Presentation of the Lord – Cycle A
Reflecting on Luke 2: 22-40
Rembrandt, Simeon in the Temple, 1669
Even though we are reading from the gospel of Matthew this year, today’s feast falls on a Sunday and therefore trumps the Ordinary Time readings. Since two female saints, Mary and Anna, are featured in the account, you can bet that Luke is the author. He loves to tell us stories about women, especially Mary, and we love to hear them.
This story is all about timing. Mary and Joseph waited the prescribed forty days and then entered the Temple. Simeon was led by the Spirit to go there that day, and Anna purposely placed herself in the Temple every day so that she could bear witness to God’s perfect timing.
Have you ever been at the right place at the right time? So often it’s only in looking back that we recognize the perfect timing that led us to our spouse, or to our friends, or to faith itself. But much of “perfect timing” has to do with aligning ourselves with grace. Mary and Joseph complied with the Law. Simeon complied with the Holy Spirit. And Anna complied with her inner knowledge that if she was to see her Savior she needed to stay in the Temple.
We live our lives immersed in mystery. We are astounded at the perfect timing of many events in our lives. Somehow, we intuitively sense the Divine, and situate ourselves to be receptive to the presence of Christ, visible and invisible.
It’s in that patient day-to-day watchfulness that our lives unfold. And one day, in God’s own time, we too will say: Lord, dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.
What moments of “perfect timing” have you experienced?