Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year "B"
Reading I
Mal 3:1-4
Thus says the Lord God:
Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the Lord whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
But who will endure the day of his coming?
And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like the refiner's fire,
or like the fuller's lye.
He will sit refining and purifying silver,
and he will purify the sons of Levi,
Refining them like gold or like silver
that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord.
Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem
will please the Lord,
as in the days of old, as in years gone by.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 24:7, 8, 9, 10
R (8) Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle.
R Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The Lord of hosts; he is the king of glory.
R Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Reading II
Heb 2:14-18
Since the children share in blood and flesh,
Jesus likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.
Surely he did not help angels
but rather the descendants of Abraham;
therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters
in every way,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God
to expiate the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested through what he suffered,
he is able to help those who are being tested.
Gospel
Lk 2:22-40 or
2:22-32
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
"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."
The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
"Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
–and you yourself a sword will pierce–
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
or
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
"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."
COMMENTARY
The prophet Malachi addresses the cynicism in the face of the prosperity of evildoers. It is met with a promise of future judgment in which justice will be meted out and elements of society will be purged and purified. Some commentators see the messenger as a human person, perhaps a priest, or even the prophet Ezra, but the majority, take him as an “angel” who is really to be identified with God himself, acting in the world through a visible form.
In the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, Paul’s main interest is in declaring the true humanity of Jesus, which he shares with all human beings. In order that Jesus’ death might be for all a liberation from slavery to the power of death, Jesus had to share their human nature fully. He is a brother to human beings, and like them he praises and puts his trust in the Father. He must share fully in humanity because he is to take on the role of high priest, particularly a merciful and faithful high priest, offering himself for the sins of his fellow human beings.
Mary and Joseph obeyed imperial law at the time of Jesus’ birth; now they obey the law of Moses, fulfilling the prescriptions concerning circumcision and presentation of the first-born to the Lord. The book of Exodus required the presentation and redemption of the first-born son because the first-born sons “belong” to the Lord who saved them when the Egyptian first-born were destroyed at the Passover (Exod 13:15). The Book of Leviticus described the ceremony for the ritual purification of the mother forty days after giving birth (Lev 12:1-8). The temple symbolizes for Luke the continuity between Judaism and Christianity.
Simeon and Anna are faithful, humble Israelites waiting in the temple for the revelation of God’s salvation. Just and pious, they are open to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Simeon recognizes Jesus as the Anointed of the Lord and further prophesies that Jesus will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles. In blessing the parents, he warns that this child will be a sign opposed and that Mary will be pierced with a sword. With these two utterances of Simeon, we are given a foreshadowing of the universal salvation that will be proclaimed in Jesus and of the necessity of suffering in the mission of this Messiah. The shadow of the cross falls across the Holy Family.
REFLECTION
This feast of the Lord has also been known as the “Encounter” and as the “Purification of Mary”. The first of these, the encounter, because it is a meeting of the Old and New Testament, where Christianity is seen as the continuation of Judaism. The latter, took on a more Marian aspect due to the fidelity of the Holy Family (specifically Mary) to the Law of Moses that prescribed the purification ritual for childbearing women. Women were considered ritually impure after giving birth and required to “purify” themselves after a specific period of time (40 days for a boy & 80 days for a girl). The typical offering was 1 lamb and 1 dove or pigeon or in the case of the poor, 2 turtledoves or pigeons. Mary, the purest of creatures, the one redeemed before the rest of humanity, subjected herself to the law and demonstrated her fidelity.
Today’s feast unmistakably touches upon these two themes, however I want to focus on Simeon and Anna, both just and holy people. Simeon was a priest and Anna a layperson. Together they symbolize the faithful people of Israel – the ones that recognized their salvation in the little child at the temple. Why just them and not the others in the temple?
When I studied in the Dominican Republic, I spent a lot of time with the people that lived out in the country and away from any major city. They lived in small wooden or tin shacks without any running water, electricity, or any means of communication. Regardless of these circumstances, they could tell me with accuracy when it was going to rain or be dry; when it would be good to plant and harvest and when not. Although most could not read or write they could read the signs around them because they were “tuned-in” to their surrounding environment.
This is sort of the situation with Simeon and Anna – they could see and recognize the signs that God was among them in this little child at the temple. Their lives were in tune with God, not because they were at the temple, but rather because they were more concerned with their relationship with God than with anything else. There were many other priests and lay people in the temple that day but the Gospel only mentions these two (Simeon and Anna) as recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. Perhaps the others in the temple had lost touch with object of their faith, which is in fact their relationship with God. For these people, the means to their relationship with God, which is the law and its precepts, had become the object of their faith instead of the relationship itself.
We too can fall into this “trap” of loosing site of what’s important. Just as a married couple can fall into a routine that will actually compromise the relationship between husband and wife, so too can our faith. When we put more emphasis on the “law” and “precepts” than we do on our relationship with God himself, we may not be able to recognize God even if he were to be right under our noses. Participating in a “perfect and solemn” liturgy is important because it praises God Almighty, but it becomes an empty symbolism if the relationship with God is not there. Making sure that we “dot every i and cross every t” is worthless if it is not a means to our end which is God himself.
Biblical
Sources:
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Alonso Schökel, L. and J.L. Sicre Diaz, “Profetas II”; T. Chary, “Les prophètes et le culte”; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Fitzmyer, J.A., “The Gospel According to Luke”; LaVerdiere, E., “Luke”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary.
Reflection:
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa