Softening of Evil Hearts
Published on 2 Feb 2009 at 4:56 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Anglican Thoughts.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Luke 2:34-35
Would that this was all about my own personal spiritual journey,
Would that it was about being alone and feeling pious thoughts,
Would that my heart did not need such piercing,
And my soul not need be entangled from its knots.
But I have lived a life of concern for self,
Protecting my rights, my place, and my stake,
And now here, Lord, as you are presented,
The deepest part of my soul does ache.
For I see that my salvation is revealed,
But that it is found not here where I had looked,
Rather it comes through those outside me,
Those who I bade stand far off, away from my own nook.
Today in the life of the church we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, otherwise known as Candlemas. It’s a feast that begins with a man named Simeon who yearned for the Messiah, looking forward to, in the words of the Evangelist Luke, “the consolation of Israel.” We are told that the Holy Spirit rested on him. This Spirit revealed to him that he would not die until his eyes beheld the Messiah. But years passed and the Messiah was not revealed.
Forty days after the nativity of Our Lord, as his parents brought him to the temple, according to custom. That day Simeon felt a pull to come to the temple and, somehow, he came across the Holy Family with the infant Jesus. And upon seeing the infant he knew that the prophecy had been fulfilled. He took the babe in his arms and prayed what has come to be known as Nunc dimittis,
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace:
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,
Whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.
Holy Mary, Theotokos, and blessed Joseph were still getting a handle on things. Forty days had passed since the excitement, pain, and joy of the child’s birth, and they may have begun to doubt the words spoken to them by Gabriel. The Evangelist tells us that when Simeon spoke these words, Mary and Joseph were amazed at what he said. Upon seeing their amazement, the elder Simeon blessed this young couple, so unaware of the treasure in their family, and then leaned close and spoke to Mary these words, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
The coming of Our Lord, summed up in his Presentation, will cause many to rise and fall. Christ’s advent will be a sign that many will oppose because it will reveal what people truly value, the light from on high will shine upon us and it will be clear where we truly stand. Some will turn aside because of his poverty. Others because of the loose company he keeps. Still others because of his insistence that it is the Spirit of the Law which owes our fullest allegiance, submission to the letter alone is a perversion. Many will be blinded by this light, as God’s glory is revealed in suffering. And the pain of this purgation, as the light of Christ begins to burn away the corruption that we have allowed to accumulate will hurt. Because purgation hurts. Being burned clean hurts.
And Holy Mary, Theotokos, the First of the Disciples, will see as her son enters deep into human suffering. She will see his people reject him. She will see the work that he had to do to save us all from our pervasive sickness. And thus a sword will pierce her heart as well. Thus one of the icons most associated with this feast is “The Softening of Evil Hearts.”
Holy Mary teaches us that joining with Christ, walking down the path of purgation with him, will hurt us.
But Holy Mary, full of grace, also knows that the swords that pierce our heart soften them. She knows they enable us to feel more deeply the pain of the world, and thus to participate more fully in her Son’s work. As one author says, “All those who turn to them in prayer sense that with the softening of evil hearts comes an easing of spiritual and physical suffering. People come to recognize that when they pray for their enemies before such icons, their feelings of enmity are softened, and that internecine strife and hatreds abate, giving way to kindness.”
And I know my heart needs it. My heart needs to be softened. I need to open my eyes, to shield them against the bright light of the Presentation, so that I can see my salvation coming, so that I can see that my salvation is coming for all people, for all nations. My heart needs to be softened so that I reach out in joy and peace to the other, to those close and those far off, no longer finding them threats to my own idea of my life, but rather finding them pieces of my own salvation.
Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Fr. Bob on 2 Feb 2009 at 7:34 pm: 1
A wise professor I had in seminary, not one who at the time I would have thought much given to reflecting about the Theotokos, once told an emotionally wounded seminarian to take his prayers and hurts to the one whose soul had been pierced by the sword, because she understands the pain of kindred souls. Thanks for a sensitive homily on a favorite text on a favorite feast day, one filled with divine light. “Take it to the Theotokos in prayer.”