Last Sunday we heard the Gospel reading about Jesus at the beginning of his public life, when He visited the synagogue of His home town Nazareth and read a passage from the prophet Isaiah. That OT passage contained an announcement, put in the mouth of the Messiah who was still unknown in Isaiah’s time. In the text quoted by Jesus this enigmatic person said that God’s Spirit had ‘anointed’ him to ‘bring glad tidings to the poor’.
Today, on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we commemorate the first recognition of the new-born Child as the fulfillment of all Israel’s hope. Simeon and Anna, two aged ascetics, have dedicated themselves a lifelong to prayer, purity of heart and truthfulness.
Today’s Gospel reading is a combination of two passages from the Gospel of St. Luke. First we hear the opening lines of the Gospel, where the Evangelist communicates the purpose of his writing. He intends to compile a trustworthy narrative of the events concerning Jesus, that have been ‘fulfilled’– he says – and he is going to relate these events according to their transmission through eye-witnesses. That’s the first part of today’s Gospel reading. Then, our lectionary skips the initial chapters of St. Luke’s Gospel about Jesus’ birth, his childhood and his baptism, and passes on to the fourth chapter to relate the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Who Is Coming…
O Wisdom, your gentle power extends from one end of the earth to the other…it teaches us knowledge of self and of God, revealing the truth wherever deceptions appear. Your Wisdom Word emerges out of the silent depths. O come, enlighten the darkness of our hearts and minds.
We have a beautiful lyrical movement from the Second Sunday of Advent to this Third Sunday: Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday to rejoice and give praise. Like a musical composition, the composer’s main theme is building towards its climax, always with its immediate goal present in mind and heart: ‘the God who is coming’.
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