Encounters may take many forms, ranging from the polite exchanges of strangers, to the joyous reunions of long-separated friends, to the hostile clashes of enemies.
Some meetings are casual or focused on one particular object; the people have no intention of establishing connections beyond the needs of the moment. Other encounters, however, can lead to permanent relationships or friendships. Such encounters never leave the parties involved unchanged.
On February 2nd we commemorate an encounter, in the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple. The events, as related in Luke 2: 22 – 38, are simple on the surface. Our Lord’s mother and foster father bring the Infant to the Temple in Jerusalem, to offer sacrifice on His behalf in fulfillment of the requirements of the law of Moses; while there the trio are greeted by an old priest and a widow with a reputation as a prophetess.
We can look deeper into the story, however, because we know that the event in itself symbolizes our lord’s redeeming confrontation with the world. The figures in the story exhibit characteristics of the world and of the individual soul as they meets their Savior.
St Simeon, the old priest, lived in expectation. He awaited the advent of salvation with special fervency because he had been told that he would live to see the Savior. We hear a note of intense relief in the beautiful prayer he utters on meeting Christ. Its poignancy, no doubt, reflects the old man’s frustration, his intense desire for the God he had served so long. His existence is consumed in the joyful discouragement of long-unfulfilled hope. Hope is not a quiet emotion: It pulls us between thankfulness for and rejoicing in the thing promised and disappointment that the promise remains unrealized. Simeon’s emotions alternate between exhilaration in the pledge of the Savior’s coming and hunger for gratification so long deferred. Before his encounter with Christ, his life is both illumined by confidence in God’s assurances and shadowed by longing for the promises as yet unfulfilled. St Simeon knew both the consolation that rewards the faithful servant and the sorrow that attends blessings deferred.
The world is in a similar situation. Human sin not only defiles our souls and lives; it also corrupts all of creation. Yet the world is incomplete without communion with its Creator. Christ’s coming represents the world’s redemption as well as mankind’s. St Paul notes that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now … “ (Romans 8: 19 – 22).
As the apostle goes on to say, the world’s desire for redemption reflects that of the human soul, which St Simeon also symbolizes. “ . . . we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons . . . “ (Romans 8: 23). In another place he notes, “Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, . . . so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (II Cor. 5: 24). Like St Simeon our soul too is torn. God created us in His image to live in holiness, and we cannot know righteousness or peace except in communion with Him. As for St Simeon, so also for us, Christ’s coming is the consolation of the soul trapped in frustration and yearning.
St Anna’s problem is grief and isolation. The gospel identifies her as having been widowed for perhaps fifty or sixty years after only a brief marriage. She had early lost her husband and was alone, deprived of the comfort of a family in her old age. Anna no doubt spent many days mourning her lost husband and regretting the children they might have raised. She spent her time in the Temple in fasting and prayer. When the Spirit reveals to her who Christ is, she is transformed. She not only begins to praise God, but she hurries about Jerusalem, retelling in every sympathetic ear the good news she has heard.
The Scriptures and the Fathers liken Christ to a bridegroom. Human sin cuts the world off from its Maker, like a widow or widower bereft of a beloved spouse. St Anna also resembles the soul deprived of its Bridegroom, left unfulfilled and alone. The world, and we who are in it, are plunged into mourning for this bereavement and frightened by the resulting isolation. Now Christ has come, however, as companion and more, to wed our soul to Himself and carry us into the bridal chamber of His Kingdom. He comes to fulfill in us the true life for which we are born. A widow alone cannot bear children, so too, we are spiritually sterile without Christ. We can bear fruit to eternal life only in union with our spiritual Husband, who now has come to live with and in us. And like St Anna, when we receive this blessing, we too must proclaim the good news to anyone who will hear.
Christ has come to us as He came to Sts Anna and Simeon. We meet Him in the Church in an ongoing encounter. Our lives, therefore, cannot remain the same. Our encounter with Christ cannot remain casual. We must enter a relationship with Him, for He demands that we change our lives. When we commit ourselves to the Gospel, however, we open ourselves to the divine power of the Holy Spirit. We change ourselves, and Christ transfigures us. He fulfills His promise of grace in this world and abundant life in the next; He takes us as His Bride; He ends the sterility of sin and impregnates us with virtue; He fills our lives in this world with spiritual power and He endows us with the eternal life of His Kingdom. Let us, therefore, go out to meet Christ and welcome Him into our heart.
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