Dedication in the Temple
When Mary was three years old, her parents presented her in the Temple in Jerusalem as a gift to the Lord. Their family then lived close by that great center of Jewish life. Even from her first days, Mary as a child seemed to know that her life was to serve God. The temple of God so near her home was a place she loved and there was nowhere else she would rather be. So as a little girl just three years old, her parents watched her ascend the fifteen great steps to the temple courtyard and approach the altar of sacrifice.
God was there and she wished to be near him. And that is what her parents, Ann and Joachim wished that their daughter be near her God. The early story says that Mary spent most of her childhood in that holy place.