Dear Friends,
Every now and again, as a child, I would take out our family
photo album and ask my parents to tell me about people holding me as a baby.
These people who held me were older, distant relatives who I would not know in
my adulthood – or friends of my grandparents who were included in family
gatherings. I have no memory of them today, but I value the fact that they were
there with me early on, their breath mingling with mine. Perhaps you, too, have
similar experiences. Spend a little time
today recalling the elders of your family.
Today’s Gospel tells
us about a wholes set of people - elders
- whom Jesus knew. He was held, loved
and prayed over by strangers – seasoned members of the community named Simeon
and Anna, who had spent a lifetime waiting for Him. When Mary and Joseph
brought Jesus to the temple, they recognized
Him as the long awaited one. Simeon and Anna were prophets – people who
affirmed publically that God was faithful to the covenant made with Abraham.
They knew that faithfulness of God was manifest in their encounter with Jesus for the good of
all.
Jesus wouldn’t have remembered them or what they said or how
they acted toward him, but Mary and Joseph would have told Him about Simeon and
Anna. Jesus must have been moved, for, later, He would be conscious of the
elders He met and served.
Early in His public ministry, Jesus would cure Peter’s
mother-in-law, the woman with the hemorrhage and the bent over woman, all
Anna’s sisters-in-faith. The blind men he healed and the cripples.
After His death, the much respected elder, Joseph of Arimathea
would ask for and receive Jesus’ body
for burial. Simeon and Joseph of Arimathea were the elderly bookends of Jesus’ life,
welcoming Him as a babe and burying Him as a man.
Only rarely does this feast of the Presentation fall on a
Sunday, so let’s take advantage of it to honor and celebrate our own wise
elders, the Simeons and Annas of our lives. Who are they? They are the members
of our families and communities who have borne the heat of the day, whose love
of God is palpable, and who have passed the light of Christ from their
generation to the next. They have stood firm when ethical decisions had to be
made, and taught us to be hospitable, just and true. Their faces are lined with
the remnant of their experiences. They
may well be surprised when we notice them, because they do not frequent the fast-paced lanes of our society. But do
notice them. Take time with them.
It’s not common in our day for members of our community to
bless one another. Somehow, over time, we have come to leave that honor to our
priests.
But today, let’s reclaim what is ours from biblical times and ask
our elders to bless us and our world with their words and their hands. Ask them
to bless us, so that their taste for God may become ours.
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