December 14th

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

I remember when I was little this Mystery was explained to me (by a religion teacher at St. Anne's but I can't for the life of me figure out which one) that the Presentation was a ritual dedicating the firstborn son to God - and God would, of course, give the baby back, He wasn't going to keep it, but it was a symbol. Which seemed kind of silly to me. In the Old Testament story, Hannah promised to dedicate her firstborn son and she dropped Samuel off at the Temple and visited him once a year. That must have been hard.

If Mary went to the Temple expecting the more symbolic gifting of the firstborn son, then what she was met with was considerably more Hannah's parting with Samuel, her long-desired child. In fact, this is the first of the seven sorrows of Mary. An old seer, a holy man who had had promises made to him (the person I usually focus on in this story, wandering if I could do as he has done and wait in patient prayer) came up to her and made it clear that it was Hannah's heartbreak she was to endure. Her son, who would return with her, would someday die.

That's a really terrible thing to say to a baby and his mother. True and powerful, it certainly was, but undoubtedly terrible. “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” [Not the most poetic translation, but it's late and I fly out tomorrow.]

This step in the faith journey, then, must be the moment you realize what this path in life will cost. The world has opened up in beauty and love, faith has opened your eyes to a new reality, and then suddenly you realize that prophets tend to end in flames. You realize that the world hates the man who stands in the street and yells almost less than the more sane fanatic. You realize that your journey with God will often be incompatible with an easy life (that great illusion) or simply the life you wanted to lead.

Mary must have known the role of the Messiah, but she is a new mother and spelling it out just then was a terrible thing to do. Perhaps, in the end, all of these realizations are blessings; the end is foreshadowed so that we can begin to prepare to handle it. We are told "The world will not be kind" so that it will not come as such a shock. Like the Mystery tomorrow, when Mary lost track of Him. That story is often told as the prelude to the three days in the tomb and the preparation or rehearsal it gave Mary as His mother.

But I think this incident is a more powerful example of that. A brutal realization, designed to bring the new believer or the newly refreshed believer of a high of bringing Light into the world back down to the world around them. So that we don't lose the ability to move and work in the world. So that we don't lose the ability to function as faithful human beings. So we can't be ripped down by the world, which would never take us away from self-fulfillment through charity and religious bliss so kindly as Simeon.

Being a person of faith can suck. It's hard in the world to hold fast to principles and to negotiate the most loving and the right way amidst a sea of complicated issues.

The first crash down can also be a way of teaching us how to reach out to God when we need Him. Even when the reason we need Him is that He is making our lives harder than they might have been (or we imagine they would have been), we can learn here to reach out to God and receive His blessings and His help. When the stakes aren't as high, we can find our personal anchor to our faith. The strengthening and gifts of the Holy Spirit that sustain us in hard times.

The first of seven sorrows is terrible and seems unnecessary, but it is a gift of sorts. It brings us down before we wander off down the path of faith that doesn't truly reference God or charity for the wrong reasons that can happen because the first bringing of Light and Joy feels so good for us. It helps us find our way to make faith a strength even when it rips us off the pedestal rather than helping us up. Before the real tests come.