Patient Purity

Sermon for the feast of the Purification of Our Lady

What good is she doing

lurking around the temple

all that time.

For eighty-four years

since she lost 

her husband of seven years,

Anna has spent her life

just serving the temple.

Why did she not marry again?

Why did she not have kids?

Why has she not been 

more productive 

serving the community

rather than shutting herself away

for eighty-four years

waiting for the Messiah?

[PAUSE]

This is a criticism

often levelled against

the enclosed monastic orders

who shut themselves from the world.

Surely,

a life dedicated

to helping the poor,

the infirm and elderly,

teaching children in the Faith,

surely these are better

than pottering around 

a monastery,

praying all the time

and clearing up spent candles.

Eighty-four years wasted!

[PAUSE]

And then Our Lady 

enters the temple

with St Joseph and,

in her arms,

a little boy.

A little boy

to be presented to the Lord

as holy

in accordance with the Jewish law.

And a mother 

to be purified

from the hardship 

of labour

and ready to return

to Society.

But it's all the wrong way round!

It's all backwards.

[PAUSE]

What is purer

than a virgin mother?

What is holier

than God Incarnate?

The world around 

doesn't see this.

They do not recognise the child.

They do not recognise the mother.

But Anna and Simeon do.

All their lives,

they have waited for God.

They have immersed themselves completely 

in the presence and worship 

of God.

It is they who have spend decades

purifying themselves

by being in the presence 

of the Most High 

in acts of service

and dedication 

and in their purity

they see God.

And that Holy Child,

God Incarnate,

honours their service

and holds them up 

as examples when He preaches,

"Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God."

To the world 

Anna seems to have wasted her life.

But she sees God.

To the world,

the hermits

and the enclosed monks and nuns

have performed nothing useful 

for this world.

But they strive to see God.

And in striving to see God,

they shine with His light

into the dark world.

Their example and prayer

encourages those

whose calling is to go out

into the world,

feeding the poor,

clothing the naked

and liberating the captive.

And when those who go out

are wearied by the hardship 

of toiling in the world,

they seek those who see God

and from whom the light of God shines,

so that they may return to their calling

bearing that light again

and being purified themselves.

[PAUSE]

The holiness of the Child

consecrates the old priest.

The purity of the Virgin

purifies the temple.

It's all backwards,

but in Christ

the Law is fulfilled

and the Temple sanctified

so that Salvation 

can be seen by all who desire it.

[PAUSE]

Purity requires patience

even in the face of a world

that seeks to destroy that purity

with the business of day-to-day demands,

requirements,

duties and directives.

As long as we are willing

to immerse ourselves 

in the prayer life of the Church 

and support our monastic orders,

we will find that purity 

is the fruit of our patience,

and that waiting for God

is time well spent indeed.