Presentation of the Lord

In this podcast episode, Fr Richard reflects on the joyful mysteries of the rosary, focusing on the presentation of Jesus in the temple. The discussion highlights biblical figures such as Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna, emphasizing their faithfulness to God amidst life’s struggles. The speaker underscores the human experience of doubt and redemption, portraying Jesus as a guide and redeemer. Listeners are encouraged to let the presence of the Lord transform their lives and to be bearers of light in the world, drawing inspiration from the steadfast faith of these biblical characters.

00:00:00 For those of you who are used to praying the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, you would know that the fourth mystery is the presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple. And then the fifth joyful mystery concludes this celebration of the Nativity of Jesus with the finding of the child Jesus when he’s 12 years old again in the temple. And so we have in this narrative, this story, or the series of stories that Saint Luke tells us, a series of characters of individuals, people who are striving to be faithful to the law of the Lord. We first meet Zechariah there in the temple, faithfully serving the Lord, but with a heart that’s, you know, a little bit stubborn and a little bit resigned to not being open completely to what God is doing. And when he receives this revelation that his wife, Elizabeth, even though they’re both in their middle years, that they were to conceive a child, something that until that point they’ve felt was absolutely impossible. He cannot believe this good news. And yet he’s open eventually to it and is open to calling.

00:01:13 This child that is conceived in the womb of Elizabeth to be John and not to be named after himself. We then meet, of course, Mary, this young girl, perhaps an early teenager, and who is betrothed to tradition, says an older gentleman. Perhaps he’s just an older teenager. We don’t really know how old Saint Joseph is, except that by the time of the public ministry of Jesus that Joseph is no longer mentioned. So we presume that he’s already died, either of natural causes or an accident that perhaps happened in the midst of his work. We don’t know. So there’s another example of people in a different stage of their life. Of course, we have the little children. We have then at the birth of Jesus, the outsiders, the shepherds, those who don’t fit into ordinary human society, who are there as the outcasts. Then we meet these two more senior citizens today, both of them being faithful to the Lord Simeon, who has been there in the temple, serving the Lord, who’s described as a prophet, someone who is a slave of the Lord, a servant of the Most High who’s desiring to see the coming, the breaking in of this new period in the history of Israel, when the Messiah will finally come, and then this wonderful figure of Anna.

00:02:41 And the first thing, of course, that we discover from the figure of Anna is that it’s only at the age of 84 that her days of girlhood are over. So if there’s any woman here that’s just about under that age of 84, 85, you’re still girls. So that’s a great thing to to celebrate today. These figures who are struggling to be faithful to the Lord, struggling to open themselves to the grace of God. Struggling to make sense of what God is calling them to do. And in the midst of all of these, we have this constant theme of all of this was done to fulfill the law of the Lord. All of this was to complete what God had ordained. Even though Jesus didn’t need to be redeemed, even though he was already the Redeemer, even though he would be the one to bring salvation to all people. Yet Mary and Joseph take him to present him to the temple, to make the offering on behalf of the Lord. Again, even though Mary, in her purity and the her lack of sin, doesn’t need to be purified, and yet she also goes to the temple to make this offering of herself.

00:03:58 And it’s there that I think the the reading that has been chosen for us from the letter to the Hebrews begins to make sense of all of this. There. It’s a description of Jesus as our older brother. Jesus is the one who has gone before us, the one who is prepared the way, the one who knows what we’ve been through, the one who has walked this journey with us. Over the last few weeks I’ve been away doing various ministry at summer schools and summer camps and at the National Evangelization Team training. And so I’ve got to meet and talk with many young people in all kinds of different situations and circumstances. The one universal thing when you minister with young people is that you discover that there is this profound propensity of human beings to stuff things up, to get things wrong, to make mistakes. Particularly as I’ve celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation with young people, and they’ve poured out the mistakes that they’ve made, but above all, they’ve poured out their desire to live differently. The desire to be different, their desire to try and make sense of a life that is so often messed up in the midst of our world.

00:05:19 And this call that they desire is to be in relationship with our Lord Jesus. To have the the fact that he’s wanting to be there in the midst of their lives, not just us, the older brother who’s at a distance and a long way from their human experience. But as the letter today says, Jesus, who has been tempted in every way like we ourselves, and yet he managed to find a way that didn’t sin, that didn’t reject that relationship with the father. Surely that is what all of us are longing for. Surely, in the midst of all of these different stories that Saint Luke tells us about the individuals who were there in the early life of Jesus, that every one of them provides an opportunity for us to connect with, for us to find some sense of identity. In the midst of all of that, people who have been struggling and striving to make sense of their lives, of trying to be faithful to the Lord and to all of them. All of us need a Redeemer.

00:06:23 All of us need someone to be able to point the way for us into truth, into life, into goodness. A place where we can rest, a place where we can finally make sense of our lives. And so Luke wants us to know who that person is. Jesus. He’s the only one that will finally make sense of all of this struggle, all this confusion, all of these things that we’re trying to do under our own steam and failing to do. Let’s allow the Lord to indeed be present in this temple today. The temple above all of our own lives, our own hearts. The one place where he wants to dwell. Let’s allow the light of the Lord. This feast that celebrates the the goodness of the Lord coming into the midst of the temple to transform and change it, so that the Lord to be allied, to allow that light to shine on any of those areas of being messed up or stuffing up, of getting things wrong. And let’s allow the Lord to redeem it, to make sense of our lives, and to love us in that place so that we, in turn, can be used by the Lord to be bearers of light as well.

00:07:35 The Lord be with you. And may the God of all grace, the God of peace, the God who longs to walk with us, the God who has already been along the journey of our life, who has been through death to offer us the gift of eternal life. Continue to walk with you this week to bless you, to enlighten you, and above all, to love you. And may the blessing of Almighty God be upon you, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.