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Today's Gospel
Return to God's Way
5 min
Gospel
Lk 2:22-35
And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel.”
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is set for the fall[b] and rising of many in Israel,
and for a sign that is spoken against
(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also),
that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition
It’s time to take back your life.
It’s time to slow down to the speed of joy.
All revolutions have a moment when they begin. This is your moment.
Transcript
Return to God's Way
I love this reading. I love this scene. It is an act of profound humility. Okay, so the law of the Lord required the parents to present the child to God in the temple and to make sacrifice in presenting the child to God in the temple. And what we have here is God being presented to God. And I think that there's so many times, we've talked about this before, the idea that something will happen and we think, "Wow, that rule doesn't apply to me," or, "That rule doesn't apply to me." For whatever reason, whatever excuse or justification we give ourselves at the time.
And of all the people on the planet who ever lived, who could have ever said that certain rules don't apply, here is Jesus. And this rule certainly doesn't apply because presenting God to God. But what happens? Mary and Joseph, they don't say, "Oh, our child is special." That's a risk as a parent, right? To say, "Oh, my child is special." Of all the parents that ever lived, Mary and Joseph could have said, "Hey, our child is special. Yeah, he doesn't need that." But they don't. They live in this profound humility, this obedience to God's way. And so today, I encourage you to just be aware through the day. when are you living in obedience to God's way? And when are you resisting God's way? When are you rejecting God's way? When you're wandering away from God's way, and why? And when you recognize that you are, return, ask Mary and Joseph and Child Jesus to share with you this profound humility that we see in the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.
