The Holy Family presents....

At the beginning of many of of our television programmes and films, our ears are usually sandblasted with a loud jingle and a title card saying "Cosmos Actors present..." To be honest, once our ears have stopped ringing, those first seconds of any film aren't the bit we remember, nor should they be. We don't discuss the title cards around the water cooler the next day. "Did you see Warmer Bothers' latest introduction to the film last night?"

It seems that the big showy music and logo-building aren't really anything save a declaration of who produced the show. We forget it almost immediately when the film gets going.

Yet, in the temple, an ordinary couple make a presentation to God through an aged, tired priest. No jingle, no logo, no title card, just a presentation of a baby to God as has always been done according to Jewish Law. The sacrifice is a bare minimum according to the poverty of this couple. The woman is here to give thanks for her childbearing and for His tender care through a time of very delicate health. Very few might think anything of it.

And yet in this action, the last action of Christmastide, the child presented to God is God Himself. Like holding a mirror up to a mirror, the presentation becomes reflected back, not just on The Holy Family but for us all. God presents His only begotten Son to the world.

There is no great miracle here, just simple recognition by two elderly people who have waited their entire lives to see this, It is the title card for the end of their earthly lives and the beginning of the journey into Eternity. They don't need the miracles, they just need God.

The world demands flash-bang soundbites and logos before it will respect anything, and this respect will be shortlived when the next flash-bang happens. The Christian life is about the constant presentation of ourselves to God as we are and as He knows us to be. To Him, this is more a cause of rejoicing than any empty noise of vanity could hope to engender in the Divine Countenance. We approach God simply, cognisant of our Sin, yet being bold to stand and present ourselves as we are trusting in absolutely nothing that we have done, but in His manifold and great mercies.