This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for the Presentation of the Lord. This feast is celebrated on February 2, so every few years, it falls on a Sunday. Because it is a Feast of the Lord, it takes precedence over the Sunday celebration. In fact, the only feasts to trump a Sunday mass are the Feasts of the Lord and the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which we will celebrate on Sunday, November 9 of this year.
Almighty ever-living God, we humbly implore your majesty that, just as your Only Begotten Son was presented on this day in the Temple in the substance of our flesh, so, by your grace, we may be presented to you with minds made pure. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Right off the bat, in this prayer, we state our belief that Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, had both, a divine nature and a human nature.
As Christians, even if we may not completely comprehend it, we may take that teaching for granted. It may be something we just accept, but it wasn’t always so. This teaching was declared as true in the Council of Chalcedon, held in the year 451. We could go back even farther, to the First Century when John warns, “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh…” (2 John 1:7)
God taking on flesh changes everything. Christ’s coming is the way that we can have minds made pure. In the liturgy for Lent, we will hear about minds made pure at least a couple times. Listen for it in the Preface for the First Sunday of Lent and again in the Easter Vigil, where we will hear minds made pure along with the phrase light of Christ.
The light of Christ is Jesus. John calls him the “light of the world.” (John 8:12) This Light is what dispels darkness and brings truth. It makes our minds pure so that we can experience life in Christ and live a life of joy.
Imagine being at the Temple that day when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus. Sometimes our thoughts can lead our minds right into a gutter, but I don’t think that happened with Jesus. His mind never strayed from whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, or gracious. (Phil 4:8) In our prayer this week, we ask to be able to think and see and be like Christ, not just admire Him.
Thanks for praying with me,
Julie