"The Presentation," by Heather King in the February Magnificat:
""And you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed," Simeon told Mary. Whatever pierces our heart is a religious experience. Whatever pierces our heart we are invited to offer at the temple.
We bring all our joys and all our trials. We especially bring our contradictions, our compulsions, our wounds.
To present our experiences at the temple is to sacramentalize them. To present our experiences is to recognize that all experience, from the smallest to the largest, has a supernatural dimension. We offer our experiences on the altar of the fact that we are loved just as we are, and that everything that happens to us is an opportunity to draw closer to Christ. We present ourselves at the temple because our lives, our work, our sacrifices are not our own.
Before we present ourselves at the temple, we see ourselves through the eyes of the world. After we present ourselves at the temple, we see ourselves through the eyes of God.
Outside of the temple, for example, I'm an aging spinster, alone and unloved. Inside, I'm a woman rich in insight, wisdom, and friends; I'm reminded that I have a unique and special mission. Before we "present" our drug-addicted son at the temple, we are crazy with worry. We feel like failures as parents, that our life's work has gone for naught. After presenting him at the temple, we remember that we have given our very best, that love is never wasted or lost, that our child is in the hands of God. In fact, that is exactly what Mary and Joseph did with Jesus.
We bring our wounds and we also bring our strengths and talents. Otherwise we tend to forget that the purpose of our gifts is to glorify God. We start to think that our gifts make us special, or that we can use them to lord it over the rest.
When we do present ourselves, we find that the temple is not empty. Simeon is there, and the elderly prophetess Anna. People have been praying for us all our lives. We are part of a centuries-old tradition, and we are invited to participate in the ever-unfolding and perpetual resurrection.
We go in peace, knowing that we, too, are servants whose eyes have "seen your salvation." We, too, are granted a share in showing forth the light of revelation.
"So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners... Through [Christ] the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Eph 2: 19-22).
Our experiences are "young." The wisdom is old.
Heather King is a Catholic convert, contemplative, and writer. She lives in Los Angeles and is the author of three memoirs.
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