It's been 40 days since Christmas, the celebration of Christ's birth, and so we celebrate a special occasion instead of the usual lectionary cycle for this Sunday. It's an occasion which functions as an extension of the Christmas Season. For me, that makes it very important, and I kind of wish it was emphasized a little more in the liturgical calendar every year.
Mary and Joseph go to the Temple in Jerusalem to fulfill the requirements of the Law, and it becomes a awesome time for them as their child's special role is acclaimed, by Simeon and Anna, two righteous people to whom God reveals Himself. It is another Manifestation of God in Jesus, just like the Feasts of the Christmas Season.
Father Barrron created a series called Catholicism, and the first episode is entitled "Amazed and Afraid", which is based on a passage in Mark 10, where the disciples are both amazed and afraid of Jesus. I think something similar can be applied to the meaning of this feast. It's amazing that God is actually coming to us, in the form of a humble baby named Jesus. Yet Jesus is more than just a baby: He grows up to suffer greatly and die on the Cross, so that we can be purified from evil and sin to be presented pleasing and righteous before God. In these two contrasting things, we acclaim Jesus Christ as the Light who brings us Salvation, to all the world, just like Simeon did.
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