To raise a child is an experience of both incredible joy and devastating heartbreak. Every parent’s life is “pieced” with turmoil, disappointment, illness, desperation, and fear. Certainly every mom and dad knows what Mary and Joseph went through. Within our families, our sons and daughters embrace and are embraced by the love we have known and seek to know better, to be grasped by the hand of God who has grasped us by the hand. The prophet Simeon proclaims that this Child will be a “light” for Israel — but that light will endure great suffering and pain before finally shattering the darkness. Luke’s Gospel of the Child Jesus reminds us that the crib is overshadowed by the cross, that this holy birth is the beginning of humankind’s rebirth in the Resurrection.
In baptism, we incorporate our children into the life of the Risen Christ; within our home, we try to guide them in learning the Gospel values of compassion, love, forgiveness, justice and peace that we have embraced. Our celebration of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple calls us to recommit ourselves to giving our sons and daughters the best that we have -- our faith in the God who loves us -- so that they may grow “and become strong, be filled with wisdom; and the favor of God upon them.”
Anna and Simeon live among us today in our own families and communities and "temples." They inspire gratitude and teach compassion by the lessons of their long lives. In the wisdom that comes with age, in the love and care they extend to us in their grace and joy, in their faith that has been made strong and unshakable through a lifetime of struggle, the Anna’s and Simeon’s of our time and place are rays of God’s light shining through all of our lives, illuminating the way to God's eternal dwelling place.
A childhood memory from an accomplished writer and preacher:
“I would learn to read in the first grade, I was told as a young child, and I couldn’t wait to go. As it was, I was dependent on the schedules of the adults around me for stories, having to wait until there was somebody who could read to me. I feasted on pictures in fairy-tale books, of course, and made up stories with my dolls. And we had a television, which had more stories . . . But my parents and my brothers read happily in silence for hours. Sometimes you would have to call the boys’ names twice, or even three times, before you could get them to look up from their books. Reading was that absorbing. I longed to join the club.
“Somehow I had the impression that I would learn to read that first day, that learning to read was just a secret that would be imparted to me at the proper time . . . I didn’t grasp that learning to read was a process. Imagine my frustration, then, when we began to go over the alphabet and the sounds each letter signified. That was all very well. ‘But when are we going to learn to read?’ I asked the teacher as the afternoon wore on. She told me that this was learning to read, that this is how you started. Oh. This was the biggest disappointment my short life had yet encountered . . .
“Soon, the thrill of the chase took over. It was fun to sound out the words on the page, to begin to recognize a whole word, to read and write longer and longer sentences. But it was work, too. To grow in wisdom doesn’t just happen to us, while we sit there on our hands folded in our laps and do nothing. We acquire wisdom. We pursue wisdom. We follow in her ways.”
Everything that is good and of value in our lives — from learning to read to being a loving spouse and sibling — demands work and struggle. Today’s Gospel is a sober reminder of that reality: the prophet Simeon proclaims that this child will be a “light” for Israel — but that light will endure great suffering and pain before finally shattering the darkness. Luke’s Gospel of the Child Jesus reminds us that the crib is overshadowed by the cross, that this holy birth is the beginning of humankind’s rebirth in the Resurrection. And it will be a long road of joys and wonders, of conflict and hurt. .
However, his claims were clearly offensive to
his fellow townspeople. Indeed, he might have had less trouble with them if he
announced, like several other populist leaders of his era, that he was
proclaiming a holy war against the Romans and would lead a march on Jerusalem.
That is what the beatitudes are about - God showing through.
Jerry Shirley, When God Shows Through
****
From Fr. Tony Kadavil:
In baptism, we incorporate our children into the life of the Risen Christ; within our home, we try to guide them in learning the Gospel values of compassion, love, forgiveness, justice and peace that we have embraced. Our celebration of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple calls us to recommit ourselves to giving our sons and daughters the best that we have -- our faith in the God who loves us -- so that they may grow “and become strong, be filled with wisdom; and the favor of God upon them.”
Anna and Simeon live among us today in our own families and communities and "temples." They inspire gratitude and teach compassion by the lessons of their long lives. In the wisdom that comes with age, in the love and care they extend to us in their grace and joy, in their faith that has been made strong and unshakable through a lifetime of struggle, the Anna’s and Simeon’s of our time and place are rays of God’s light shining through all of our lives, illuminating the way to God's eternal dwelling place.
Chasing the light
“I would learn to read in the first grade, I was told as a young child, and I couldn’t wait to go. As it was, I was dependent on the schedules of the adults around me for stories, having to wait until there was somebody who could read to me. I feasted on pictures in fairy-tale books, of course, and made up stories with my dolls. And we had a television, which had more stories . . . But my parents and my brothers read happily in silence for hours. Sometimes you would have to call the boys’ names twice, or even three times, before you could get them to look up from their books. Reading was that absorbing. I longed to join the club.
“Somehow I had the impression that I would learn to read that first day, that learning to read was just a secret that would be imparted to me at the proper time . . . I didn’t grasp that learning to read was a process. Imagine my frustration, then, when we began to go over the alphabet and the sounds each letter signified. That was all very well. ‘But when are we going to learn to read?’ I asked the teacher as the afternoon wore on. She told me that this was learning to read, that this is how you started. Oh. This was the biggest disappointment my short life had yet encountered . . .
“Soon, the thrill of the chase took over. It was fun to sound out the words on the page, to begin to recognize a whole word, to read and write longer and longer sentences. But it was work, too. To grow in wisdom doesn’t just happen to us, while we sit there on our hands folded in our laps and do nothing. We acquire wisdom. We pursue wisdom. We follow in her ways.”
[From Let Every Heart Prepare: Meditations for Advent and Christmas by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton.]
Background:
Jesus patently did not see himself as a
political and military leader. Indeed his claims are in striking contrast of
the messianic portrait in the reading from Jeremiah which is the first reading
today.
As
we saw last Sunday, however, his vision of the New Age was drastically
different. So he was offensive to his neighbors both because he made and
outrageous claim and because the claim was not, as they saw it, radical enough.
Story:
A
famous novelist came back to his home town after many years.
He
had pledged to contribute two million dollars for a new hospital. Many of his
friends from his school days were invited to a reception for him and his wife.
Some of them ignored the invitation. Why only two million, they muttered. He
could have paid for the whole hospital with all the money he has. The rest went
to the party, but they were not particularly happy about the whole event. Who
does this guy think he is?
He’d
been a quiet, unobtrusive little guy when he was in school, the kind of person
you’d hardly notice. He generally was not invited anywhere. None of the women
in his class would have considered dating him if they had been asked, only he
never asked. They had heard rumors that his novels were about the town and about
them. They believed the rumors of course, but since they hadn’t read any of his
books, they didn’t know for sure. He had to find a freshman to take to the
senior prom! So he’d made a lot of money on his novels? Why did that make him a
big deal? OK give the money for the hospital, but you should have given more
with all you have, but don’t show up in town and expect us to cheer for you.
You’re not a big deal now and you never were. Nor were they impressed with the
beautiful woman he had married. (They had known her as an obnoxious freshman.)
Anyone can look beautiful if her husband has a lot of money. She was still
cheap despite all their money. They didn’t join the receiving line, because
they didn’t want to have to talk to either of them. However, he had the nerve
to walk around the room and say hello to everyone and recall incidents from
their school days which they never remembered. They tried to be polite but it
was very hard. Then they went home and said to their children.
He’s not a big deal. He never was.
********************
2. Sermons.com:
Matthew 5:1-12 - "The True Nature
of Happiness"
__________________________________________________
Some years ago the
Raleigh, North Carolina News & Observer published an article entitled:
"How Do You Measure Up As A Man? The article stated that some extensive
research had been conducted on the 20th century standards for measuring a man.
The criteria were quite interesting and I thought that I might list them for
the men here this morning just to see how they measure up.
1. His ability to make and conserve money (That lets me out already).
2. The cost, style and age of his car.
3. (This is my favourite) How much hair he has.
4. His strength and size.
5. The job he holds and how successful he is at it.
6. What sports he likes.
7. How many clubs he belongs to.
8. His aggressiveness and reliability.
2. The cost, style and age of his car.
3. (This is my favourite) How much hair he has.
4. His strength and size.
5. The job he holds and how successful he is at it.
6. What sports he likes.
7. How many clubs he belongs to.
8. His aggressiveness and reliability.
Jesus Christ also once
set down eight principles for the measure of a person. His standards stand in
stark contrast to the aforementioned. There would appear to be a wide gulf
between the popular image of the successful person and what God sees as the
successful person.
Here's what happened:
Jesus had just started his ministry and was gaining in popularity. Large crowds
were gathering. He had just picked out his disciples. And in the quiet of the
rolling grassy hills of northern Israel by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus delivered
a sermon to a multitude. Acres and acres of human faces. The crowd represented
a cross section of humanity...
"Mushers"
and people who travel by dog sled over snowy, frozen terrain.
"Mushers" have a saying: "If you're not the lead dog, the
scenery never changes."
That
"Mushers" saying has become a centerpiece doctrine of the leadership
literature that has been inundating the corporate and church worlds of the last
thirty years. If you are not the "top dog," in other words, no matter
how far you travel your journey is just going to be a "tale of
tails."
Striving to be
"top dog" is the goal we are encouraged to achieve from our earliest
childhood to our graduate school education. No one wants to be the "under
dog" or the "low dog." Being "on top" means getting
the best grades in school, in order to get the best opportunities, the best
treatment, the best salary, the bst office, the best seats in the house, the
best table, the best of everything everywhere you go. Who could possibly not
see the advantages that come with being at the "top" and not the
"bottom" of the heap?
In 1897 vision
scientist and psychologist George M. Stratton (1865-1957) created a pair of
glasses that turned the world upside down. Actually, he turned the world
right-side-up because our eyes project an image to our brains that is naturally
upside down. Our brains take an image and invert it - giving us our "right
side up" perception of the world. Stratton strapped on his goggles and
proceeded to blunder into things for several days. In this new, now
"upside-down" world, his brain was seeing liquids "poured
up," he saw himself walking on ceilings. Everything he viewed was
completely inverted.
But only for a few
days. Our eyes are our cameras, but the pictures we take with our eyes are
developed by our brains. After a few days Stratton recorded that his most
powerful visual organ, his brain, had figured out that something was amiss.
After a few days his brain re-inverted the images it was receiving, and the
world no longer looked upside down to the scientist. His brain completely
flipped the images and presented him with a right-side up world once again. The
process took about three days...
------------------
1. Having
Lost All, All Is Found
"Having reached
the end of the Beatitudes, we naturally ask if there is any place on this earth
for the community which they describe. Clearly, there is one place, and only
one, and that is where the Poorest, Meekest, and most sorely Tried of all men
is to be found - on the cross at Golgotha. The community which is the subject of
the Beatitudes is the community of the crucified. With Him it has lost all, and
with him it has found all."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
The Cost of Discipleship
__________________________________________
2. Balance:
The Law of Love
Plato once imagined
the spiritual journey as a chariot moving through the wilderness of life, with
the soul as the charioteer trying to rein in two powerful horses: the horse of
anger or passion, and the horse of reason or order. Plato understood that both
passion and reason can be life-giving, but only when they are held in dynamic
tension, only when each power neutralizes the potential destruction of the
other. This morning Jesus tells us that we must balance the passion of anger
with the discipline and reason of love. And he tells us that the law of love
can best be fulfilled, not through rules, but through relationships.
Susan R. Andrews, The Offense Of Grace, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
Susan R. Andrews, The Offense Of Grace, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
__________________________________
3. The
Key to the Beatitudes
The idea of being poor
in spirit is the key to all that is to follow in the Beatitudes. I like the
note in the Life Application Bible:
"You cannot mourn
without appreciating how insufficient you are to handle life in your own
strength.
You cannot be meek
unless you know you have needed gentleness yourself.
You cannot hunger and
thirst for righteousness if you proudly think of yourself as already righteous.
You cannot be merciful
without recognizing your own need for mercy.
You cannot be pure in
heart if your heart is full of pride.
You cannot be a
peacemaker if you believe that you are always right.
You cannot identify
with Christ in the face of negative reactions from others without dying to
yourself and renouncing your own rights."
All of these
beatitudes are rooted in humility, being poor in spirit.
Owen Stepp, Unlikely
Blessings
_________________________________
4. God
Shows Through
One Sunday as they
drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said,
"Mommy, there's something about the preacher's message this morning that I
don't understand." The mother said, "Oh? What is it?" The little
girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God
is so big that He could hold the whole world in His hand. Is that true?"
The mother replied, "Yes, that's true, honey." "But Mommy, he
also said that God comes to live inside of us when we believe in Jesus as our
Savior. Is that true, too?" Again, the mother assured the little girl that
what the pastor had said was true. With a puzzled look on her face the little
girl then asked, "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn't He
show through?"
That is what the beatitudes are about - God showing through.
Jerry Shirley, When God Shows Through
________________________________________
5. God
Means Everything
"Blessed are the
poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
William Barclay says
this verse means, "Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter
helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God. If a man has realized his
own utter helplessness, and has put his whole trust in God, there will enter
into his life two things....
He will become
completely detached from things, for he will know that things have not got it
in them to bring happiness or security; and he will become completely attached
to God, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and
strength.
The man who is poor in
spirit is the man who has realized that things mean nothing, and that God means
everything."
Mickey Anders, The
Beatitudes Are Not Platitudes!
____________________________
6. "Best
All Around"
I remember in high
school having the "Who's Who" for my grade, and one of the categories
was "Best All Around." To be considered for this category, the
student needed to have a multitude and a wide variety of attributes...and be
good at them. Characteristics like being smart, friendly, well-dressed,
pretty/handsome, good at sports, and perhaps being musically gifted or artistic
are important to have if you want to qualify for the category.
Similarly, if you
could make the Beatitudes as a sort of checklist for Christians, they could see
the areas they need to improve in. Perhaps if they could check all of the
Beatitudes off the list, they might qualify as a sort of "Best All
Around" Christian, a great inspiration and role model.
Jim Forest, The Ladder
of the Beatitudes
________________________________
7. Better
than Average
A while back, I read
that 85% of all drivers in America consider themselves
"above-average" drivers. Of course, this cannot be true: By
definition, I believe only 49% of drivers are above average. However, the
survey gives us an insight into human nature: People generally view themselves
as better than others. And if they are better than others, then they are doing
a good enough job.
This transfers over
into religion far more than we are aware, and it becomes apparent in how these
Beatitudes are taught. Often one will hear, "The message of the Beatitudes
is that, if I do these things well enough, then I will be happy. If I am good
enough at these things, then I will be blessed." It's a human standard of
measure: "If I am better at this than average, then I'm in good
shape." But does this work for sainthood?
Tim Pauls, What It
Takes to Be a Saint
_________________________________
8.
You Can't Make It "By The Book"
A small parable: Once
upon a time, there was a company who had two junior executives. One did everything
by the book, was diligent and trustworthy, always made sure he was covered and,
since he always went by the book, rarely made mistakes. The other also was a
hard and diligent worker, but he often tested the rules, sometimes received
some criticism, and sometimes made mistakes. One day an opening came up for a
senior executive position, and the owner of the company promoted the one who
made mistakes over the other. Of course Mr. "By the Book" was enraged
and asked his boss why - after all, he had a better record, didn't he? He NEVER
made mistakes. He ALWAYS followed the book. To which his boss replied,
"Yes, but what will you do someday when something comes up that isn't
covered by the book. You know the rules, but he knows what we are doing here,
and why we are here. He UNDERSTANDS the company. And that's why he was promoted
over you."
How do we obtain God's
blessing? Well, the answer, of course, is that it's not something we obtain -
it's not for sale. It's something he has already freely given to you, but which
you can only recognize when you accept it as a gift, and live in it.
Gary Roth, All of
God's Blessings
__________________
9. Healthy
Are the Poor in Spirit
Some years ago a panel
of doctors was appointed by the Federal government to meet together and draw up
eight laws of public health that could be printed in pamphlet Form and
distributed to the public. After twelve days off exhaustive meetings, the
doctors were unable to come to a consensus. It seems that their areas of
concern were so diverse: one was a cancer specialist, one a cardiologist, one a
psychiatrist, and they all approached the problem from their own discipline.
The chest expert was concerned about coal dust from the mines and lint from
textile mills, while the psychiatrist was concerned about the effects off urban
stress. Finally, Dr. Harold Sladen offered Hospital in Detroit came up with an
appropriate idea. He said: Let's just republish the eight beatitudes of Jesus
and simply replace the word "Blessed" with the words "healthy."
Staff, Sermons.com
_____________________
10. Blessed
Are the Cheese Makers
Here is the infamous
bit from Monty Pythons "Life of Brian." All great humor must have one
essential element: Truth. This bit certainly has that. Jesus' words when
misunderstood has led to some pretty fantastic conclusions. And so, this is
dedicated to all those knuckle headed interpretations throughout the years.
There are two main characters in the bit who are called Trouble and Bignose.
They are at the back of the crowd when Jesus is giving the Sermon On The Mount:
Trouble: Well go and
talk to him somewhere else... I can't hear a bloody thing.
Bignose: Don't you
swear at my wife.
Trouble: I was only
asking her to shut up so I could hear what he was saying, Bignose.
Bignose wife: Don't
you call my husband Bignose.
Trouble: Well he has
got a big nose.
Jew: Could you be
quite, please. What was that?
Trouble: I don't
know... I was too busy talking to Bignose.
Man: I think it was
'Blessed are the cheese-makers'...
1: “Would you hold my baby for me, please?” Years
ago, a young man was riding a bus from Chicago to Miami. He had a stop-over in
Atlanta. While he was sitting at the lunch counter, a woman came out of the
ladies’ restroom carrying a tiny baby. She walked up to this man and asked,
“Would you hold my baby for me? I left my purse in the restroom.” He did. But
as the woman neared the front door of the bus station, she darted out into the
crowded street and was immediately lost in the crowd. This guy couldn’t believe
his eyes. He rushed to the door to call the woman but couldn’t see her
anywhere. Now what should he do? Put the baby down and run? When calmness
finally settled in, he went to the Traveler’s Aid booth and together with the
local police, they soon found the real mother. You see, the woman who’d left
him holding the baby wasn’t the baby’s real mother. She’d taken the child.
Maybe it was to satisfy some motherly urge to hold a child or something else.
No one really knows. But we do know that this man breathed a sigh of relief
when the real mother was found. After all, what was he going to do with a baby?
In a way, each of us, is in the same sort of situation as this young man. Every
Christmas God Himself walks up to us and asks, “Would you hold My Baby for Me,
please?” and then thrusts the Christ Child into our arms. And we’re left with
the question, “What are we going to do with this Baby?” But an even deeper
question is just, “Who is this Baby?” If we look at Scripture, we find all
kinds of titles and names for this Baby we hold in our arms: Emmanuel, “God-with-us;”
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Christ
the King, Jesus. In today’s Gospel describing the presentation ceremony, Simeon
asks Mary the question: “Can I hold your Baby for a few minutes, please?” (Rev.
King Duncan).
2: “Four Chaplains Sunday.” Julia Duin
in the Washington Times Sunday, February 1, 2009 told this
story. Just after midnight on Feb. 3, 1943, an act of extraordinary
unselfishness by a group of men became a legend of martyrdom and sacrifice.
When the Army ship Dorchester was torpedoed by the Germans just south of
Greenland that night, its passengers and crew had 25 minutes to get off the
boat. As 902 people went for the life jackets, it quickly was discovered there
weren’t near enough. Of the 13 lifeboats, only two functioned. In the ship’s
final minutes, Methodist senior chaplain George Lansing Fox, Rabbi Alexander
Goode, Dutch Reformed minister Clark V. Poling and John P. Washington, a Roman
Catholic priest, were helping passengers leave the vessel. Then four men
appeared all of them without life jackets. The chaplains quickly gave up their
own vests and went down with the ship, perishing in the freezing water.
Survivors saw them, locked arm in arm, praying and singing the Navy hymn,
“Eternal Father, Strong to Save” just before the ship dove beneath the waves.
It was a night as dramatic as the sinking of the Titanic but without a
blockbuster movie to record the drama. “The Four Immortal Chaplains,” as they
are now known, have been honored many times, including on a stamp issued in
their honor by the U.S. Postal Service. The first Sunday in February is known
as “Four Chaplains Sunday.” They presented and offered themselves completely
for the well being of others. (WQuoted by Rev. Fr. Njoku Canice
Chukwuemeka, C.S.Sp)
3: The sword piercing Mary’s heart: There
is a beautiful Holman Hunt picture in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City
called “The Shadow of Death.” It is the only known work of classical art that
shows Jesus laboring as an adult in the carpenter’s shop. Joseph is absent so
we presume he has died. In this painting, a day of work has ended, and Jesus
has just risen from his bench and stretches in relaxation. The shadow of his
body and upraised arms falls on a rack of tools on the wall, and we see
prefigured the “very dying form of one who suffered there for me.” But
the most interesting thing about the painting is that in the background we see
Mary kneeling before an open chest in which we see the gifts of the three wise
men “the gold, frankincense and myrrh.” No doubt as the years went by,
Mary watched her son grow to manhood. Now in Joseph’s absence, Jesus was
supporting the family as a carpenter. Mary might have wondered if God had
mocked her with a cruel joke that her Son was the One who would redeem his
people. So again, and again she would go to the chest and gently touch the
gifts, as if to convince herself that the promises were real. This might have
been the only concrete contact she had with the golden hopes of thirty years
ago. And on this day, as she caresses the golden crown and the casket of
frankincense and the vase of myrrh, suddenly she sees on the back wall the
shadow of the cross. From that day forth the shadow is ever before her. (Rev.
Eric Ritz). That was the sword that would pierce Mary’s soul. Simeon knew
what lay ahead.
4: “A new refrigerator with a 10-year warranty.” An
elderly woman in frail health was speaking with her doctor and expressing her
hope that she would have the strength to live just a few more months so that she
could celebrate the birth of her first grandchild. Sure enough, the day came,
and the woman was present and well enough to hold the little child in her arms.
When the woman went back to her doctor, he suggested that it would be important
to set a new goal so that she had something to look forward to, something to
“keep her going”. “Well”, the woman pondered, “my son did just buy me a new
refrigerator with a 10-year warranty.” Today in Luke’s Gospel we are introduced
to a couple of characters who have been waiting for a long time for a promise
to be fulfilled. When they see the Child, Anna and Simeon announce to everyone
they see that He is the fulfillment of God’s promise to humanity.
5. Sacrificial presentation: A pig and a chicken were
walking down the street together. Every restaurant they passed had signs in the
window advertising, “Ham and Eggs.” “See,” said the chicken, “We’re famous.”
The pig grunted. “For you,” he said, “a plate of ham and eggs is just a cackle, it’s all in a day’s work for you, but for me it’s the supreme sacrifice of my life.”
The pig grunted. “For you,” he said, “a plate of ham and eggs is just a cackle, it’s all in a day’s work for you, but for me it’s the supreme sacrifice of my life.”
6. Final presentation: In ancient Rome in the days of
Nero some poor Christian was being chased around the coliseum by a ferocious
lion. The faster he ran, the faster the lion ran. Eventually, it was obvious
that the end was near, so the poor fellow fell to his knees and prayed aloud,
“Dear Lord, make this lion a Christian!” With that, the lion fell to his knees
and began to pray, “Bless us, O Lord, and this Thy gift which I am about to
receive…” The end was near!
Lord Jesus, as an infant You were brought to the temple
by Your parents out of religious duty. Help all parents to take their duties to
God seriously, to inculcate their faith in the next generation by their words
and by their actions, so that the faith will be handed on where the faith is
first learned—in the family and in the home.
12 Additional anecdotes
1) The Story of the Presentation of the Lord: At
the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of
liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany,
the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his
Presentation in the Temple 40 days later. Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was
ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present
herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with
anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from
Jewish worship. This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple
more than Mary’s purification. The observance spread throughout the Western
Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West
celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February
2, 40 days after Christmas. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope
Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century
the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became
part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas. (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/presentation-of-the-lord/)
.
2) “The shadow of
the cross.” There are two other well-known pictures, each with the
same title, “The Shadow of the Cross.” In the first and most well- known
painting, the cross-like shadow of the grown-up Jesus is pictured. In a second
painting, Holman Hunt depicts the interior of a carpenter’s shop, with Joseph
and the Boy Jesus at work. The Boy Jesus pauses in his work, and as he
stretches his arms the shadow of the cross is formed on the wall. The third picture
is a popular engraving which depicts the Infant Jesus running with outstretched
arms to his mother, the shadow of the cross being cast on the ground by his
form as he runs. Both pictures are fanciful in form, but their underlying
message is true. If we read the Gospels just as they stand, it is clear that
the death of Jesus Christ was really in view almost from the outset of his
earthly appearance. At first sight there seems little in them about his death,
but as we look deeper we see more. It was part of the divine purpose and plan
for him from the first, and very early we have a hint of the cross in the words
of the aged Simeon to the mother of our Lord: “A sword shall pierce through
thine own heart also.
3) Painting presentation of Jesus in the Temple: In
the museum of the cathedral in Cuenca, Spain, hangs one of many artistic
renderings of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Included in this
elaborate and colorful scene are representatives of Judaism, namely, Mary,
Joseph, Simeon and Anna and the source of Christianity, namely, Jesus. Although
the Jews and all things Hebrew had been officially expelled from Spain in AD
1492, the artist, Juan de Borgoña (d. AD 1535), illustrated Luke’s account of
the Presentation with the stated intention of portraying the necessary
continuity between Christianity and Judaism. (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez).
4) The Presentation of the Lord is among the most
ancient feasts of the Christian Church. We have sermons on the Feast by
Bishops Methodius of Patara (+ 312), Cyril of Jerusalem (+ 360), Gregory the
Theologian (+ 389), Amphilocius of Iconium (+ 394), Gregory of Nyssa (+ 400),
and John Chrysostom (+ 407). Despite its early origin, this Feast was not
celebrated with great splendor until the sixth century. In 528, during the
reign of Justinian, an earthquake killed many people in Antioch. Other
misfortunes followed this one. In 541 a terrible plague broke out in
Constantinople, carrying off several thousand people each day. During this time
of widespread suffering, a solemn prayer service (Litia) for deliverance from
evils was celebrated on the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, and the plague
ceased. In thanksgiving to God, the Church established a more solemn
celebration of this Feast.
5) “Well, have you ever heard an Amish parent yell?” A
scholar was conducting a study of an Amish village. The Amish are a branch of
the Mennonite church who live in traditional rural villages far from
industrialization and technology: no computers, televisions, refrigerators and
telephones. In his study of the Amish village school, the researcher noticed
that Amish children never screamed or yelled. That surprised him. So he decided
to check it out with the schoolteacher. He told the teacher that he had not
once heard an Amish child yell, and asked him why that was so. The teacher
replied, “Well, have you ever heard an Amish parent yell?” The inference is
clear: Like the parents, so the children!
We are all familiar with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day which
we celebrate every year. Why is there not a Parents’ Day where we celebrate
father and mother together as a couple? Today should be a good day to focus on
both parents together, as we see both parents of Jesus, Joseph and Mary,
together make the long journey to Jerusalem to present their firstborn Child in
the Temple as the law of God required. In the image of Joseph and Mary
presenting Jesus in the Temple, we have a wonderful model of husband and wife
united in practicing the faith and in raising their child in the faith. (Fr.
Munacci).
6) Whatever we are waiting for shows up sooner or
later: A major part of our lives is spent on waiting. We wait for the
baby to be born, we wait for our children to grow up and be independent, we
wait for our retirement; indeed, we spend a lot of time waiting. Besides that
we also have to wait for people who are late, we wait for the bus or train and
whatever. But there is something interesting about waiting. Most of the time,
whatever we are waiting for shows up sooner or later. Simeon and Anna had waited
for a long time, and finally their hope was fulfilled.
7) Bundle of parents’ dreams: Every day,
new parents bring their precious bundle home from its birthing place, convinced
that their child is the most precious baby in the world, and they begin imaging
all the great things this child will accomplish. As they share their dreams for
their child with family and friends, there is always someone ready to throw
cold water on their expectations. One couple recounting this experience when
they had their first child spoke of how indignant they became when anyone would
suggest that, first of all, the child would someday make an independent
decision about life choices and in addition to that, there undoubtedly would be
limitations to what the child might accomplish. Then one day a visiting friend
raved about how wonderful the baby was and how lucky they were to have this
precious bundle. The friend then offered them this bit of advice, “Love your
child with all your heart and soul and present him or her to God every day,
asking His blessings. Give the child encouragement in whatever interests he
displays. If you do that, you will know that you have been good parents. But if
you try to live out your dreams through what you child does, through what he
accomplishes, you will only be frustrated when your child makes his or her own
life choices, especially if they are not the ones you had hoped to see.”
8) “I know that you know Someone Else is taking care
of me”: Bruce and Darlene Marie Wilkinson in their book The Dream
Giver for Parents tell about a teenager who noticed that his father
worried himself nearly to death, trying unsuccessfully to be everywhere and do
everything to protect his child from life’s difficulties. This young man wrote
his father the following note: “I am sure you remember, Dad, how you used to
tell me stories when I was young and was afraid or insecure. Well, I have
noticed that you are often worried about what might become of me when you’re
not there to help. Now I want to remind you of one of the stories we read
together when I was little. It’s the story of the rooster who got up before
dawn every day to sit on the roof of the farmhouse and crow so that the sun
would rise. Because that’s what he really believed: that it was his
responsibility to make the sun come up. He was always afraid that if he didn’t
crow, everything would go wrong. He kept worrying: “What would happen if I fell
ill, or even died? How would the crops grow, and the children wake up in time
for school, and the frost melt, and the flowers blossom if I weren’t there to
make the sun rise? The world would become cold and dark; all the grass and the
trees would die and the people too eventually . . .” Then one evening, Rooster
attended a party and overslept the next morning. The other animals realized
that he was not there to make the sun come up and were just about to panic when
they saw a glimmer of light on the horizon . . . It was the sun rising without
Rooster! Rooster was miserable when he found out that he had nothing to do with
the sun’s rising every morning. And embarrassed! But he was also extremely
relieved. “What a weight off my shoulders,” he thought, “that I don’t have to I
can’t make the sun come up! Yet, every morning, there it is. There must be
Someone Else taking care of all this.”
Dad, you light up my life, but it really isn’t your
responsibility to “make the sun rise for me.” I know that you know Someone Else
is taking care of me. (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2004), pp. 102-103) That
was a lesson that Mary and Joseph had to learn. And it’s a lesson I hope you
and I have learned as well. God will take care of those we love, and God will
take care of us. Mary and Joseph went on with their lives following Christmas,
and so shall we. They faced life’s many challenges, but they did it with love
and with faith in God. It was not easy, but they knew God was with them, just
as God is with us. It’s good to know. Indeed, it’s the best Good News in the
world.
9) “And what exactly would that be?” There
was a fascinating conversation on Rush Limbaugh’s talk show a while back.
Having just completed Tom Brokaw’s wonderful book, The Greatest
Generation, a book filled with inspiring stories of the WWII generation,
Rush had taken the position that the current generation of young adults, those
in their 20’s, are, for the most part, a bunch of whiners. He said that while
they are constantly whining and moaning about the difficulty of their lives in
fact, when compared to the hardships faced by their grandparents’ generation,
they’ve actually got it easy. Their grandparents had endured truly devastating
events like The Great Depression and WWII. The current crop of young adults, he
concluded, doesn’t even have a clue about real hardship.
Once Rush had finished his monologue, a self-professed member of this younger generation of adults called in to offer a different perspective. Bright and extremely articulate, the 23 year-old caller said that, while The Great Depression and WWII certainly created terrible hardships for the people who faced them that he, nonetheless, believed his generation faced an even greater hardship.
Limbaugh asked, “And what exactly would that be?” The caller said, “The loss of hope.” He said that his experience indicated that many of today’s young adults had simply stopped believing that things were going to get better. They didn’t expect to live as well as their parents had lived. They weren’t expecting a brighter future. They have simply given up hope. Most of those in his generation, he said, can’t imagine anything worth dying for…and they’re committing suicide in record numbers because many can’t imagine anything worth living for.” Christ’s presence in our lives is as full now as it was for Simeon. The Christ of Christmas brings hope and so much more.
Once Rush had finished his monologue, a self-professed member of this younger generation of adults called in to offer a different perspective. Bright and extremely articulate, the 23 year-old caller said that, while The Great Depression and WWII certainly created terrible hardships for the people who faced them that he, nonetheless, believed his generation faced an even greater hardship.
Limbaugh asked, “And what exactly would that be?” The caller said, “The loss of hope.” He said that his experience indicated that many of today’s young adults had simply stopped believing that things were going to get better. They didn’t expect to live as well as their parents had lived. They weren’t expecting a brighter future. They have simply given up hope. Most of those in his generation, he said, can’t imagine anything worth dying for…and they’re committing suicide in record numbers because many can’t imagine anything worth living for.” Christ’s presence in our lives is as full now as it was for Simeon. The Christ of Christmas brings hope and so much more.
10) “Witnessed by Sandy MacTavish.” Sandy
MacTavish was one of the town drunks in a small village in Scotland. The local
preacher had tried for years without success to get Sandy to go “on the wagon.”
In a last ditch effort, the parson called a meeting at the church of everyone
in town who had trouble with alcohol. He was delighted when he saw Sandy
MacTavish show up and sit in the back pew. He was so inspired that he delivered
the most eloquent sermon of his entire career, telling about the evils of drink
and the harmful effects it had on both body and soul. At the end of the
sermon, he announced that he was sending around a piece of paper that he wanted
people to sign pledging that they would give up drinking. As he watched the
list circulate, everyone signed it including Sandy MacTavish. After the
service, he was so excited that he snatched up the list without looking at it
and ran home to tell his wife about his victory. He unrolled the list before
her eyes and sure enough, written across the bottom were the words, “witnessed
by Sandy MacTavish.” Let Simeon and Anna who witnessed to the Messiah as
a Baby, shape your response to the good news of God’s love shown to us in
Bethlehem. It is what needs to happen once Christmas is over!
11) “Don’t be in a hurry; the teachings of Christ
take time to come to earth.”
In the early ’60s, at the height of the
civil rights movement, a group of white ministers issued a public statement
urging Dr. Martin Luther King, in the name of the Christian faith, to be more patient
in his quest for justice and to relax the relentless struggle for civil rights.
King’s response came in the form of the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
In the letter, King indicated that he had received similar requests for delay,
indeed, that he had just gotten a letter from a “white brother in Texas” who
wrote, “… It is possible you are in too great a religious hurry … The teachings
of Christ take time to come to earth.” Dr. King replied that such an attitude
stemmed from a sad misunderstanding of time, the notion that time itself cures
all ills. Time, King argued, could be used for good or for evil. Human
progress, he said, is not inevitable, but rather …
… it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. King knew that complete justice must await the coming of God. That was the theme of his final sermon in which he proclaimed, “I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve seen the promised land.” But he was persuaded that while we wait, “the time is always ripe to do right” [Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in Why We Can’t Wait (New York: Harper and Row, 1964), p. 89.] Simeon and Anna were also waiting for God to come, but they were not passive in their waiting. Simeon was full of devotion and did what was just. Anna kept the lights burning at the Temple with her ceaseless worship. They waited, but, while they waited, they did what they could.
… it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. King knew that complete justice must await the coming of God. That was the theme of his final sermon in which he proclaimed, “I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve seen the promised land.” But he was persuaded that while we wait, “the time is always ripe to do right” [Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in Why We Can’t Wait (New York: Harper and Row, 1964), p. 89.] Simeon and Anna were also waiting for God to come, but they were not passive in their waiting. Simeon was full of devotion and did what was just. Anna kept the lights burning at the Temple with her ceaseless worship. They waited, but, while they waited, they did what they could.
12) Barbicide: There is an amusing true story
about a man named Maurice King. Maurice became displeased with his barber. His
barber was not particularly adept with a razor. Rarely would Maurice leave this
barber’s shop without a new collection of nicks and scratches. Even more
disturbing, Maurice became a little concerned that his barber’s tools weren’t
as sanitary as they could be. So he invented a germ-killing blue liquid that he
began marketing to barber shops and hair salons. Even today, you walk into any
salon or barber shop and you’ll see glass jars of this pale blue liquid on the
counters. It’s used for soaking razors, scissors, combs and other equipment.
What’s the name of this blue liquid? Barbicide. The name is a little inside
joke thought up by Maurice King after a particularly bad trip to the barber. I
say it’s an inside joke because the word Barbicide means “kill the barber.”
Look for it at your favorite barber shop or hair salon. As foretold by Simeon,
Mary and Joseph didn’t escape life’s nicks and scratches. Neither did Jesus.
Jesus was a child like any other child, and as such he surely had his bumps and
bruises growing up. Mary was likely in her late forties when she experienced
the unspeakable tragedy of watching her son die an excruciating death on the
cross of Calvary. You think you hurt. Imagine how she hurt. “A sword will
pierce your soul.” Life can be very cruel even to the best of people.
Can people ever get any better than the Holy Family of Nazareth — Mary, Joseph
and Jesus? And yet they had difficult lives.
