The reflections for Sundays and Solemnities is an activity of Society of St Paul, India

A Reflection by:
DR (FR) PLAVENDRAN, SSP,
SOCIETY OF ST PAUL.
Assistant Director of ST PAULS MEDIA INSTITUTE, Mumbai
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We celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple which occurs after forty days after the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
The Lord Jesus Christ, forty days after His birth, in keeping with the biblical significance of the number forty and with Jewish custom, was presented in the temple in Jerusalem by His parents, Mary and Joseph. Interestingly, His parents did not carry their infant Son to a holy mountain, a sacred spring, or a magical forest. It was in His temple that the God of Israel was most present, so they brought their son to God Himself.
The first message we draw from the liturgy of the word today is that the Lord can be encountered in the Temple/church and it is the duty of the parents to bring children to help grow them in Christian faith. We go to church, as the Jews went to their one temple or to their many synagogues, because God is more God in a church. And when we experience the true God, we experience our true selves. That is, we are more us when God is more God.
The duty of all parents is to bring up their children in Christian faith and to inculcate their faith in the next generation by their words and by their actions, so that the faith will be handed on where the faith is first learned—in the family and in the home.

The second message that we can draw from the liturgy of the word is that like Jesus as described in today’s second reading we are called to become fully human by adapting the qualities of compassion and humility. In the Eucharistic celebration we commemorate the death of Jesus and how he realised his humanness. Jesus’ compassionate presence enters the temple of our life each day as he had entered the Temple of Jerusalem. He enters our life in a special way through Eucharist. We are invited just like Simeon and Anna, to welcome Jesus Christ, the light of our nations. No matter what generation we belong to, young or old, our calling as followers of Jesus is to a new way of seeing and to be a blessing to one another through our presence.
The third message that we can draw from the liturgy of the word today is that we are blessing to one another. The gospel of today presents a very young couple with their child went to the Temple of God where they meet a much older man and woman. This meeting had turned out to be a blessing for both generations. Youth was graced by the wisdom of the living faith of age, and age was graced by the trust and promise of youth. All the people who met in Jerusalem Temple today were a blessing to one another: Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna and the Child Jesus.
An old Rabbi once asked his students, “How they could tell that the night has ended and the day had begun?” “Could it be” asked one of his students “when you can see an animal in a distance and tell whether if it’s a sheep or a dog?” “No” answered the Rabbi. Another student asked “Is it when you can look at a tree at a distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No” the Rabbi answered. “Then when is it?” the student asked. “It is when you look on the face of any man or woman and see if this is your sister or brother. Because if you cannot do this, it is still night.” Replied the Rabbi.
On the feast of the presentation of the Lord, let us resolve to encounter God in the Temple as it unfolds in our hearts, people, events and learn to grow as fully human. Let us realise that we are a blessing to our brothers and sisters.
Wish you all a happy Feast!

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