Sunday, February 2, 2003

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Day of Religious Vocations

 

Readings:

Malachi 3: 1-4 The Lord you seek will enter the sanctuary

Psalm 23: The Lord of Hosts is the King of Glory

Heb 2: 14-18 He had to be completely like his brothers

Lk 2: 22-40 Presentation of the child Jesus in the temple

 

Today we celebrate the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple, a rite mandated by the Law for any family with a first-born son, forty days after his birth. It is exactly 40 days today since Christmas. This celebration is considered the “feast of the Lord” and as such is “due”—according to liturgical order—around the 4^th Sunday in ordinary time, which should be celebrated today. It is one of the liturgical rules that sometimes alters the normal succession of Sundays.

 

Today a less formal commentary is offered, more a sharing of ideas, subjects and notes that communities might consider as they choose what is most appropriate for their own situation or needs.

 

The liturgy chooses this text by Malachi for the parallel it shares with the feast being celebrated: “The Lord will enter the Sanctuary”. The short book of Malachi is overflowing with future visions about the eschatological time when the nations will come together around Yahweh to adore him. In one of those visions, Malachi sees the Lord sending his messenger into the Sanctuary, making his people’s offering pleasing to him through his purifying power. The liturgy sees this text fulfilled most completely with Jesus’ entrance into the Temple and his family bearing, notably, the offering of the poor.

 

Although the letter to the Hebrews is motivated by the desire to focus on the priesthood, it emphasizes an important point worth underlining: Jesus is of our same flesh and blood, our own family, “likened to us in all ways”, because he comes from the same lineage. The affirmation made by our faith that he is “the son of God” led many Christians in the past to consider him nothing other than just God: there has been a latent “monophysist” heresy (mono-physis: one nature) that only considered Jesus’ divine nature. It is the Jesus that no small number of Christians still believes to lack a human nature, one who feels and thinks and knows as God, with a non-human consciousness because he would be filled with “God’s consciousness”.

 

The portion of the letter to the Hebrews that we read today brings us back to reality: that if, Gospel in hand, we can call Jesus “son of God” (which is not the same as “God the Son”) it does not at all contradict the fact that we acknowledge this person of flesh and blood, “likened to his brothers in all ways” as the “Christ”. There is a call therefore, to highlight the closeness and full humanity of Jesus.

 

Luke takes pleasure in presenting us with a Jesus who fulfills and submits to the Law. The celebration of the rite of presentation was one mandated by the Law of Moses, and Jesus is not outside the Law or above it. Nor does he claim exceptions or privileges. Moreover: notice that the offering of Jesus’ family is the one made by the poor: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

 

Simeon declares or sings the “Nunc dimitis, Domine”: now you can let me go in peace, Lord, because my eyes have seen the Savior. Total fulfillment once again. The presence of Salvation, although unnoticed, hushed, hidden, is only discovered by eyes with a special ability to see beyond outward appearances. Simeon prophesizes the “conflictive nature” which Jesus cannot escape. He will be a “disputed flag”: what a beautiful translation! It used to be translated more abstractly as “sign of contradiction”. Jesus would mean that some would fall and others would rise, so that “the attitude of many” would finally be evident. This, then is the basis of the conflict that is Jesus: not one due to aggressiveness but by the consequence of who he is. It is the others who will become aggressive; they will not be able to be indifferent when faced with Jesus. It is not a conflict that has to do with Jesus “because of who he is”, but rather because of his mission. And that is why that conflict concerns any Christian that takes Jesus’ mission seriously: an undesired conflict will arise, not due to aggressiveness but as a reaction by those who do not wish to see the good news communicated.

 

Anna is a “prophetess”. These are feminine traits that remain in history despite all the masculine hands that have written it. Despite her being the “prophetess”, it is the words of Simeon, “a just and pious man”, that have been preserved in the gospel, with Anna’s words long forgotten, though preserved in the people, since she “told all who awaited liberation about the child”. She was a selective prophetess who was well aware that her message was of interest to “those who were awaiting liberation”.

 

And the famous verse 40, the verse that has been controversial for centuries: how could the Son of God grow in grace? His growing in height or even in wisdom would not be hard to grasp, but in grace? Luke, who is not thinking at all about “God the Son”, but rather about the “Son of God”, understands that Jesus grew in grace and adds: “before God and before human beings”.

 

Shifting our focus: a few years ago, February 2 became the Day of Religious Vocations. It was no doubt because the “presentation” of the child in the temple was also his “consecration” to God. Calling it “consecrated life” is problematic although less problematic or more substantial than “religious life”, or that other gladly forgotten “life of perfection”. Is the term problematic because it doesn’t seem to say much or not say enough? And it could only be so because religious workers, or the “consecrated” are not “clearly different”. They are not basically different. They are just Christians. And they don’t want to be anything more than that. But they do want to be so as fully as possible. But they are ultimately just Christians. Consecrated by baptism, which is the primary consecration, like everyone else, and consecrated by a lesser consecration, to a religious vocation, which is what gives them the name, based on a lesser difference.

 

There are 995,639 “consecrated” men and women in the Church, according to the figures published in Il Osservatore Romano (April 21, 2002, Supplement 21). Almost a million. Note: 80% are women. Four of every five consecrated people are women. An overwhelming majority.

 

With a crisis of quantity: the almost one million in the year 2000 was 1,225,000 in 1978, the year that John Paul II entered. So there has been an 18.73% decline in “consecrated life” in the Catholic Church over the last 22 years. The greatest decline has occurred among lay religious workers, the non-ordained. There are 27% fewer. Women religious workers have also suffered a decline by 19.13%. The numbers for priests has also declined by 12%.

 

One thing is indisputable: if we are not the last religious workers, we are surely the last examples of a certain way of living “the consecrated life”, as the Dominican theologian, Tillard, used to say. And the theological commission of the Conference of Major Superiors of Rome states: “We perceive that an old model of consecrated life is disappearing”. (“Within globalization” in Religious Life, March 2002, 21) A time of change: something seems to be dying and perhaps what will replace it has not yet been born. Unless it is coming into the temple unnoticed, like a child that only Simeon and Anna will see?

 

For personal consideration

 

What does this episode in Jesus’ life say to me? Do I also live “consecrated” to God, in simplicity and humility, radically and naturally at the same time, without calling attention to myself?

 

For the group’s consideration

 

- If you were part of the commission that will examine the future ordering of the liturgy, would you keep this feast or would you change it? Give reasons why.

 

- The scene of the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple is still part of the “childhood gospel”. What are the main characteristics of this part of the gospel?

 

- Jesus is called “a disputed flag”. Let’s do a literary exercise first: look for other “metaphors” that say the same thing. Write them down without discussion. Then, one by one, have the author explain her choice and have the group analyze them.

 

-What is the subject of conflict in Christian life like today? Is there a sense that there is no longer conflict? What does this mean? Is conflict avoidable for Christians?

 

Petitions

- For all of Humanity, that we all may come together more and more with each other and with the God that comes forward to meet Humanity, let us pray to the Lord.

 

- For all men and women religious workers: that we may convert to God and to our brothers and sisters, each along the path to which God has called us.

 

- For men and women Christians, that we may be concerned above all about joyfully and consistently living our faith, our love and our hope, knowing that our authenticity is the best way to serve Humanity.

 

- For “consecrated” men and women: that they may be faithful to their vocation and discover God’s call at this time of profound changes in society.

 

- For those who live alone, without love, without the warmth of friends and relatives, that they may find people with whom to share life, whom they may love and be loved by.

 

- For those of us who profess to be disciples of Jesus, that we may understand that God is not for a privileged few but is the Father of all, especially the poor.

 

Let Us Pray

 

Oh God who brought Jesus forth from our same flesh and blood, to make us experience fully your presence among us and, like a disputed flag, have us choose your Kingdom; let us be among those who follow his way, consecrating ourselves totally to doing your will. You who live and show us life forever and ever. Amen.