Presentation of the Lord

Most of the days we live are quite ordinary and routine. We go through the motions and it is not very exciting. When something ‘out of the ordinary’ happens we remember the day and date and time. The events described in the Gospel today took place on a day like any other. The sun rose and in the busy Temple where priests performed their sacred duties and people came and went to pray an ordinary looking young couple came to make their offering to God, asking God to bless their child. They were obedient to the Jewish Law which required ritual purification 40 days after birth of a male child.

But with the eyes of Faith, an old man named Simeon saw the baby and it was revealed to Him that this was the child of prophecy. This was the one he was waiting for, after countless weeks months and years, this was the one-off event, the event of his lifetime. The same applied to Anna.

These two elderly people probably did not stand out either. After all you would expect older people to be saying their prayers. We always associate churches with the elderly. We might call them ‘pillars of the Church’.

So in the eyes of others we see a simple young couple with the first born and an elderly man and woman marvelling at a beautiful child as people usually do  oohing and aahing over a new-born.

But there is so much more to the scene that meets the eye. This is no ordinary child, and this is no ordinary family. It has been 40 days since Christmas. Mosaic law required the ‘purification’ of the woman and the presentation of the first born, 40 days after birth, with the offering (for the poor) of two turtle doves, the temple, called the Tabernacle, the special place (sanctuary) of God’s presence among men. And now, Christ the Son of God comes at last, ‘the Light to enlighten the Gentiles and give glory to His people Israel’, in the words of Simeon.

 

Of what real relevance is this day?

 

‘THE PEOPLE THAT WALKED IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT, ON THEM A LIGHT HAS SHONE ‘

 

• Darkness suggests INTERNAL evil, sin, confusion, ignorance, loss of direction, meaninglessness, DEPRESSION, DELIBERATELY LEADING A LIFE DISPLEASING TO GOD
   
• Light suggests brilliance, goodness, enlightenment, direction, TRUTH, clarity, REPENTANCE ON ‘SEEING THE LIGHT’

 

MEN HAVE SHOWN THAT THEY PREFERRED DARKNESS TO LIGHT              (JOHN’S Gospel)

For Mary and Joseph,  it is a critical stage of the journey. To the holiest place and most sacred to Jews, where God’s mysterious Presence was to be found, a place of pilgrimage at least once in one’s lifetime and if possible, annually, for every Jew in Israel for Passover.

But on a global scale, for everyone else on earth, it is the mystery of light and darkness, and of intertwined joy and foreboding, at rejoicing at the birth of a child, but a premonition of things to come, that there is sorrow in the future, that Jesus is no ordinary baby, that it is predicted to Mary and Joseph that Jesus will grow up and His life and work will have profound significance, and will be a cause of both joy, sorrow and glory. And that Mary’s heart will be broken. She too will have to suffer on his account.

Jesus would be a LIGHT to all nations. Jesus as HOPE of all people who walk in darkness

 

IS THERE personal DARKNESS IN MY LIFE? IS IT OUTSIDE OF MY CONTROL OR WORSE, IS IT OF MY CHOOSING? To choose to be blind to sin, to try to be oblivious and harden our hearts and consciences – is the worst darkness, and will lead to eternal darkness. To believe our behaviour or to behave according to our beliefs.

 

We can be a light to others by offering them hope and confidence, especially by the hope and confidence that our faith and personal relationship of prayer brings us. We are called to be people of hope, especially on seemingly ordinary days, to the God who surprises us on seemingly humdrum days and times, God ‘breaks in’ to the ordinariness of things.

Like Simeon and Anna, the people of faith, faithful to prayer, faithful to the Temple, to them (older people, widow and perhaps widower) were rewarded for their faith and perseverance in prayer and fidelity. Prayer we find joy hope light and peace. We cannot give what we do not possess