Homily: Feast of the Presentation
Homily: Feast of the Presentation (Lk. 2:22-40) “Can I See What Others Don’t”
We commemorate the last gasp of Christmas today with the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus. I usually leave my Nativity Set up until this day every year. I find it good to hang onto Christmas during the dark days of winter for as long as possible.
The Feast of the Presentation is also known as Candlemas day. Tomorrow morning, we will bless candles that we will use during the year in our liturgical worship and for devotions.
There was a cartoon I saw once that depicted Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus wandering around in a modern city. Mary is on a donkey and Jesus is in her arms. Cars are rushing past. People are going about their shopping. No one pays attention to the Holy Family. The message of the image is that we need to pay attention if we want to see God incarnate. Jesus is all around us in the events and people in our lives.
I am sure that Simeon and Anna saw all kinds of babies coming in and out of the temple through their years of praying there. Maybe there were hundreds or even thousands of infants. You would have thought that the infant Jesus would have blended in with all the rest.
Somehow these two people knew in their souls that Jesus was the special child they longed to see. They saw what no one else could see.
How do we develop such insight? How often we rush through life, and we are so distracted that we do not see God acting in extraordinary ways. There are examples of faithful individuals who we meet all the time. Perhaps it is the elderly people who comes to Mass every Sunday who has a lifelong story of fidelity. But then again it might be the child who reacts with wonder when they see the snow fly.
If we stop to unpack our day when it is over, we will find that God is present. Maybe it would be in some extraordinary event, but in something as simple as meeting a newborn for the first time.
Reflection Questions:
- Did God appear in my life yesterday? When and how?
- When did I dedicate myself to the Lord? If my parents chose my religious path is that less valid?
Dear Parishioners,
This weekend Christ the King Parish will be having its annual Snowball fund raiser. This is always the first weekend in February. The proceeds go to support the Believers Together Center. I will be attending, and I hope that you can support this effort. When one Catholic institution in our community prospers, we all do.
Over the last several years Christ the King and Sacred Heart parishes have done a lot of good work together. We need only remember the five and half million dollars we have raised in the Today, Tomorrow, Together, campaign. Christ the King sponsored the Visitation Window restoration in our church. Fr. Levitt has been very generous in helping us.
I would encourage anyone who might want to go to the Snowball or who might want to donate to contact Christ the King today.
May Our Lady and All the Angel and Saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark