Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – Cycle C
Reflecting on Luke 2: 22-40
Simeon was ready to go. He’d longed to see the Christ of the Lord, and when he walked into the Temple that fateful day, he found him: an eight-day-old baby in his mother’s arms, ready to be consecrated to God.
Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, he cried. Everything he’d lived for and longed for was before him, and he was ready to go to God.
When we remember Simeon and the prophetess Anna on this Feast of the Presentation, it’s a good time to ask ourselves if we, too, will gratefully welcome our deaths.
What are we longing to see before we give Christ “permission” to dismiss us into the loving care of the Holy One? I have a whole list. Dismiss me, oh God, when everyone I love is healed of all the illnesses and sorrows that make their lives difficult. Dismiss me when the atrocities of all wars are finally, peacefully resolved.
And the list goes on. Can any of us possibly live long enough to be comfortable saying to God, “Yes, everything I’ve prayed for has been answered. Everyone I love is well and happy. The world is a safe and healthy place?”
There’s one thing, though, that we can do today. We can bravely recall the ways throughout our lives that we have “missed the mark,” when we have held back the fulfillment of our prayers by our behaviors. Simeon and Anna’s faithful lives led them to be present that day in the Temple. What disciplines can we adopt that will lead us to a peaceful death, when we, without regret, give our lives back to the One who called us into being?
What are you waiting for before you are ready to go to God?
Kathy McGovern ©2025