PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
We follow Christ Our Light]
Today we celebrate the Presentation of the Child and Lord Jesus in the Temple. Eastern Churches call this feast: “the encounter”. Jesus comes to the Temple to encounter his people in the persons of Simeon and Anna, who stand for the Old Testament or Covenant. They recognize Jesus as the long-expected hope of Israel. He is to lead God’s people into the New Testament or Covenant and from now on all are invited to follow the Lord Jesus. We recognize today Jesus as the light of our life, and with lighted candles in our hands we are following him: we become lights of Christ our Light.
Reading 1: Mal 3:1-4
“Look! I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple—yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on his way!” A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?
He’ll be like white-hot fire from the smelter’s furnace. He’ll be like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God, as they used to be in the years long ago.
Reading 2: Heb 2:14-18
Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death. It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.
Gospel: Lk 2:22-40
Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God’s Law: “Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God,” and also to sacrifice the “pair of doves or two young pigeons” prescribed in God’s Law. In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:
God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.
Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,
This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem. When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.
Prayer
Our God and Father,
It is hard for us to say farewell
To all that looks familiar and safe:
our settled ways, our self-complacency,
our certainties, our practices.
We offer our self with Jesus our Lord
and ask for the strength to follow his light.
Help us to accept with him
the insecurity of true renewal
and to bring to all around us
the light and warmth of your Son.
Let this be the sacrifice we offer you today
with Jesus, and Mary his Mother.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Reflection:
2 February 2023 – Feast of the Presentation
Day of Consecrated Life
Luke 2:22-40
Invitation to raise the Lord in our arms
They met in the temple, Mary and Joseph, Anna, Simeon, and Jesus. How did they get there? What brought them to that place of meeting?
What brings us to the temple, the place where God resides? Mary and Joseph were following the law of Moses prescribed for parents; and the Spirit guided Simeon to witness the coming of the Messiah to his Temple. Anna represents the widowed Israel – awaiting her Master. She had never left the temple.
The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus is also a feast of the meeting of the long-awaited Messiah with his faithful people in the temple. Jesus’ presentation in the temple is not a matter of one individual or one family; instead, it is an act of the community represented by Simeon and Anna.
Today the Church celebrates the 27th World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, honouring and praying for the lives of all men and women who have heroically consecrated their lives to the Lord, for the love of God and in service to God’s people.
Every believer is consecrated to the Lord, and today, we recall our consecration to the Lord at the time of our baptism. Being consecrated, we are set apart to do the work of God, never alone but with our brothers and sisters.
Let us look at consecrated life as an encounter with Christ: it is he who comes to us, led by Mary and Joseph, and we go towards him guided by the Holy Spirit. He is at the centre. He draws us to the Temple, to the Church, where we can meet him, recognize him, welcome him, and embrace him.
The feast of the Presentation invites us to reflect on the meeting between the young and the old: Mary and Joseph, with their infant son, meet the old Simeon and Anna. It’s good for the elderly to communicate their wisdom to the young, and it’s good for the young people to gather this wealth of experience and wisdom and to carry it forward, addressing the challenges that life brings.
Forty days have passed since Christmas, and it may be that the Star of Bethlehem that “we have seen in its rising” is disappearing in the sky. Maybe, we’ve let ourselves be enchanted by other more fascinating and fashionable stars, stars that better reflect our dreams and our expectations. The Church brings us the opportunity to meet that Child again: she invites us to welcome him in our arms, as did Simeon and Anna, the poor of Israel, the people attentive to the voice of the Spirit.