“Simeon’s Moment” by Ron Gianni. USED WITH PERMISSION
Source & Summit: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
(The faithful) taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, offer the Divine Victim to God, and themselves along with it.
-The Second Vatican Council fathers in Lumen Gentium, #11
Source & Summit is a feature of The Western Kentucky Catholic online, celebrating the National Eucharistic Revival: Year of Parish Revival. Intended to help Catholics of our parishes to probe the riches of our liturgical year and celebrate the liturgy well, the column will always start with the Bible readings for the Mass of the Day to help us reflect on, and help to “unpack” and expand our experiences at liturgy into the domestic church (the home) and the workplace.
Sunday reflections will be based on the Lord’s Day, the Liturgy, the Eucharist, and, occasionally, community.
Friday, February 2, 2024:
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020224.cfm
Malachi 3:1—4
Psalm 24:7—10
Hebrews 2:14—18
Luke 2:22—40
As is often the case with more seasoned members of any religious group, two elderly faithful move to the heart of things in today’s Gospel from Luke. When Mary and Joseph take Jesus to Jerusalem for a cultic observance, they are greeted by prophets who shift the action from an idyllic scene to that of a major announcement, a proclamation thick with meaning and riddled with hope.
At Mass today, we echo Simeon and Anna’s amazement. In our own cultic observance, the liturgical assembly consists of those who repeatedly have seen “the light of revelation to the Gentiles” and “the glory of God’s people Israel.”
Once again, in the church and at the altar of our choice, we fumblingly summarize “the salvation our own eyes have seen.” We acknowledge the Christ whose covenantal presence permeates our lives. And we join with others who need to do the same.
The Benedictine liturgist Aidan Kavanaugh says our ritual expression is a “vocabulary of experiences had, prayers said, sights seen, smells smelled, words said and heard and responded to, emotions controlled and released, sins committed and repented, children born and loved ones buried, and many other ways no one can count or always account for.”
And like those who gathered in the Temple long ago, we “depart in peace,” on the lookout for every luminous and glorious encounter with the Lord— unexpected, unearned, that no one can account for.
-Michael Bogdan
To learn more about the Diocese of Owensboro’s celebration of the National Eucharistic Revival, visit https://owensborodiocese.org/eucharistic-revival/.
