THE GOD WHO BECAME SO SMALL
Three sets of parents in Singapore welcomed the first Gen B (Generation Beta) babies, not long after fireworks started going off on Jan 1 this year. When asked about their hopes and dreams for their newborns, they echoed for them to be happy and healthy.
What every parent wants!
Mary and Joseph likely had the same wish – with a slight difference: knowing the Baby they were carrying to the Temple was the Son of God who was to save the entire world, we can imagine their hope was for all people to come to know Him, accept Him, and follow Him.
So it was probably difficult for them, especially Mary, to hear from some old stranger that the Child was destined to be a sign that was rejected, and that Mary herself would have a sword of suffering piercing through her own soul.
Imagine standing there with the Holy Family, watching Simeon holding the Child and gratefully thanking God for placing this enormous burden on the shoulders of a tiny baby. What could God have been thinking, we might muse, sending His Saviour down from heaven into the form of a small, helpless human, born to poor, lowly parents from a disregarded town?
Thousands of years later, today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, it’s easier to see the big picture.
‘A God who became so small,’ wrote St Thérèse of Lisieux, ‘can only be love and mercy.’
St Thérèse – the Little Flower of Jesus – shared a similar life of littleness and suffering as the Child Jesus. She understood that God loved His people so much that enduring the condition of humankind in its humblest form was a small price to pay for redeeming them back from sin. Becoming so small, fully dependent on His earthly parents, was an act of love and mercy for which we must be eternally grateful.
Simeon and Anna certainly were. They’d gone through almost an entire life time praying, hoping, for the promised salvation. Imagine their joy, when the Holy Spirit finally led them to see it with their own eyes, and on top of that, poured forth God’s prophecy through their mouths. For years they’d probably been observing the gradual decline of faith, of the devoutness of the priests. Malachi’s words in today’s first reading are fulfilled in this Feast: God’s Angel of the covenant has entered the Temple. He Himself is the offering to the Lord as it should be made. From now on, Jesus is the pure and welcomed offering at the altar in front of God, on our behalf. That is a fact we celebrate.
And since all the children share the same blood and flesh as we hear in the second reading of Hebrews, we are equally grateful that Jesus deigned to take on the form of a baby and shared the life of man. Because now He has broken the power of death and taken us to Himself. He has become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest, understanding our weaknesses because He lived them, interceding for us with God the Father, whom He knows intimately. In His immense love for us, He gave us mercy without measure by becoming one like us. Starting from the first stage of human life.
We would never be able to cross the divide into heaven, otherwise.
There are other names for today’s Feast: the Purification of Mary, the Feast of the Holy Encounter, Candlemas. For each of these, there’s something for us to reflect on this Sunday:
1) The Purification of Mary: we would think that Mary, the mother of God herself – the Theotokos (God-bearer) – wouldn’t need the usual ritual purification. But in perfect obedience to God, neither she nor Joseph set themselves above the law. As they’d obeyed the law regarding the census at Jesus’ birth, they obeyed the Law of Moses regarding purification. In today’s Gospel text Luke points this out four times. Jesus, the law of love, fulfils through His parents, the law of sacrifice.
Consider: If Mary is our example of perfect obedience to God, shouldn’t we be asking her for help when we are tempted to disobey Him, when we don’t understand or accept His direction? And if she, pure and free from sin, could offer herself for purification, how much more do we need to ask God for help in purifying our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls?
2) The Feast of the Holy Encounter: Simeon and Anna embody the shepherds, the Magi, and the herald angels at Bethlehem: watching for years over the state of Israel, watching for signs of the coming King, joyfully announcing the presence of the Saviour among men. But in this instance, only the parents of the Child themselves receive the Good News.
Pope Benedict XVI said, “Even the priests proved incapable of recognizing the signs of the new and special presence of the Messiah and Saviour. Alone two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, discover this great newness. Led by the Holy Spirit, in this Child they find the fulfilment of their long waiting and watchfulness. They both contemplate the light of God that comes to illuminate the world and their prophetic gaze is opened to the future in the proclamation of the Messiah: “Lumen ad revelationem gentium!” (Luke 2:32).
Consider: Saints like St Thérèse, and Blessed Carlo Acutis, knew that each Mass is a holy encounter with Jesus. In times when God seems silent and out of reach, do we turn to the comfort and presence in the Eucharist and encounter Jesus there? Do we remain watchful and prayerful to recognise His hand in the events of our lives? Or like the crowds swirling around the Temple, are we too distracted to realise Christ is right there, in us, with us?
3) Candlemas: In the 5th century, people celebrated this feast with candles. These symbolised Simeon’s prophecy that Jesus would be a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of… Israel. This prophecy and prayer, the Nunc Dimittis, is one of the three major Canticles of the Church’s liturgy. We read it in the Night Prayer and the last Divine Office of the Liturgy of the Hours, and it recalls the Light that came down to shine the way to heaven.
Since the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on 25 Dec, the Presentation was moved to 2 Feb, forty days after Christmas. In the 8th century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession. It then became part of the celebration to bless and distribute candles, which gave rise to the feast’s name: Candlemas.
Pope St John Paul II said, “Christian traditions of the East and West have been interwoven, enriching the liturgy of this feast with a special procession in which the light of candles both large and small is a symbol of Christ, the true Light who came to illumine His people and all peoples.”
Consider: In dark moments of doubt and despair, do we remember that Christ is our light and our help? Do we turn to the compassionate Companion of our hearts and ask Him to shine the light of faith more brightly in us? Do we try, every day, to shine that light for others, to be for the struggling and suffering a beacon of Godly love and hope?
Stand outside the Temple there in Jerusalem for a moment with Joseph, Mary, Simeon, and Anna. Look around the Temple grounds: no one else has the least idea that the whole world has just changed. No one notices that what the world longed for has come. Only the four around the Baby know. Faith, suffering, and obedience to God, have opened their eyes to the Light of the world which, at the moment, shines only for them.
But we can be part of their joy and insight today: as Joseph offers Baby Jesus to the priest to offer Him to the Father, he also presents all who strive to live in union with Jesus. As Mary consents to God’s will and receives Jesus, she also offers Him to all who long for God. As Simeon and Anna watch and pray to see God, they trust His Holy Spirit to lead them, and praise and thank Him constantly.
That’s us whom Joseph and Mary lift up to God. That must be us watching and praying, trusting in the Holy Spirit, praising and thanking God, like Simeon and Anna.
As the Baby Jesus entered the Temple to begin His life on Earth of love and mercy to all people, He wants to enter our hearts. Today, let’s acknowledge that we need to be purified and offer ourselves to the Father. Let His Holy Spirit guide us through the week to watch for His presence in all moments of our day.
Loving God, grant us the grace to diminish so that You can increase; help us to become little so that You can shine forth, and through our words and actions illuminate Your Son, Jesus Christ, the beacon that leads all people to salvation. Amen!
Article by Joyce Norma, HFC Blog Contributor