20220202 KEEPING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST BURNING
02 February, 2022, Wednesday, The Presentation of the Lord
First reading | Malachi 3:1-4 © |
The Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple
The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the years of old.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 23(24):7-10 © |
Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.
O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord, the mighty, the valiant,
the Lord, the valiant in war.
Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.
O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.
Who is he, the king of glory?
He, the Lord of armies,
he is the king of glory.
Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.
When a Feast of the Lord falls on a weekday, there is no reading after the Psalm and before the Gospel.
Gospel Acclamation | Lk2:32 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The light to enlighten the Gentiles
and give glory to Israel, your people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 2:22-40 © |
My eyes have seen your salvation
When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.
KEEPING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST BURNING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [MALACHI 3:1-4; HEBREWS 2:14-18; LUKE 2:22-40]
Today, on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we have the blessing of candles. At Christmas we celebrate Christ as the light of the world. At Epiphany, we celebrate His manifestation to the Gentiles. At His baptism, we celebrate His consecration for the mission of proclaiming the Good News. As such, the Feast of the Presentation reminds us of our baptismal commitment when we were given the lighted candle of Christ, reminding us to shine brightly for the world to see. For religious sisters and brothers, it is their day of consecration to the Lord when they profess or renew their religious vows. By extension, we also use the candle to symbolize consecration and commitment to a ministry, an organization, a mission, or even now, widely used as para-liturgy for married couples who hold two candles to light one candle, symbolizing their flames of love becoming one big flame for others to see.
But how do we keep our light burning? Israel was chosen to be the light of the nations. “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isa 42:6f) But that light was extinguished gradually. Prophecy died after the death of the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi. We too could be like them as well, whether we are speaking about our life as disciples of Christ, or our Christian commitment to our vocation, as married couples, priests or religious. We started well and were full of energy and zeal. But over the years, we have become jaded, perhaps disillusioned, or complacency has set in. We have taken our status for granted and forgot the privilege and blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon us. We have forgotten our mission. The light too has become dimmed for us.
This is why we need to be reignited. Hence, the prophet Malachi prophesied how the Temple of the Lord would once again be purified. The Lord God says this, “Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made.” Indeed, like the Israelites, we need to be purified, so that we can re-consecrate ourselves to God. Perhaps we have been negligent in our prayer life because we have been so focused on our work. Perhaps, we have been so ambitious that we forgot that people are more important than our success. Perhaps, we have lost our passion and allowed the passion for worldly pleasures to consume us. It is our sins, negligence and complacency that have snuffed out the light of Christ in us.
Jesus our High Priest shows us the way back to God. He is the one who makes our offering perfect. As the High Priest, He is our mediator, our bridge to God. He is our bridge in the sense that He shows us the way. As He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (Jn 14:6) For this reason, He assumed our humanity. “For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself descent from Abraham. It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God’s religion, able to atone for human sins. That is, because he has himself been through temptation he is able to help others who are tempted.” Jesus, who is truly man and identified with us, shows us how we too can overcome our sins and temptations of the world and the Evil One. In Jesus, we have a compassionate High Priest who knows our struggles and our weakness. Although He Himself did not sin, yet He empathizes with us in our struggles against sins. So we can be sure of His mercy and compassion because He understands us. As the letter to the Hebrews further on added, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:15f)
Secondly, He is our sacrifice for our reconciliation as well. The author says, “Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, Christ too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, who had power over death, and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” By His death on the cross, He has conquered sins by conquering death. Through His death, He showed us that love is stronger than hatred, life is stronger than death. This is what helps us to be reconciled with the Father because we no longer need to sin because of fear of death.
So today, we are called to welcome the King of Glory, our Lord Jesus Christ who entered the Temple with Mary and Joseph. Like Simeon and Anna, we must be ready to welcome Him when He appears. Both of them were watchful. They stayed at the Temple waiting for the messenger of the Lord to appear. True enough, Simeon who had purified his life was able to hear the prompting of the Spirit. The evangelist remarked, “He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required.” Simeon was able to recognize the Lord only through the help of the Holy Spirit. So the first step to re-consecrate ourselves to the Lord is to give up our sins and listen to the Holy Spirit attentively.
Secondly, Anna a perfect example of a contemplative religious, was a woman who became a widow after seven years in marriage, and now eighty-four years old had “never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.” She too was rewarded with the gift of revelation and could see in Jesus, the One who would save Israel. The Church also needs contemplative people who could show us the way, and with prayer and fasting help the Church to grow in faith and in wisdom. This is why the Church can never do without the contemplative religious in the monastery praying and doing penance for the Church and her mission.
Indeed, like them, we must rediscover the joy of meeting the Lord in the Temple if we were to renew our commitment to the Lord. When Simeon saw the Lord, “he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said: ‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.'” Our faith and passion will once again be reignited if we see the Lord and most of all, the salvation promised to us already taking place in our times.
Too often, because of the lack of faith or disillusionment, we cannot see that God is at work in our lives, often in unseen ways, but He is making use of the imperfect instruments we are to shine forth His light and glory in the world. But let us remember the words of Simeon to our blessed Mother, “You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.” We too, like our Lord, will have to suffer for being a light in the world and rejected because of the Good News we profess. But like our Lord, we must never be afraid to continue to be that sign in the world. Even when our hearts are broken, we can take consolation in the Lord that He is with us. After all, as the responsorial psalm says, “Who is the king of glory? The Lord, the mighty, the valiant, the Lord, the valiant in war. He is the King of Glory! O gates, lift high your heads; grow higher, ancient doors. Let him enter, the king of glory!”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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