."

GOD THE SON: "I will. I volunteer. I'll pay."

GOD THE FATHER: "My son, whom I love so much, this gift of love and mercy to satisfy our perfect, brutal justice is hard for me in a way the humans can not understand. But, I accept your loving offer, and so I offer you up to our own brutal justice to suffer and die on their behalf."

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT: "Your love is amazing. I will carry your loving gift to humanity, so that they, in their imperfect, hate-characterized way, will achieve the torture and murder necessary to bring about the suffering and death being wrought on their behalf.

"Before I do this, I will tell them stories, in their Scriptures, hinting at the suffering and death of God's beloved son to come, and the reason why. The curious will see it, with our help, through the Old Testament Church, Judaism. The rain of grace showering upon the faithless, sinful humans in both the Old Testament and New Testament Churches, as a result of the suffering and death of God's beloved son, I will tell them about with more clarity in the New Testament Church of the Popes, and also through their Protestant and Orthodox brothers and sisters, and also through the continuing Old Testament Church, Judaism. The grace will also be delivered, in a special way, through the New Testament Church.

"They will always have trouble understanding these things, in part, because the grace, itself, makes life bearable, making it unclear how horrible they really are and so how badly they need the grace; in part, because the extent to which they refuse the grace, and so make their own lives hellish for each other, obfuscates their own understanding."

For the reasons stated, how these things are so, and why they are so, is very, very hard for people in our modern society to comprehend and then accept. Hopefully my little myth, here, helped. Hopefully, contemplating the Presentation using the Bible verses wehich follow will also help.

Re the Presentation, contemplate...

Luke 2:22-39.

In a sense, Verse 22 is poorly translated. Purification of the blood of childbirth and official Presentation are two different things. A =/= B.

Verse 23 does not make clear WHY "...it is written in the law of the Lord, 'Every first-born male shall be consecrated to the Lord.'" The answer is in the chain reference notes of good Bibles. My Bible, the New American Bible for Catholics, refers me to...

Exodus 13, which says that (1) all first-born males must be consecrated to the Lord, and (2) these males MUST BE KILLED IF NOT REDEEMED. Exodus 13:13 gives, as an example, an unredeemed first-born of an ass. It says, "If you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck."

Note the redemption price for people: Numbers 18:16.

Does Luke mention such a payment?

What is the implication?

There is mention of a payment by sacrifice of two turtledoves or pigeons. What was that for?

Read Leviticus 12.