Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

2 February 2020

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is an ancient feast, formerly called the Feast of the Purification of Mary, and commonly called “Candlemas” because of the custom of blessing and carrying candles in the entrance procession. This feast marks the event, recounted in the Scriptures, when forty days after Jesus’ birth he was presented in the Temple in Jerusalem and when Mary underwent ritual purification after childbirth. One of our beautiful Austrian stained-glass windows depicts this event. Those of you sitting in the south transept won’t be able to see it now, but make sure to check it out after Mass. Along the south wall of the main nave is that window. At the top of the window you see the Ark of the Covenant, which is God’s very presence, housed in the Jerusalem Temple. You see Simeon holding Jesus while proclaiming God’s blessings. You see the prophetess Anna nearby. You see Joseph and Mary in the foreground, with Joseph holding the offering of a pair of turtledoves or pigeons. At the bottom of the window are the words from today’s Gospel passage, the words of Simeon “O Lord, my eyes have seen thy salvation.”

As stated in the last line of Simeon’s canticle and, as is unmistakable by the way this Mass begins, the prominent theme in this feast is light as a symbol for Jesus, God Himself, coming into the Temple. Consider the high theological poetry in the first verses of St. John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (Jn. 1:1, 4, 9).

The Light of life, God Himself, came into the world. To receive Him, to receive faith in Him, is a light to believers. And thus, no surprise, that the light of candles is an apt symbol for our faith. In part that’s why in baptism the newly baptized is given a candle while the minister says, “Receive the light of Christ.” The minister goes on to say, “Parents and Godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. He/she is to walk always as a child of the light. May he/she keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart. When the Lord comes, may he/she go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.”

On this feast we are supposed to think of light. We are supposed to consider that faith in Christ is a light to our lives, showing us the way. We are supposed to consider that the Light is God Himself who is our life. With all this in mind, my thought for us today is rather simple and fundamental, but so critically important if our discipleship is more than just lip service. The thought is this: Do we accept and follow that Christ, his life, and his teachings are a light to us? Do we accept that our faith gives us authoritative guidance in the darkness of our fallen world and in the darkness of our lives marked by original sin? In other words, do we embrace and receive the light of Christ as a true gift to us? Do we adults accept and obey this light for ourselves? And do we teach our children and young people to likewise be obedient to this light? I want you to seriously ask yourself whether you choose the light of Christ’s teaching or whether you choose darkness. Make it specific and concrete by thinking of a particular teaching of our faith. I say this because experience tells me time and time again that when a particular teaching of Christ and his Church – almost always areas of morality – causes us discomfort or tension or confusion and misunderstanding it is not uncommon for even a believer to adopt an unchristian secular mindset and to dismiss the teaching. It goes like this: “I know the Church says X, but personally I disagree.” But personally, what? You see what is happening there? It is no longer the light of Christ in his Church that is the guide, but the subjective personal feeling or opinion of an individual. It is no longer the light of Christ that is the guide, but the person himself becomes his own light. In so doing, the result is that we don’t follow the light of Christ but rather the secular darkness. Ask yourself, what is my “default setting” when I’m conflicted by a teaching of the Church? Is the light of Christ in his Church an authoritative source of illumination for me? Or is it I myself who am my own illumination? This tendency to adopt secular thinking as our guide is most easily seen in the hot button issues of our day. I bet we’ve all experienced it. Maybe we’re even guilty of it ourselves. Do we choose popular opinion, secular thought, as our guide? Or do we choose the light of Christ? As Christians we are supposed to embrace what Christ teaches, believing it to be liberating Good News for us. And we are supposed to seriously form our children to do the same. They too are easily swept up in secular thinking about the issues of our day. But Christ is supposed to be our light! When we do the “but personally” trick, we are not following the Light. Or rather, we are making secular darkness into our light. And if we do that we can’t seriously claim that Jesus is our Lord and that we are his disciples.

Now what am I NOT saying in this message? I am not saying that every teaching of our faith is necessarily easy to understand and to accept. We have a fallen nature from Original Sin and we are sinners guilty of our personal sins. The result is our minds suffer from darkened intellect and our wills can be weak. When a Church teaching causes you tension, go ahead and wrestle, struggle, have questions, study, seek answers… if done in faith this is a good thing and it is the path to a greater embracing of the light. I’m not saying we can’t have questions and struggles. But don’t pull the “but personally” trick and dismiss the teaching. That trick sets yourself up as the authoritative light. And it reveals that you really aren’t a follower of the Light who is Jesus. Rather, it reveals that secular darkness is your light. St. John’s Gospel goes on to say, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light” (Jn. 3:19).

Today we celebrate that the light and the glory of God has come among us and entered the Jerusalem Temple. The grace of God’s word, the mercy of the confessional, and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist are prime sources of purification and light for us. May we dispel the darkness of placing secular opinions on the throne of Christ. Instead, may we struggle, and pray, and seek, and reform our lives such that we beg the Light who is God among us to come dwell more fully in the temple that faith and baptism have made us to be!

Homilies