BÁNH SỰ SỐNG - BRENDAN- THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS
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Mo NguyenFeb 1 at 2:06 PM
THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD / A - 02 FEBRUARY 2020
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL
THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
(Luke short form: 2: 22 – 32)
According to the Jewish law (Exodus 13:1; 13: 11-16), all first-born males, animal and human, belonged to the Lord and had to be ‘redeemed,’ that is, bought back from the Lord through a sum paid to the Temple. Accordingly, as told in the Gospel, Mary and Joseph bring their first-born Child to the Temple to ‘buy’ him back from God with the simple offering prescribed for the poor.
Led by the Spirit, however, the holy old man Simeon recognises in the child, One who belongs to God in a unique way: one who is, in fact, the supreme gift of God to Israel and to the world as a whole.
Simeon has longed for this moment. He will not live to see the salvation that the child will bring. But he can ‘depart in peace’. He knows that the God who is fulfilling the ancient promises to his people, will also be faithful to him.
Simeon is thus the patron of the elderly who do not fret or worry about how their life has gone but simply entrust it to the mercy and faithfulness of God who understands, forgives, and heals all things.
A word for Mary too. She too will have to let go of her child, surrender him to the difficult messianic role that lies before him. Conflict and pain will not be absent, neither from her nor from him. In this too she is the patron of all mothers – all parents in fact – who must surrender the children they have nurtured to the adult lives that lie before them.
Brendan Byrne, SJ
R&A Psalm Presentation of the Lord 2020, Psalm 24 Cycle A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tqZZbKkxxg
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