Three themes occupy my thoughts as I read and reflect on the Scriptures for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple; the power of the Holy Spirit, obedience, and thankfulness.
Lately, I have been pondering how much I allow myself to be directed by the Spirit of God in my daily life; recognizing and appealing to the Holy Spirit for direction on a regular basis. The Gospel (Luke 2:22-40), when describing Simeon at the Presentation uses the phrase "The Spirit was upon him."
Could anyone say that of us? There is no reason this shouldn’t be true of any baptized Christian. At Baptism, we all received the Spirit. After Baptism it becomes a choice to have Him with us or not. Actually, that's not accurate. He is always with us. The choice is whether we recognize Him and let Him help us or not. He won't force Himself on us, but I have found that life is a lot easier with Him. I often appeal to Him to be with me when I read the Scriptures and when I write my reflections. And, because He is the Spouse of Our Blessed Mother, I often call on Him to help me understand and perform my responsibilities as a father and grandfather.
Mary and Joseph followed the expectation of their day and presented the Child Jesus in the temple “when the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses.” It couldn’t have been easy for Joseph and Mary to hear Simeon foretell the difficulties their Son would go through and the sorrows Mary would endure. But they still chose to be obedient. The Catholic Church also expects things of us that seem difficult at times, but they aren’t really. One of the “precepts” or rules of the Church (not to mention the Third Commandment) is that we attend Mass on Sundays. One hour per week on a Sunday. That’s it. Even so, there are some people who try to use the excuse that Mass just doesn’t fit into their busy lives.
Except in those dioceses where there are not enough priests to cover the demand, one can always find a Saturday ‘vigil’ Mass, several morning Masses and usually a Sunday evening Mass. By making excuses of ‘inconvenience’ for not attending a case could be made that they are in fact choosing to be disobedient.
“Jesus did not help the angels”; instead, the Father chose to send us His Son to redeem us poor mortals through obedience to the Father (Hebrews 2:14-18). The Son sent us the “Paraclete”, or Holy Spirit to instruct us and guide us towards obedience (John 15:26).
That brings me to the final theme of my reflection, thankfulness.
We have been given so much! With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can be more obedient to the Word of God and His Commandments. What greater thanks could we give God than to do so?
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