The Presentation of the Lord 2025
Malachi 3:1-4 Hebrews 2:14-18 Luke 2:22-40
All the events of the Epiphany season come to a climax when it is God the Father who reveals the man Jesus as His beloved Son at the time of the Baptism of Jesus at the River Jordan. Today we celebrate and commemorate the very personal epiphany or revelation to Simeon of the Messiah. Simeon had been waiting for and expecting the coming of ‘Christ of the Lord’. Just as it wasn’t necessary for Jesus to be baptised nor was it necessary that his parents would present him at the Temple to fulfill the law. But again, in order to identify with humanity as one of us the Son of God is seen to comply with the same Law which governs all of us. Perhaps another reason for this event in the life of Jesus is to show us the presentation of Mary and Joseph also because they also present themselves. They display their compliance with the Law and a renewal of their ‘fiat’ – ‘Let it be done according to your Will’
The call to us today is to ‘present’ ourselves in a similar fashion.
It is clear why today, ‘The Presentation of the Lord’, is the day set aside as ‘World Day for Consecrated Life’.
Though all of us are called to consecrate ourselves to the Law of the Lord, this day is special for Religious who are called to present themselves, not by law, but by Grace, the grace of their Calling and the grace of their Choosing. This grace is being called and choosing with Mind (by Obedience), with Heart (by Chastity) and with Body (by Poverty). Consecrated Life demands commitment, constancy and witness.
In the lives of Simeon and Anna we can see the commitment that they displayed in the service at the Temple. They were at the Temple ‘night and day’; they were ‘upright and devout’. And when they received the revelation of the Lord they praised God and ‘spoke of the child to all’, they bore witness!
The symbols which we use today prompt us to witness. We are called to bring the Light into our world. Our candles are mere symbols, props, to remind us. Our lives, our care, our love and our smiles are the real lights. We are known as disciples by these realities which can lighten up our world. Simeon’s endurance was rewarded when his ‘eyes have the salvation’ and ‘the light to enlighten the world’. He could now die in peace. Anna’s endurance was blessed when ‘just at that moment’ she came by. It’s not just a coincidence, it’s a God-incident, like the way God appears in our everyday life when we are alert to his presence and actions and believe that it is He.
Our commemoration of this epiphany event encourages us because we too have seen ‘the glory of the Lord’, we too have heard the word, now present among us as Word made flesh, now likely to reveal Himself in any event of our daily life. We pray that we will recognise the grace that we have been given to be as candles to enlighten our world and one another.