The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is celebrated today. The characters in Luke’s account are brought together in an event that moves them to a new place. Joseph and Mary are doing merely what is required of them, the ritual presentation of their first-born male child, Jesus, to God, and the sacrifice that accompanies…

Whether it is of the day or of life itself, evening time is the time of recollection. To recollect oneself means to gather oneself up into meditation. We have here and now only a moment for this. That is enough. But first: the story. It began forty days ago when the baby was born: the…