The Presentation of the Lord – Homily (2025)

The Presentation of the Lord
Malachi 3:1-4
Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10 (8)
Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40
February 2, 2025

Today is 40 days since Christmas.  After 40 days a Jewish mother who had given birth would undergo purification rituals.  At this time, Mary and Joseph took Jesus “to present him to the Lord” in Jerusalem.  They did this “in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.”

It was there they encountered Simeon who was “righteous and devout.”  Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord had promised Simeon that before he died he would see “the Christ of the Lord.”

Immediately upon seeing Jesus, Simeon cried out, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”  In calling Jesus “your salvation,” Simeon identifies Jesus as the Christ.

Simeon goes on to refer to Jesus as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel.” 

Jesus is the Light of the world.  His glory shines as a light. 

In Baptism we receive the Light of Christ.  We are all called to share the Light with the world. 

Knowing Jesus as the Light of the World, we burn candles as objects giving us light.  Believing this we began Mass with the blessing of candles.

Then the Holy Family encountered the prophetess Anna, who like Simeon, “spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”

We are told that Anna “never left the temple.”  She worshipped day and night with fasting and prayer. This can be an image of those who are called to the consecrated life.  As such, today is the World Day for Consecrated Life.

We think of those who live consecrated life as holy.  Sometimes we think of them as holy in a way we cannot be.  We say they don’t have the responsibilities that we do.  They have the time to be holy.

Those who live in consecrated life are holy in a particular way as they live vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience but we are all called to be holy.  The Second Vatican Council spoke of the universal call to holiness in chapter 5 of Lumen Gentium.

We might feel we are not holy.  “And who can stand when he appears?” 

We cannot stand as holy on our own.  That is okay because we don’t have to.  Jesus Christ comes to make us holy.  He comes to refine us and purify us of our sins to restore us to as God’s children.  As Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “This is the will of God, your holiness, that you refrain from immorality…” (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).

We kneel as the sacrifice of the Mass is offered.  We stand to receive Communion having already been made holy by the sacrifice.

Holiness is not determined by living in a monastery.  Holiness is a state of being, striving to live as God calls us to live. 

To do so we rely on our Lord Jesus who is the “king of glory…strong and mighty.”  We cannot defeat sin on our own.  We don’t have to.  Jesus has already won victory over sin through his Crucifixion.

Sin is darkness.  Jesus is Light.  Jesus comes to bring us light in the darkness. 

Jesus came to save us.  To do so, “he had to become like his brothers and sisters.”  So, He came sharing in our “blood and flesh.”  He came as the child “destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel.”

Jesus came to reveal to us what it means to be holy.  He brings light to suffering.  We think of suffering as something to be avoided.  Jesus brings us salvation through his suffering.

We can become holy when we respond to suffering not with grumbling and complaints but with hope.  I speak not of earthly hope.  Earthly hope might insist that our suffering be taken away. 

Sometimes God does take away our suffering.  Other times, our Lord walks hand and hand with us through our suffering.

Sometimes we cause our own suffering.  We can cause ourselves physical suffering by the way we treat our bodies (like smoking).

We can ourselves suffering by getting stuck in what we see as obstacles to the way we think things should be.  Sometimes we make mountains out of mole hills.

We need to ask our Lord to help us see as He sees. 

Jesus willingly laid down his life for us because He loves us.  This is the source of real hope.  It is with this hope and the Light of Christ that we can live in holiness, living as the Lord calls us.