The Presentation – Candlemas

Reading — Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 84; Hebrews 2: 14-18; Luke 2: 22-40

From our Gospel reading this day there are two elements that demand our attention.

                                                                                                                                                       First, Simeon said to Mary –

…a sword will pierce your own soul too.

Second, Luke wrote that

…they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

These days, for people of faith, our souls are pierced almost every day when we listen to the news, either on T.V. or on the internet.  The ugliness of Minneapolis is far from the love, joy, and beauty of God.  The ugliness of Gaza, Palestine, is far from the love, joy, and beauty of God.  The ugliness of Ukraine is far from the love, joy, and beauty of God. That ugliness, indeed, pierces our souls, pierces the soul of Godliness and of goodness for a person of faith, for a person who walks in the way of Jesus.  Our souls, like Mary’s, are pierced by everyday current events.

Now the second excerpt from our Gospel.  Following their visit to the temple in Jerusalem, the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus went home to Nazareth.  Time marched on.  They did not retreat; they did not remain in the temple.  We know Joseph taught the young Jesus carpentry, and most likely Mary continued her craft as a seamstress.  They engaged in everyday living, and we know that additional brothers and sisters joined the Holy Family.

And so must we continue our lives in these soul-piercing times.  The author of Psalm 84 yearns for living with the temple, “by the side of your altars”, to “stand in the threshold of the house of my God.  But our place is more appropriately on the road, “on the pilgrims’ way”.  We are to engage fully in day-to-day living, rather than retreating, even in dark times. 

We are to keep the light burning as guided by the lighting of an evening candle.  We need to keep our pierced souls focused on Godliness, on goodness, on love, joy, and beauty, on the light of Jesus, knowing full well that “it ain’t easy”.  “It ain’t easy.” 

With the light of Jesus within, our pierced souls are strengthened so that we, ourselves, can become light in the darkness for others, for others.    

So, my friends, we turn off the internet and the T.V. to focus more fully on the light of Christ, the light that burns within us despite the darkness, and the darkness cannot put it out.  We share that light of Jesus shining within us so that we can be lights to the nations, so that we can be lights shining in the darkness that the darkness cannot ever overcome. 

Amen