The Daily Prayer
SUNDAY, February 2, 2020
The Presentation of Christ in the Temple
On February 2, the church remembers Jesus’ presentation at the temple in Jerusalem. Along with their newborn son, Mary and Joseph brought a sacrifice of two pigeons, the offering permitted in the law of Moses for those too poor to afford a lamb (Lev. 12:8). Despite their lack of wealth, however, these peasants from Galilee carried in their arms the salvation of the whole world. Simeon and Anna, a holy man and a devout woman of Israel, immediately recognized the incalculable value of the present they had brought. We sing “Simeon’s Song” to train our eyes to see the salvation of the world in the presence of the poor.
This quote comes from the apocryphal writing known as the Acts of Peter: “Unless you make what is right left, and what is left right, what is above into what is below, and what is behind into what is in front, you will not learn to know the Kingdom.”
Things are topsy-turvy in your kingdom, God. The poor bear gifts of great worth, the dead rise, the meek inherit the earth. Teach us how to live in an upside-down world where we are called to welcome the outcast, prepare a feast for the ragged, and forgive those who offend us. Amen.
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