Yes, for you record keepers: a picture used once before!Working my way through the readings for today's Eucharistic celebration, I felt as though my journey had taken me to AARP or the local office of the Social Security Administration! We are introduced to Sara and Abraham, Anna and Simeon. If you don't know the facts, here they are: Sara was in her 90s and Abraham was 100. Tradition or fact, who knows which, has it that Sara continued her secret of long life until her death at 127 years!!! So, imagine the reaction of their families (if they were alive??) and friends when either would say: "We're pregnant!"
St. Luke's gospel presents Anna and Simeon. The Evangelist reminds his readers that Anna in no spring chicken. She "was of great age." But nowhere do we learn or have an indication of Simeon's age. Artists often present him as good old St. Nick or Santa Claus. We do know that he was "righteous and devout." Like many others, Simeon was awaiting for freedom to come to Israel. His waiting was special as he experienced a revelation from God that informed him that he would "see the Christ of the Lord." When the Child Jesus was presented in the temple, Simeon knew. This was the long awaited Messiah. And with this the curtain closes on Simeon.
However, on this day of the Holy Family, let's play with the experience of Simeon for a few moments. Let's ask "What if?" What if Simeon was a younger person that any of the other three people in today's readings. From artists' renditions of Simeon, one could easily surmise that Simeon was not ancient. Rather, it seems he was a man in the "prime time" of his life. Just perhaps the Evangelist and the Holy Spirit were offering us a model for living life in our own "prime time."
Did you ever lives through a part of your life when you were captivated by a powerful dream? Simeon had that experience. The revelation or dream daily must have given a particular impetus to Simeon's life. He could not but wonder when God would fulfill the promise of the prophets who spoke for the Divine Power. Holding the Child Jesus in his arms, Simeon "held the dream that had held him from childhood." And don't all of us have a dream or two that gives us the inspiration or power to go forward, to live the dream? Dreams like starting up one's own business, like having a family, like becoming a doctor, lawyer or candlestick maker. And on the day when the dream becomes a reality, were you not like Simeon, holding a diploma, a license, a new child --whatever -- probably looking up to the heavens with words of gratitude and perhaps "release." Release? Remember Simeon-like words: "Lord, you can dismiss this follower -- not to die but to live life to its fullest. The dream is no longer fantasy. It is real. Now you go forward into life with a realization of new purpose.
How relate this to the Holy Family feast day? One dimension of Simeon's experience relates to community. The readings draw us into a very special and different family: Abraham, Sara, Anna, Jesus, Mary and Joseph and, of course, Simeon. We stand together with him. We are part of that family. As he held the baby, Simeon said: "... my eyes have seen your salvation which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory for your people Israel" Our new-found friend, Simeon, looked at the infant face and saw much more than a baby. He saw "the face of God for the whole world."
Throughout both Old and New Testament writings we can find one of the roots of creation: God's people need community each and every day. It is community that gives our Church its life. And most people long to experience genuine community in our cities, our neighborhood, and in our homes. Even in our nation today, following the recent elections, there has grown strong the hope and desire for a United States of America, from one coast to the other. Perhaps this has been God's dream, Simeon's dream -- yes, even our dream -- that we are a truly bonded family.
Like Simeon who left the temple with a new purpose, we leave our respective churches today not to die but to live out more fully our reality as a salvation people; to live as the family, the community God has planned for us to be.
Just a little game of "What if?" can truly bring us so much closer to our God. Strange isn't it?
I don't think so!
