Message of Abbot Paul - Friday - 2nd February 2024

​Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, also known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Candlemas and, in the Oriental Churches, the feast of Meeting or Encounter between Christ and his people in the Temple. It’s an important feast but, sadly, not a holy day of obligation. It is the fortieth and last day of Christmas, the day when, traditionally, our cribs are taken down. I don’t know if you’ll get the opportunity of attending Mass today, so I’ll begin this message with the short Introductory address in the Missal.

 

​“Dear brothers and sisters, forty days have passed since we celebrated the joyful feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Today is the blessed day when Jesus was presented in the temple by Mary and Joseph. Outwardly, he was fulfilling the Law, but in reality, he was coming to meet his believing people. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Simeon and Anna came to the Temple. Enlightened by the same Spirit, they recognised the Lord and confessed him with exultation. So, let us also, gathered together by the Holy Spirit, proceed to the house of God to encounter Christ. There we shall find him and recognise him in the breading of bread, until he comes again, revealed in glory.”

 

​Our Gospel passage today comes from Luke, (Lk 2: 22-40). This is the moment, in the story of our Lord Jesus Christ’s life, when the great figures of the Old Testament, symbolised in Simeon and Anna, the priest and the prophet, so to speak, recognise in the Christ Child the coming of the New Testament or Covenant. From now on, salvation will come through faith in Christ and adherence to his new law of love, not through the Law and institutions of Israel. For this reason, in the Nunc dimittis, Simeon emphasises that Jesus is both “a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of his people Israel.” Nevertheless, all this will come about through his death on a cross and resurrection from the dead. There is foreboding in the words of Simeon to Mary, “You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.” We are all called to share the sword of suffering that pierces Mary’s heart as we enter into the tomb with Jesus, so as to rise from death with him in baptism, a dying to self and a rising to God that we must live everyday as Christians. Today is the loveliest of feasts when we look back with thanksgiving to Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, while at the same time we look forward with joyful hope to Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. The old prophetess Anna, who served God night and day in the Temple with fasting and prayer, “came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.” But there is more, for Luke tells us that, “the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.”

 

​Usually today we walk in procession carrying lighted candles, as it’s also the day on which we bless candles for the Church’s use throughout the year. They symbolise the wisdom and favour of God that were in Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, the Light we follow in the darkness of our lives. We, too, have been called to be light. May his light shine on us and shine within us throughout the year we have just begun. As we walk in the light of Christ, may he guide us to that eternal light which is the glory of heaven and the eternal presence of God. Amen.