Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple…
Just as Simeon and Anna received the child
presented by Mary and Joseph so do we come today to receive the child from Mary
his mother and Joseph, patrons of our monastery.
At the first Presentation, only four were
present. Today, thanks to the efforts of countless believers over the
centuries, the “light for revelation to the Gentiles” has been passed on to us.
We are privileged to be part of these original four. Luke is at pains to show
that these four have been carefully chosen by God as credible witnesses for the
presentation of his Son to Israel. Each of us, too, has been chosen by God to
receive His Son today and to bear the light of consolation and redemption to
the nations. We too are to be credible
witnesses just like them. This is a lofty task. How do we become people who are
up to it? Let us look to these four the Lord has given us as examples, as sure guides
along the way.
In bringing Jesus to the temple, it is the
role of Mary and Joseph to do a very ordinary and expected thing for a pious Jew,
which they do in a spirit of simple willing obedience to the law, without the
slightest trace of legalism. Thus, Mary and Joseph show us how, in order to carry
out the divine plan, God’s Spirit counts on all that is given us through the
institutional side of the Church: the liturgy, the sacraments, and so on. For
us, this means that it is through following the ordinary rhythm of the
monastic day of prayer, work, and meals, in the same spirit of simple, humble
obedience, that we provide the conditions for God to make Christ present to us
here and now and do his transformative work on us as individuals and as a
group.
Luke tells us that Simeon was “righteous
and devout”. For Guerric of Igny, to be “devout” or “God-fearing” meant that Simeon’s “speech
and his countenance were adorned with modesty and gravity” and “made him
moderate his activity with circumspection.” In Simeon, we see how the negative praxis of “caution” and “restraint”, characteristic
of the devout man, were in service of a high degree of interior freedom, that
allowed him to be particularly sensitive and responsive to the promptings of
the Spirit. No one told Simeon to be at this particular place at this
particular time, only the Spirit, and only the Spirit gave him the capacity to
recognize God’s Anointed in the child. Thus, his eyes saw his heart’s desire,
the Lord’s salvation and consolation, not only for himself, but for all: as “a
light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for God’s people Israel.”
Anna is also led by the Spirit, for she
came “forward at that very time”, Luke tells us. But as one has freely chosen
to remain a widow for the Lord’s sake, who never left the temple, but worshiped
night and day, in fasting and prayer, she is a model for us of a life ordered
around prayer, of consecrated chastity and voluntary poverty and, therefore, of
life according to the evangelical counsels, including obedience, indicated by
the fact that she came “forward at that very time”, and monastic stability, in that
she never left the temple.
In Simeon and Anna, Sion has adorned her
bridal chamber and welcomed Christ the King, as the ancient antiphon for today’s
procession has it. They represent the whole people at their best. So let us
look to these four, brothers, let us walk together with them in the daily
rhythm of our life of prayer and work, as we seek to live justly and devoutly,
and be responsive to the Spirit’s lead, and as we struggle to live chastely, in
poverty, obedience, and stability, that we may know their joy.
And most of all, let us look to Mary who, as
virgin and mother by the overshadowing of the Spirit, embodies all of these in
their perfection. And as one who herself was pierced by the sword, knows all
the trials and difficulties of Christian discipleship. She presents us the
child at all times, especially here in the Eucharist. Let us take him up and
embrace him and, like Anna, give thanks and speak about the child, in our words
and deeds, to all who are waiting and longing for the coming of the divine
mercy, of God in his full redemptive power.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, The Presentation in the Temple with the Angel, c. 1630, etching, 4 x 3 in., Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center, Saint Anselm College. Homily by Father Timothy.
