2024-02-02 13:04:00
Dear brothers:
A narrator of monastic stories tells that on one occasion a young novice approached the abbot and asked him if there was a possibility of knowing Jesus Christ “from the inside.” The abbot had a quick and happy intuition: he opened the Bible to the letter to Hebrews 10:7 and invited the novice to read; He read: “Here I am, O God, I come to do your will.” But the abbot quickly interrupted him, telling him that the first expression was enough: “here I am.” According to the abbot, Jesus “inside” is called availability, obedience.
The letter to the Hebrews is perhaps one of the latest texts in the NT. A much older text, even prior to the NT although used by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, says the same thing: “Jesus emptied himself of his divine rank… and became obedient to the point of death” (Phil. 2.8). The abbot was not wrong: two writings located at the extremes of the NT define Jesus as the obedient one, the available one.
Today’s feast is the Presentation of the Lord in the temple, in his Father’s house; Twelve years later he will tell his parents that he has to be “regarding the things of his Father” (Luke 2:49). In another time this festival was called the purification of Mary, in reference to her presence in the temple once all biological consequences of childbirth had been overcome; she responded to certain taboos of antiquity regarding “purity and “impurity.” Fortunately, the orientation of the festival has been changed, focusing it on Jesus (it is no longer properly a Marian festival), and on what is most central regarding Jesus: his offering to the Father. In a single scene what is going to be his entire earthly existence is synthesized. The fourth gospel says that, from eternity, the Son “was turned toward the breast of the Father” (Jn 1:18). And Jesus will also present himself this way during his earthly existence: “I am not alone; He who sent me is with me” (Jn 8:29).
Saint Paul knew he was sent to raise up among the people “the obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5; 15:18). To be a believer is to trust in God, that is, to put oneself in his hands, at his disposal. That was Jesus towards the Father; He was the “super-believer”: “I carry your law in my bowels” (Psalm 40:9); And with that fidelity and communion he wanted to lead the people back to the alliance, purifying them from their deviations as they purify fire and bleach.
Naturally, not everyone liked this purifying function; Fire burns and bleach stings. Hence Simeon’s words: this purifying Jesus will be a disputed banner, causing many to rise up, but also causing others to fall definitively, hardened in their disobedience. And that is when a kind of substitution arises: the pagans opt for “the obedience of faith.” Thus Jesus, as Simeon celebrates him, is light for the nations and, of course, glory for his people.
All of us are called to allow ourselves to be illuminated by that light and to live “presented to the Father”, in an availability inspired by that of Jesus.
your brother
Severiano Blanco cmf
1706882520
#Gospel #Reflection #Homily #Friday #February
