An Infant Lamb

It was an unusual experience. I was laying in bed the other night, in that twilight state between conscious and unconscious, when the words of Isaiah were in my head, "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth" (53:7). The strangest part about it though was that I was saying those words to myself while seeing this image of Jesus' presentation in the Temple - the infant Jesus, silent as a lamb led to slaughter. My mind registered that Mary and Joseph would have carried Him through the Temple courtyard, bustling with animals to be offered in sacrifice. This struck me as something unique, so I roused myself enough to grab the journal on my bedside table and jot it down. And that's it.

I would like to unpack it more, but don't know what to say at the moment. I recall reading a couple of years back a meditation written by Sr. Lucia (of Fatima) on the presentation, where she felt that Mary was presenting Jesus for sacrifice - but I could see that in only an extended sense: she was offering Him completely to the Lord's service, and His sacrificial death could be seen as implicit in that offering. I don't know. Something to think on.

(Image, Presentation In The Temple, courtesy of: http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=dwellingintheword.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2%2Fwww.holyhillcross.com%2FPRESENTATION%2520IN%2520THE%2520TEMPLE.jpg)