+HE TOOK HIM IN HIS ARMS Presentation 2018
This Feast of the Presentation is a simple feast in many ways. We have Mary and Joseph taking Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord in fulfillment of the law. They are doing what was expected of them as members of the Jewish people and yet the feast carries with it a wealth of meaning for our everyday lives as persons of faith. God enters right into the middle of our lives today as well as that of Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, changing their meaning forever.
This is captured by our reading from the letter to the Hebrews where we are told of how Jesus “had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God… Tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” Having identified with the people of his time, it is in and through our own lives that he continues not only to be present but a constant source of strength and joy in our world today.
Pope Francis captured this moving reality of our Christian lives in a homily he gave for this feast a year ago, saying:
“When Mary let Simeon take the Son of the Promise into his arms, the old man began to sing—celebrating a true ‘liturgy’—he sings his dreams. Whenever she puts Jesus in the midst of his people, they encounter joy. For this alone will bring back our joy and hope, this alone will save us from living in a survival mentality. Only this will make our lives fruitful and keep our hearts alive: putting Jesus where he belongs, in the midst of his people…
[This] means, having a contemplative heart, one capable of discerning how God is walking through the streets of our cities, our towns and our neighborhoods. Putting Jesus in the midst of his people, means taking up and carrying the crosses of our brothers and sisters. It means wanting to touch the wounds of Jesus in the wounds of a world in pain, which longs and cries out for healing.”
We know well what this can mean in the context of contemplative community where we rub shoulders all day long, have countless opportunities to share in the pain, the struggles and human weaknesses that are a living part of our everyday lives.
Through the priest, Jesus is handed to us each day in the Eucharist, appearing as no more than a small wafer of bread to eat or a little wine to consume. We are being reminded as we receive him, of just how close he is to our own everyday lives, wanting nothing so much as to be our joy and to lead us into song.
This nearness of the Godhead is what gives lasting meaning to the smallest detail of our lives, enabling us to be messengers of divine love to all around us. This presence wants nothing so much as to be broken and given in love by each one of us all day long so as to be the life of our world today.
Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40