Today's celebration of Candlemas reminds us of the balance between light and dark, and the natural order of things. The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which it commemorates – the fourth Joyful Mystery of the rosary – is tempered with sadness. Simeon prophesied to Mary that “a sword will pierce your heart". Sorrow and suffering are part of what it is to be human – they are as inescapable as darkness and light.
The third Joyful Mystery, the Nativity, is also overlaid with sorrow – the Magi’s gift of myrrh foretells the death of Jesus, and prepares Mary for her own important presence at the crucifixion. Myrrh was used in the embalming of the body; part of the process of grief involves attention to the corpse and its respectful treatment, the mortal coil in its final act.
