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Homily:
Presentation of the Lord – Cycle A
It is true that the Mass we celebrate is something that
transcends time. When we come together
to celebrate the Mass, we are truly experiencing the fullness of the Communion
of Saints: that is, the Saints in heaven, the faithful in purgatory, and us
here on earth. Because of this we know
that, when we celebrate the Mass, the past, the present and the future all
merge into one. In a way, this is why
the Mass is celebrated the same basic way every day and everywhere, because
what we’re doing is something eternal, something unchanging.
Our Liturgical Calendar is meant to accentuate that. While the Mass is indeed eternal, it doesn’t
change the fact that we live in time and so at different parts of the year we take
time to emphasize different seasons; which highlight different aspects of
salvation history and our journey as disciples of Jesus Christ here on
earth. Thus, when we are following the
Liturgical Year, we are really entering into “God’s Time” in the midst of
worldly time.
A “happy coincidence” this year is throwing a bit of a
wrench into all of that, however. This
weekend, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It is the feast in which we celebrate the consecration
of Jesus in the Temple as the first-born son of Joseph and Mary. Traditionally, it was the feast that marked
the close of the Christmas Season; falling, as it does, 40 days after
Christmas. Since the revision of the
Liturgical Calendar after the Second Vatican Council, however, it no longer
serves that purpose (the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord now marks its
close). Nonetheless, we still celebrate
this feast. But, unless you come to daily
Mass throughout the year, you probably wouldn’t know much about it as we only
celebrate it on Sunday when February 2nd actually falls on Sunday
(like this year; thus, the “happy coincidence”).
So here we are, three weeks into Ordinary Time, and the
calendar throws us a curve ball hurtling us back into a reflection on Jesus’
infancy, which we placed so much focus on in Christmas time. I think that even the most “die-hard” fans of
Christmas would be hard-pressed to not feel a little off-kilter by this
jump. Nonetheless, I think that this
feast does still have some important things to say to us here today.
First is a reminder that Jesus took on the
“full-experience” of humanity. Mary and
Joseph were observant Jews. This meant
that they were careful to follow the precepts that the Law of Moses had laid
out for them. Thus, they observed the
prescribed time of purification after the birth of Jesus (for coming into
contact with blood and other bodily fluids made them ritually impure). Then they brought the infant Jesus to the
Temple to be consecrated to the Lord.
Now, with all of the work that angels were doing up to and
immediately after the birth of Jesus, it seems to me that it would have been
just as easy for one to send a message to Mary or Joseph (in a dream, perhaps)
that it wasn’t necessary for them to fulfill the precepts of the Law for Jesus
because he was the Son of God and thus was exempt from them. That didn’t happen, however; which I think is
another example that shows us that Jesus didn’t come to help us escape from all
of the trappings of our humanity, but rather to redeem it all: that is, to make
all it is that we do and experience in this world profitable for our
salvation. This is why the author of the
Letter to the Hebrews can say: “Therefore, [Jesus] had to become like his
brothers and sisters in every way,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the
sins of the people.”
Jesus was showing us that it is exactly through our humanity that we will come
to our salvation! In other words,
following the way that God has marked out for us is the path to purification
and holiness—and, thus, readiness to receive God’s gift of grace—and so we
should not be too quick to cast off the rules and guidelines that the Church
gives us. They are the roadmap to our
salvation!
The second thing that this feast reminds us of today is
that Jesus reveals himself to those who are lowly. Notice that in Luke’s account of the
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple it wasn’t the High Priest who recognized
Jesus for who he was, but rather an unknown man and a poor widow. Simeon, we are told, was a righteous and
devout man. “Pious” is another word we
could use for him; and by “pious” we don’t mean someone who puts on a
“religious show”, but rather someone who truly understands his place and what
he was called to do and who, thus, fulfills that duty faithfully. As a reward for this, we are told, the “Holy
Spirit was upon him” and thus he was given the grace to recognize in Jesus the
Promised One of the Lord.
Anna, we are told was a prophetess who, having been widowed
at a young age, spent the remainder of her years in the Temple, fasting and
praying—that is, offering her life in sacrifice to God. When she saw the child she, too, was given
the grace of recognizing him; and she went off to do the thing that prophetesses
do best, she went around telling of the child to “all who were awaiting the
redemption of Jerusalem.”
Both Anna and Simeon were waiting in anticipation for the
Holy One of the Lord: God’s anointed one who would redeem the people of
Israel. In other words, they were living
Advent! And when they saw him, they
rejoiced to finally have seen the one that they had long awaited for. And so, in a way, we celebrate today too
another Epiphany! (Is anyone not confused about what Liturgical
Season we are in yet?) But what a great
reminder this is that we ought to be living Advent all year long! Jesus has come and he will come again, but if
we are consumed by our worldly pursuits (even if those pursuits are religious
ones), instead of living in anticipation of his coming, then we may miss him
when he appears again in our midst. To
do this, we must be lowly: that is, living upright and devout lives, which
always have space in them for Jesus, should he appear.
And that brings us to our last reminder: that only the pure
will enter the presence of God. You
know, Mary and Joseph needed to be purified before they entered the
Temple. We, too, need to purify
ourselves so as to be ready to stand in God’s presence when he appears. This purification is the work of Ordinary
Time. It is the hard work brought forth
by Christ. Because to pursue the
righteousness brought forth by Jesus is to stand in the refiners fire—the fire
which the prophet Malachi spoke of—which purifies precious metals of impurities
and makes them fit for their honored uses.
It is a hard work, but it is the work that purifies us and makes us
ready to recognize Jesus when he returns.
And so, perhaps our celebration of this feast today isn’t
such an odd coincidence after all.
Perhaps it is exactly the reminder that we needed now that the energy of
the new year has died down a bit.
Perhaps, then, we can take this opportunity to give ourselves a fresh
perspective on our work of growing in discipleship during Ordinary Time. If so, then let us not be sad at the work
that lies ahead of us, because, as Simeon expressed as he held the infant
Jesus, “God’s Word has been fulfilled.”
In other words, our success is guaranteed, for God has said so, as long
as we give ourselves to the work. Let
us, then, give ourselves over to this work so that we, too, can proclaim the
fulfillment of God’s promises to us, like Simeon did, and also proclaim the joy
of having encountered him, like Anna: the encounter we experience in sacrament
here in this Eucharist.
Given at Saint Mary Nativity
Parish: Joliet, IL – February 1st & 2nd, 2014
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