We celebrate this feast on the 40th day after Christmas in accordance with Leviticus 12:2-4, which prescribes a period of purification of forty days for a woman who gives birth to a boy. There is a general idea in the Mosaic Law that contact with birth or death is contact with a great mystery and means a certain loss of vitality. Hence one must come back to God through a ceremony that restores this vitality. Thus a mother needs to be purified by a blessing so that her blood becomes full of vitality once more, and the child, if it is a first-born son is to be presented to the Lord.

Luke intends to show that Joseph and Mary were good Jews, who followed strictly the Law of Moses.

In suggesting the passage from the prophet Malachi as the first reading, the Church calls attention to one aspect of the Presentation story, namely that this is the first time that Jesus is in the Temple. Malachi says: "The Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple." Simeon and Anna waited patiently for the coming of the Messiah. Their patience was rewarded when, unexpectedly, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple.