2 February, Friday — On Readiness

2 Feb – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

This feast celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Presentation is the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts. In many Western liturgical churches, Vespers (or Compline) on the Feast of the Presentation marks the end of the Epiphany season.

This feast is also known by other traditional names including Candelmas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, and the Meeting of the Lord. Prior to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, Candlemas marked the end of the Christmas and Epiphany season.

The Western term ‘Candlemas’ (or Candle Mass) referred to the practice whereby a priest on Feb 2 (forty days after Christmas) blessed beeswax candles with an aspergilium (liturgical implement used to sprinkle holy water) for use throughout the year, some of which were distributed to the faithful for use in the home.

Since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, this feast has been referred to as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, with references to candles and the purification of Mary de-emphasized in favour of the Prophecy of Simeon the Righteous. Pope John Paul II connected the feast day with the renewal of religious vows.

• Wikipedia

Mal 3:1-4
Lk 2:22-40

Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears?

Some days, I feel like I am my own worst enemy. Spiritual self-sabotage is a real thing with me. I know the good that I ought to do. My brain knows it, my heart knows it, my conscience knows it, and I can see the path of good action clearly in front of me. Yet my stubbornness often gets the better of me, and I do the complete opposite. I know I shouldn’t do, but I allow myself to be angry, or to be riled up easily or to speak and act harshly. You’d think that by now, I should know better and be able to rise above childish gripes and petty grievances. Yet no, I allow myself to get sucked in. Some days, it is as if I don’t want to be better. Why? I couldn’t say.  

I often think about my own mortality, about how I would feel if faced with the reality that I’ve run out of second chances with God. I am not ready to go, and my soul is most certainly not refined to any state of readiness. Also, there are loose ends everywhere I look. Nothing in my life is in any order that I am happy with. People need to be better looked after, to be provided for more adequately. So many things are still unsaid, so much still undone. The prospect of it fills me with anxiety. I don’t know if there will be a time when I will ever be ready. I am not even sure I know what ready looks like.

How does one get one’s self to a state of ‘readiness’, I wonder? How does one become like Simeon, who lived waiting for Christ, and who presumably had his affairs in such good standing that he was ready to go back to God, the moment he witnessed the miracle of Christ? How do we let go of the worldliness that weighs on us, and allow ourselves to be purified? I suppose not giving in to stubborn wilfulness is half of it, but then what?

It will be the season of Lent in a few short days. I have been a confirmed Catholic for 10 years now. All ten of those Lenten cycles have been marked with a failure to stay the course the entire way. Some years, I have gotten back on my feet after stumbling, and kept going. Some years, I have just given up. I can’t say what kind of Lent I will have this year, but wouldn’t it be nice to not self-sabotage for a change? To park the stubbornness and allow the Spirit to guide my Lenten journey the whole way instead of battling with it? I wonder what that might look like come Easter Sunday?

(Today’s OXYGEN by Sharon Soo)

Prayer: We pray for God’s mercy and His grace, that He allow us to finish the work that He has set out for us, despite our own efforts at self-sabotage. We pray for His mercy and His wisdom, that we make good decisions, instead of allowing ourselves to be distracted by our sinful nature.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for God’s mercy, His faithfulness, His forbearance and His great love for us. We give thanks for all the times He is there for us when we stumble, for the multitudes of second chances.