Deacon Ron's Homily for the Feast of the the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2014

Normally today would be the fourth Sunday of Ordinary time, but since February 2^nd is a feast of the Lord, we celebrate it instead.  Today’s feast is the Presentation of the Lord, which comes 40 days after Christmas. This feast has a tie to the Christmas season.   So if you still have your decorations up don’t feel so bad.  This feast is midway between Christmas and Lent, so it this may be a good time to start thinking of how we can observe the Lenten season.  

As I was preparing this homily the opening prayer really struck me.  I’d like to read a portion of it again:

Almighty ever-living God, we humbly implore your majesty that, just as your Only Begotten Son was presented on this day in the Temple in the substance of our flesh, so, by your grace, we may be presented to you with minds made pure.

The specific words that really caught my attention was, “by your grace, we may be presented to you with minds made pure”.    This made me think of when most of were first presented to God to receive our baptism, as precious little infants.  An infant is one you would certainly think of as having a mind made pure.   To help keep our mind to stay pure throughout our lives we need some help.  At Baptism we are given God’s grace to help us in our daily walk struggling with the temptations of the world.  Grace helps us to be obedient to the Lord’s command to love our God and neighbor.

Today we hear about some models of faith and obedience to God’s laws.   Joseph and Mary were obediently following the law in waiting 40 days for purification of Mary before entering the temple, offering two turtledoves, and then presenting Jesus for consecration.  They were devout and obedient in practicing their faith.  Mary and Joseph are models for us as parents on how to live in obedience to our faith.

Simeon is another model of faith. A sign of his faith was the presence of the Holy Spirit, mentioned three times in the Gospel  Simeon is righteous and devout and the Holy Spirit revealed he would not see death until the coming of the Messiah.  He was probably old and ready to go home to the Lord.  Simeon came into the temple in the Spirit, and when Mary and Joseph entered he took Jesus in his arms announcing:

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

Through Simeon’s devout faith he recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the light for all people, even as a little infant.  The power of the Holy Sprit revealed this to Simeon.  Simeon’s reward for this was “to go in peace”.  What will the Lord reveal to us if we are obedient to him?

        

Now another model of faith & obedience was Anna.  She was a prophetess and widow who is always in the temple praying and fasting.   As a widow, Anna, totally relied on God.    She was rewarded for her faith by hearing Simeon’s announcement of the Messiah.    Anna’s response to this good news was thanksgiving and to tell all about the child that he would redeem Israel.  Do we respond in thanksgiving and announce the good news when we encounter Jesus like Anna did?

In reflecting on the Presentation there is another time that comes to mind when we are presented to the Lord: at confirmation. We have quite of few young adults who will soon be confirmed this coming March.  Many of us have been confirmed as well.  Confirmation is the sacrament that strengthens us to fully participate as adults in Christ’s ministry in word and action. When we are presented in Confirmation we are given an increase and deepening of our Baptismal grace.   This increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We heard today how the Holy Spirit helped Simeon to recognize and announce the Messiah.  Has this strength we’ve received enabled us to recognize and announce Jesus to others?

        

Joseph, Mary, Simeon, and Anna demonstrate how faith and obedience to God can reveal that Jesus Christ is the light of the world and salvation for all.   How can we follow God in obedience and faith?  It can be a challenge sometimes, but the Grace of our Baptism helps us to do so.  We can be strengthened in faith by being fed weekly through His Word and Body at Mass.  Receiving the Eucharist helps to renew the Grace we’ve received at Baptism.    By attending Mass weekly we are being faithful and obedient as Joseph, Mary, Simeon, and Anna were.  

We are also growing in love of God and neighbor as we strengthen our faith.   I pray that our Blessed Mother present each of us to the Lord so that we be faithful and obedient to God, and that the grace we’ve received keep our mind pure so we can share the light of Christ with others in our life by our words and actions.    

May God bless you all!