Presentation Day on 21st November 2025 carries an even deeper meaning this year, as we prepare to launch in December 2025, the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the Presentation Congregation by Nano Nagle in 1775.
Nano’s life and legacy continues to invite us to live daily for something other than ourselves, to identify with a God of Heaven and Earth, a God of the highways and by-ways, and shelters, shops, prisons and hospitals. To recognise a God whose expression is visible in and through our ministries, with features as diverse and expressive as the Universe we inhabit, and the tasks we undertake with those made poor.
We know that Nano and her Sisters celebrated the Feast day of the Presentation of Mary. This story of Mary’s birth to Joachim and Anne, among other things, shows how much God is concerned with every aspect of our lives.
Nano in her passionate commitment to be with those ‘made poor’ brought the light of the Gospel into the darkest corners of society determined to address their suffering with practical actions. She was called to both prayer and action ‘to solitude and to the crowded lanes’. This apparent paradox is also evident in the life of Jesus who spent time in prayer and yet was also ‘out there’ among the people.
Nano’s ‘yes’ resonated with that of Mary’s, giving birth to a charism that has spread to different parts of the globe, inspiring the wonderful and transforming work of our Sisters, Friends of Nano and all those with whom we collaborate.
We invite you to live and pray these days with us as we journey towards Presentation Day.
Let us give thanks for all people involved in the very many activities, actions and celebrations that will bring such joy, inspiration and hope, while at the same time helping to make Nano known to a wider world.
Presentation
Mary,
Living from that sacred place
Where earth meets heaven,
Your heart discerned the Holy One
In stars, in sun,
In lives of men and women,
In wind, in rock, in miracle of leaven,
In sacred Word proclaiming Israel’s story,
In all the dailiness of life.Woman of life,
Welcome us into your home
Your place, your sacred space!
Our eyes search to see as you saw.
Our hearts yearn to know as you knew,
To know the thousand faces of the One
Above, below, withing, beyond, among us,
Flesh among us. Be light for our darkness.
Be dawn for our new day.~ Raphael Consedine, PBVM
You can also join us on our Social Media Platforms – see links on the front page of our website: HERE
See https://presentationsistersne.ie/nano-nagle-a-prophet-of-love/
Note: The early annals of the Presentation Congregation record that the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple was the date chosen by Nano in 1782, to receive two young women into the novitiate. Nano’s choice of this day for this ceremony, indicates that this Feast had a special place in her spirituality. Following Nano’s death, her fledging Congregation continued to choose this day to receive women into novitiate. Nano Nagle recognised in this feast an expression of Mary’s total self-giving to God.
The Church liturgy for this feast speaks of Mary as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and prays ‘that we like her may be presented on the Temple of God’s glory.’ This ancient prayer from the liturgy offers us a means of understanding Nano’s devotion and continues to provide new insights into how to be Presentation people today.
