Mal 3:1-4
Ps 24
Heb 2:14-18
Lk 2:22-40
The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas, was the day on which the Church blessed the beeswax candles to be used in the coming year. I’m not certain there is a proper blessing for cans of liquid paraffin or propane cannisters. But, on the other hand, it is difficult to tell what can and should be blessed in the Church today.
Throughout the ages, the first reading, psalm, and gospel have been the inspiration for some of the most beautiful music imaginable. Much of the first reading from Malachi is sung in part I of Handel’s Messiah including
“The Lord whom ye seek,”
“But who may abide,”
and the chorus, “And He shall purify.”
Psalm 24, today’s responsorial psalm appears in Part II of Messiah as the chorus: “Lift Up Your Heads O Ye Gates.”
And then there is the gospel.
With just a bit of effort at making a composition of place and applications of senses, the gospel for the Feast of the Presentation, is a snapshot of the life of the Holy Family that is relevant even today as a family brings a child into the church to be baptized. The parents are committing the child to a specific life and they are committing themselves to bring the child up in the faith. Of course, either or both commitments can be rejected or broken once made but that rejection is a matter of free choice.
The gospel includes Luke’s exquisite Canticle of Simeon or the Nunc Dimittis the chant at the end of compline or night prayer, that serve as the Church’s lullaby. Simeon’s canticle has been set to music for centuries in versions ranging from ancient Gregorian chant, to Gustav Holst, Taizé and contemporary Estonian Composer Arvo Pärt, a convert from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy.
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine,
secundum verbum tuum in pace:
"Lord, now you let your servant go in peace
Your word has been fulfilled . . . "
Each of the readings chosen for this Feast illuminates a dimension of it.
Malachi’s prophecy "And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek." was fulfilled in concrete fashion in today’s gospel.
In commenting on the
reading from Hebrews, the late Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner pointed out that
(Jesus) “came into the world the same
way we did in order to come to terms
with the given facts of human existence, . . . and to begin to die”
What Rahner calls the facts of human existence are not easy to accept. We rage against the fact that we must become old, suffer, and die. And we rage, even more violently, against the fact that those whom we love must also die, some before they are old. Here we can turn to Mary. to whom Simeon foretold the pain to come with his cryptic words; “and you yourself, a sword will pierce.”
What did Mary feel when she heard these words? Did she recall them as she stood at the foot of the cross? No other sword pierces as deeply as that going through the heart
of a parent who buries a child. The wound never heals. There is no such thing as the vaunted “Closure.” The pain may ease with time but it never goes away.
Today’s gospel is the only time we hear the distinct voices of the elderly in the New Testament. It is the only time we hear the voices of accrued wisdom, the voices of those who are old. Though Simeon’s age is not specified, his prayer suggests that he was aware that death was near. Thus his gratitude that he saw and held the one who would bring salvation to all the world. Anna was 84 years old. Note: she was 84 years old she was NOT 84 years young, as the popular insult routinely hurled at the elderly today would have it.
Nunc dimittis servum tuum . . .
Jesus was not recognized by the crowds milling about in the Temple. He was recognized by an old man and an old woman who had been awaiting the Lord. He was recognized only by two old people who had prayed for His coming.
Simeon and Anna are examples to those of us who are old because, with the wisdom granted only to the elderly, they recognized Jesus, the Messiah, the promised one, and the source of our salvation in the infant brought into the Temple. They alone were aware that in fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, the Lord whom they sought and prayed for had come into the temple. They alone recognized that the prophecy had been fulfilled in the infant cradled in his parents’ arms..
Lent begins on February 14, a mere twelve days from today. The Lenten readings and gospels will remind us that Jesus was like us in temptation, pain, suffering, and death.
We will be reminded that he was like us in all things but sin. And during Holy Week
we will commemorate his saving act.
But today, as we recall His presentation in the Temple, we celebrate and rejoice that Jesus is the light of the world, the light that will never die even after the universe itself
has been extinguished.
Nunc dimittis servum tuum
“Lord now you let your servant go in peace.”
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The Feast of the Presentation is my favorite feast of the Holy Family, a feast such as the Nativity of the Lord, The Baptism of the Lord, Jesus Lost in the Temple, and even the Wedding at Cana, in which we see a snapshot of the relationships and interactions among the Holy Family. It is easy to be distracted by the big picture and thus miss those little vignettes of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph interacting as family.
The photos are from an early morning walk in Old City Lyon, France in June 2014.
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| The perfect way to start of day in June. |
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| Had it not been 7 AM the temptation would have been strong. |
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| I very much like the flower painting. But a bit large for my carry-on |
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| And all those years I didn't think knowing the difference among Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian wasn't important. One of the court buildings |
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| Had the fantasy of moving into the top floor of this building over looking the river. |
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| Old City Lyon was a short walk. Our community was about thirty yards to the right of the edge of this photo The bridge was for pedestrians only which made it a great place to shoot. |
Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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