Walk Just as He Walked

December 29, 2012

Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.  This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.  1 John 2:5-6

The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."  Luke 2:33-35

Piety

The Catholic Worker believes

    in creating a new society

    within the shell of the old

    with the philosophy of the new,

    which is not a new philosophy

    but a very old philosophy,

    a philosophy so old

    that it looks like new.

(Peter Maurin, Easy Essays, What the Catholic Worker Believes, 6)

Study

If you are looking for something new, you'll need to keep waiting like Simeon.  He waited in the temple to see the Lord and his patience was rewarded.  Yet this encounter did not end with the old man tickling the baby's feet.  Once encounter began, it culminated with Simeon sharing the news with Mary and Joseph that this peaceful baby would not lead a peaceful life nor die a peaceful death.  Instead of the "Prince of Peace," this baby will grow to be the Prince of Pierce. His hands would be pierced by nails.  His scalp pierced by thorns. His back pierced by whips.  His side pierced by the sword. 

Jesus himself admitted that he was not on earth to sow peace but to sow division -- both within each person and within families and society:

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.  From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”  Luke 12:51-53

This cultural contradiction did not take root in Luke's Good News nor in the New Testament.  Evidence for it is firmly established in the Hebrew Bible which details how the Lord "raises up their foes against them and stirs up their enemies to action."  These can be political or military foes or the internal battle of truth and error.

Why then, is this episode with Simeon considered part of the "joyful" (?!?) mysteries in the Rosary?  The news that emanates from the Presentation in the Temple is hardly joy-invoking. Yet, in a sense, none of the actual scenes in this decade of the Rosary are really joy-filled.  The teenager finds she is pregnant.  She visits her elderly cousin who also is with child under questionable circumstances.  The baby is born in harsh conditions.  He is presented to a stranger in the temple who has words of doom and gloom.  Finally, the young boy gets lost and separated from his human parents.

The line, "I never promised you a rose garden" certainly comes to mind.  Society wants to portray Christmas as the season of lights and gifts and happiness.  However, salvation history has been misinterpreted for thousands of years.  Why should 2012 be any different?

Action

Live as he lived.  Walk as he walked.  These are easy words to type.  Just as easy as Peter Maurin typed up his essays.  But putting this life into practice is where the  joy must penetrate the sorrow.

As we get ready to close the book on this calendar year, resolve how you will side with Jesus on the great division.  How will you walk as he walked in 2013?  How will you live as he lived?  These are not new demands.  The demands of discipleship are just so old that they appear to be new.