The Joyful Mysteries
Saturday 16th
May 2020
Fourth Joyful Mystery: The
Presentation
‘And when
the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, they
took him (Jesus) up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what
stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be
consecrated to the Lord.’ (Lk
2:22-28)
Waiting. Waiting…
More Waiting…
Waiting
patiently…Waiting for ages…
Still waiting…Waiting...
Since the Covid-19
lockdown, how many of us have found ourselves waiting more than usual? Waiting
in the supermarket queue; waiting outside the post office and bank; waiting for
the Amazon delivery; waiting for the email; waiting for the phone; waiting for
the news update? Are we more patient now? Does waiting bother us? Is it all
worth the wait?
It is this ‘waiting’
that draws us into today’s Joyful Mystery of the Presentation. We meet two
people in St. Luke’s account of the Presentation:
‘Now in Jerusalem there was a man
named Simeon...It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not
see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord...’ (Lk 2:25-26)
‘There was a prophetess also,
Anna...She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over...’ (Lk 2:36)
Anna and Simeon are
described as being elderly, advanced in years and preparing for death. Most
artistic depictions show the age of these two Holy people in their greying hair
and stooped postures.
It would be wrong to see
Simeon and Anna as simply old and aged, as being part of a bygone era, a past
generation. They have so much wisdom to teach us because of their advanced
years and their life experience. The sense of ‘Waiting’ is not inconvenient for
these two, it is not a burden, but instead a grace filled space of time. In the
preparation of waiting they have been shaped and moulded by God and so are able
to recognise Him immediately.
A good image to
illustrate this is the athlete. A person does not turn up at the race track one
day, out of the blue, and launch into a gold winning sprint. No. They go into
strict training and practice over a substantial amount of time. Think of those
who begin preparing for the Olympics years in advance. The athlete is strict in
their training regime from exercise to diet. They begin to learn over time what
their strengths and weaknesses are. They study the form of their competition
and soon begin to plan what techniques they can use in winning the race. The
life of the athlete, their every moment, their every minute and their every
second is focussed quite simply on the finishing line.
Anna and Simeon are
spiritual athletes. Their whole life has been a training programme focused on
God. Through prayer, fasting, worship, meditating on the Scriptures, living the
commandments of love, mercy and forgiveness; these have all been aspects of
their exercise regime. On the day when a small family approach the precincts of
the Temple in Jerusalem, Anna and Simeon, see the finishing line, the goal that
their lives of waiting and patience has been preparing for. St. Luke records
the joy of these two athletes when they see their prize, when they see the
Christ Child.
‘Simeon said ‘Now, Master, you can
let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the
salvation
which you have prepared for all the
nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people
Israel.’ (Lk
2:29-32)
‘She [Anna] 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.’ (Lk 2:38)
Waiting can be tedious
and frustrating, even at the best of times. However, in our spiritual lives
when the Lord can appear to be silent and unresponsive in answering prayer,
then we fall into the trap of our faith beginning to wane. Anna and Simeon
teach us not to walk down this road of being disheartened. In the gift of their
old age they show us the importance of persevering and waiting because the Lord
is present, He is attentive and He always keeps His promises.
There is a lovely image
from the letter of St. James in the New Testament about waiting and how in
waiting we see it’s fruits.
‘Now be patient, brothers, until the
Lord’s coming. Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit
of the ground until it has the autumn rains and the spring rains! You too have
to be patient; do not loose heart, because the Lord’s coming will be soon.’ (Jm 5:7-8)
The question for us is
this: Will we recognise the Lord when he comes? If we become so engrossed in
our frustrations about waiting and the inconvenience it causes to our egos and
pride then we are distracted. If we are distracted then our eyes are not on the
goal, the finishing line of our life who is God and God alone. Anna and Simeon
are two spiritual athletes who were not distracted but patiently vigilant and
attentively waiting for the coming of the Lord. We know this because we first
meet them in the Temple of Jerusalem, the place of prayer and worship. Because
they were expectantly waiting in the spirit of trust and hope they recognised
the Messiah in the tiny bundle of swaddling clothes held tenderly by a
mother.
First Single
Bead: Our Father
This prayer that Jesus
taught us has the words: ‘Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.’ The practice of waiting and patience is obvious. We are
praying for that time when the Kingdom of God will come. When and at what time
and date we do not know, but we are patient and we wait because come it will.
Let us ask the intercession of Anna and Simeon to help us in our vigilance for
the coming of the Lord and His Kingdom. When He does return may He find us
ready and alert.
Ten Beads:
Hail Mary for each one
On the day of the Presentation,
the outside world took little notice of the mother and baby entering the Temple
area. It was only the expectant eyes, the eyes of faith that gave Anna and
Simeon hope and joy in the unremarkable everyday sight of parent and child. Let
us ask Our Blessed Mother to pray for us that we may never loose heart and
become distracted in our faith and prayers. May she be that beacon of light
that helps guide and keep our sight on the Lord at all times.
Single Bead:
Glory be
As we praise the Holy
Trinity in the Glory Be let us be humbled. Humbled because God came to Anna and
Simeon, as he comes to us each and every day, not in a triumphant procession, a
large bustling entourage but in the simplicity of a young mum called Mary,
carrying a tiny baby, embraced by Joseph an attentive father.
Tomorrow we will meditate on the
fifth Joyful Mystery, The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple.
God Bless and keep praying.
Fr. O’Brien
