Pastoral Message from the February Beacon
02/01/2019
Dear Parishioners of our Beloved Assumption,
Greetings in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
On February 2nd, the Church celebrates the Great Feast of the Presentation of the Lord to the Temple - which is in our more common terms, His 40 day blessing.
When each of us was brought to the Church for this blessing, it was so that we might be “introduced” to the Lord. It is our 1st act of offering in obedience to the Lord. Does it make sense that Jesus would need to be presented to the Lord? Is He not the Lord Himself?
This is the great irony of how we understand what is happening around us. We perceive, thus we believe. We use our human senses to draw conclusions that are not based on truth but based on our perception. This is why so many say that perception is more important than reality - which may be true in marketing, but not in the Faith.
Returning to His 40 day blessing - what is really occurring? We know that if the Temple is holy it is because the Lord is present. Jesus is not sanctified by going to the Temple, it is the Temple that is sanctified by Him, specifically, Simeon who is waiting for His arrival - for it was revealed to Simeon 3 centuries earlier that he would not die until he put his eyes upon the Savior.
Therefore, to the unknowing, it looks as though Christ is being presented to Simeon, when in fact, Simeon is being presented to Christ; it looks as though Christ is presented to be sanctified by the Temple when it is He who is sanctifying the Temple by His presence.
Let us not be like those who think they understand because their eyes have “seen,” when in fact their eyes don’t have the ability to comprehend. Let us present ourselves that He may be presented to us.
In His Service,
Rev. Father Jon Boukis
Proistamenos
“Attract, Serve, Illuminate”