Homily for the Presentation of Our Lord Year A 2014
MAL 3:1-4, HEB 2:14-18, LK 2:22-40
Introduction
This weekend is February 2nd and
it means different things to different people.
·
For many, February 2nd
is Groundhog day, when the groundhog emerges from his winter hideout, and
predicts how soon Spring will come.
Given the recent weather, we probably know what the groundhog is going
to say.
·
This year, February 2nd
is also Superbowl Sunday – (leading me to wonder why conclude that you must be
the 25 people in New Orleans who either don’t like football or like me don’t
know much about it).
·
In the Church February 2nd
is the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord; this year because it falls on
a Sunday, we get to celebrate this great feast.
Scripture and Theology
In the
hierarchy of feasts, the Presentation of Our Lord does not rank as high as
Christmas or Easter. But it is still
important, because this feast marks the occasion when 40 days after the birth
of Jesus, Joseph and Mary presented him in the Temple. Every Jewish family was required to dedicate
or consecrate their first-born child to God, recognising that God is the source
of all life.
This
ritual was interesting. The parents sacrificed a pair of turtledoves or two
young pigeons in the temple. As very
religious people, they wanted to give God the best thing they had; what better
gift to give God than their first-born child?
But sacrificing a child would be inhuman; and so God gave them a way
out; he let the pair of turtledoves or young pigeons substitute or ransom the
child. These birds were the sign of the
great gift the parents wanted to give the Lord.
And so, vicariously through the sacrifice, the child was presented and
dedicated to God.
Perhaps
Mary and Joseph wanted to sneak into the Temple, do the ritual and get back
home to Nazareth. But things turned out
to be a little dramatic. Simeon and
Anna, happened to be at Temple; and they let the cat out of the bag. Simeon a
righteous and virtuous man, and Anna a widow and Prophetess revealed to all
present, that this child was special, that this child himself was God.
·
Simeon blessed and thanked God for allowing him to live long enough to
see the child that would bring salvation to the whole world: “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and
glory for your people Israel,” he called him.
·
Anna for her part gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all
who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
Mary
and Joseph were intending to present the child to God, but now, through the
inspired mouths of Simeon and Anna, God presented the child to the world.
Christian Life
In 1997, Pope John Paul II instituted a day
of prayer for women and men in consecrated life, in other words, religious
sisters and brothers. This day is often marked in association with the Feast of
the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd.
For what consecrated people do – the monks and nuns, religious brothers
and sisters – is exactly what Mary and Joseph did with Jesus when they presented
him to the Lord. These men and women
also give their lives to God.
Of course all Christians give themselves to
God. We priests and deacons give
themselves to God as ministers to parishioners.
You lay people give yourselves to God by living out the faith fully in your
families and in the world. But
consecrated people do so in a very radical way, giving up literally everything
to follow Christ. The Church has always
had people like this in one form or another.
·
In the very early centuries, you
had the virgins and ascetics; but most of them lived this life privately as
individuals.
·
It is St. Anthony of Egypt, who
heard the words of Jesus to the rich young man in Matthew 19:21: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you
have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me.” Anthony did exactly that,
giving up everything and going into the desert to live in absolute poverty; he
soon attracted a few followers, and therefore gave birth to the first religious
congregation.
·
Anthony would be followed in
this way of life by others like St. Benedict, the Father of today’s Benedictine
monks and nuns; by St. Francis and St. Dominic several centuries later, the
ones who gave us our current Franciscan and Dominican brothers and sisters.
·
There are so many congregations
of religious men and women today, that there is even a somewhat irreverent joke
that goes: “Even the Holy Spirit does not know how many religious men and women
there are.”
We might wonder: what kind of people become
monks and nuns?
1.
What kind of people give up
their lives to live in poverty – meaning that they don’t own anything
personally; everything belongs to the community?
2.
What kind of people give up
having the love and physical intimacy of a husband or wife and give up having children
of their own too?
3.
What kind of people give up
their lives to live in total obedience to their superior, someone who else
tells them what God wants them to do?
Yes, such people exist, even in our world
today. These are the people who love God
in a very uncompromising way. They are
willing to give God, not just two turtledoves or two pigeons, but their whole
lives. Sr. Mary Agnes is a good friend
of mine. Just before New Year’s Day I
visited her and her community and she told that this year, she will be making 67
years as a nun, exactly how old my mother is.
Sr. Mary Agnes has lived in the same house for all these years, praying
five times a day, every day for the needs of the Church and the world.
On this feast of consecration, let me
suggest two pieces of homework for us.
The first piece of homework is to ask
ourselves this question: Have I considered if God is calling me to give my life
to him as a religious brother or religious sister? Might I have what it takes to love in this
very radical way? Or, do you know
somebody whom you think God is calling to this challenging, but fulfilling life
of total self-gift for others? Why not
speak to someone: a priest, a nun, a brother or even just call the
Archdiocese. Is God calling you or
someone else? Such a vocation is a
terrible thing to waste.
The second piece of homework is one of
gratitude to those who live this way of life.
I know my life would very different, without the many good nuns and
brothers. I myself would not even be
here, were it not for the nuns back in Kenya who raised my mother and gave her
an education, when her father died. I
would not be here, were it not for the religious brothers who took me into
their school, despite the fact that my mother could not afford to pay the
tuition. To become a priest and to live
as a priest I have been inspired by the holy example of many nuns and brothers,
who I have been fortunate to know. I am sure you also know some nuns and
brothers who have influenced you; what about giving them a call tonight and saying
thank you to them? Or if you don’t know
any, perhaps the next time you see a nun you could say, “Thank you for giving
yourself to God.”
Conclusion
May the
light of Christ, who was revealed to the world by Simeon and Anna, shine forth
through our lives. May this light shine
especially through the lives of those who follow the Lord faithfully,
especially the consecrated men and women, who give their lives to him totally
and may there be more and more of them.
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