Present

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
they took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord.
Luke 2:22

It was no mighty deed or work

but simply that he was,

the highest God come down to earth

to share our life with us:



Redeemed by two small turtledoves,

as any other boy,

yet prophets looked on him with love

and spoke of him with joy.



And suddenly, God was not far:

Christ to the temple came.

Not distant as the burning stars,

but near as candle flame.



Not shrouded e'er in fire and smoke,

but swaddled, cradled, near,

his blanket edge untucked and soaked

by an old man's happy tears.



So is creation born again,

so are all things made new,

by a wonder born in Bethlehem

whom prophets longed to view.



So every child bears God's own light

that shines in all there is.

For Christ has come to share our life

that we may share in his.

Prophecies of Simeon. Klosterneuburger Evangelienwerk, fol. 17v. By Unknown author – http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/sbs/0008/17v, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42913070

The Years Stretch Out

For the feast of the Presentation, a song of Simeon:

The years stretch out in shadow;
the days drag on toward night.
O Father, do not let go
until I see your light.

For now I know but dimly—
what shade our life has cast!—
but keep your hand upon me
until the night is past.

The earth you made is turning,
though slow the age is takes,
so there must be a morning:
Keep me until it breaks.

And though my eyes are fading
and fail to pierce the dark,
yet keep me strongin waiting
with vision in my heart.

That what I cannot see here
I still may stumble toward.
I weaken more with each year,
but make me strong in hope.

And when I see your glory,
the light I long have known,
when mercy dawns before me,
O Father, take me home!

Simeon and the Child by Benjamin West, brown and gray washes and pencil on paper, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54050254

Simeon

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”
Luke 2:22-35

Let me go in peace, Lord; 
let your servant go.
You have done as you swore 
all those years ago:

First to Eve and Adam, 
covered in their shame,
then again to Abraham, 
that he'd hold his claim.

So to wand'ring Israel: 
pasture for his flock;
Moses in his exile: 
water from the rock.

David in his palace, 
on his throne secure;
Babylon in malice, 
weighed and wanting more.

So at last to me, Lord: 
Now my eyes have seen
light to show the whole world 
all that you have been.

I have seen salavation; 
now in peace I'll sleep.
God, who kept me waiting, 
all his vows will keep.

Simeon in the Temple, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1631 – http://www.mauritshuis.nl : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=157936

O Lord, Now Let Your Servant Go

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”
Luke 2:22-35

O Lord, now let your servant go in peace:
The day has come at last for my release.
I held the promise written in your word,
and now I hear the song my fathers heard.

For I have seen salvation drawing near;
my own eyes have beheld you dawning clear:
a light from us that all the world shall see,
at last your glory breaking over me.

Now, in my time, your hidden seed new sprouts,
and in my years, you break the ancient drought.
Among the living, I have seen your face,
and in my body stood within your grace.

Then take me, Lord, at last into your shade,
for you fulfilled the promises you made.
There will I wait 'til all have shared my sight
and entered into everlasting light.

*Simeon in the Temple*, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1631 – http://www.mauritshuis.nl : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=157936

Two Sparrows

Inspired by the Gospel for the Feast of the Holy Family, but not closely based on it.

 Two sparrows for a widow's mite,
 and yet you see them fall,
 and you, who lift their wings in flight,
 O God, you hear them call.
 You make their singing your delight;
 you love the poor and small,
 and all their struggles you requite,
 for you are lord of all.
  
 Two turtledoves a son redeem,
 a mother purify,
 who trust the law and all it deems,
 who trust you will supply.
 And you, who made the waters teem
 and filled the empty sky,
 pour down your love in flowing streams,
 for you are lord on high.
  
 Two times the rooster cried the dawn;
 we weep now for our sin.
 Our pride and self-deception gone,
 repentance we begin.
 And you, who sent your only Son
 our lives from death to win,
 look down on every broken one
 and be our lord within.

Dove with an olive branch, Catacombs of Domitilla, Rome, Photo By Dnalor 01 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32603350

Presentation 2020

And suddenly there will come to the temple
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
But who will endure the day of his coming?
And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like the refiner’s fire,
or like the fuller’s lye.
He will sit refining and purifying silver,
and he will purify the sons of Levi,
Refining them like gold or like silver
that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.
Malachi 3:1-4

I already knew that a beloved childhood priest had admitted to molesting children at my parish and others, but last week the news came out that he’s been arrested. The article announcing this also contained details of what he’d done, and allegations that two bishops in succession knew what he was doing and shuffled him to different parishes. (Don’t read it unless you really want to be disturbed.) I admit, I found great consolation in yesterday’s first reading, threatening the purification of the priests. And then I found some catharsis writing this (the first version had a lot more fire and brimstone; this is the revision):

The infant to the Temple comes,
the holy purifier,
to wake again what grieving numbs
and cleanse it in his fire.
His voice will thunder, throbbing drums,
the earth his thrumming lyre,
but now his helpless youth bedumbs
the words of judgments dire.

The hands that hold him hold the power;
he cannot fight their grip
if by their tenderness he flower
or if their hands should slip.
If they should innocence devour
and his defenses strip,
he cannot run, though he may cower
before the striking whip.

But one day he will come in might,
not as a child who pleads
but as a warrior in the right
to weigh our words and deeds.
And all we've done, he will requite:
the harvest of our seeds.
So turn, turn now while it is light
and staunch the wound that bleeds.

The Last Judgment, By Jean Cousin the Younger, also called Jehan Cousin Le Jeune (lived c. 1522–1595). – Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France: 1500–1700. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press, [1957] 1999 edition. ISBN 0300077483. Page 99., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2874303

Candlemas

One for Sunday’s Gospel:

The old man sees the end of woes
in these beginnings, meek and small.
His feeble arms hold heaven close:
this little life is life for all.
For God almighty weakness chose;
the Word has now no words to call
the ones he loves, but as he grows
he will become their rise and fall.

His mother hears the old man's word
that she herself a sword will pierce.
If she protested, no one heard,
and history holds not her fears.
Or if instead, for battle girt,
she let the words rain down as tears
and journeyed on in spite of hurt,
no whisper reaches now our ears.

But when the prophecies shall cease,
she'll bring her child back to her breast
to give the Word of heaven peace
and be her own creator's rest.
This is his comfort, this his ease
'til he should rise to face the test:
to win his helpless flock release
and open to them heaven blest.