Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2, 2014, at then-Blessed John XXIII University Parish in Knoxville, TN.  The homily is based on the day’s readings: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24; Hebrews 2:14-18; and Luke 2:22-40.

Editor’s note: in 2014, February 2 fell on Super Bowl Sunday, featuring the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks. The starting quarterback for Denver, Peyton Manning, was a graduate of the University of Tennessee.

Certain feast days of the Church year take precedence over the usual Sunday readings. This is one of those days. On February 2, no matter what day of the week it falls, we celebrate the Presentation of the Lord. The Jewish Law called for first-born sons to be presented in the Jerusalem Temple 40 days after they were born. St. Luke tells us that when Mary and Joseph fulfilled this requirement of the Law, two prophets announced God’s plans for the child.  

At this Mass, we celebrate something extra special. Can you think of a better day to celebrate a baptism? Chantelle and Matthew present their daughter to this church community, asking for her admission into the Body of Christ. 

For over a thousand years, it has been traditional to bless new candles on this day. And so, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is often called “Candlemas.” 

We usually begin February of lectionary cycle A with one of the most beloved passages in the gospel of Matthew: the Beatitudes. But this year, we don’t. We have something more important to celebrate.

What’s more important than the Beatitudes? Well, if you were from Western Pennsylvania like I am, the answer would be obvious. When I worked in the defense industry in Pittsburgh, Senator Arlen Spector would stop by our company every year or so for a visit. One guy in the company, who was from a little town about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, would always press Senator Spector to introduce a bill making this day a national holiday.

Now, what day in mid-winter is so important to us Western Pennsylvanians? Well, most of us would answer, the Super Bowl. [Pull out my terrible towel from below the pulpit.] (We cheering you Peyton, but c’mon – you’ve only won one Super Bowl so far!) But that was not what my colleague Dave wanted to make a national holiday. You see, Dave was from the town of Punxsatawney, home of the world’s most famous groundhog.  

Now, here’s the thing that’s absolutely incredible: The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is connected to Groundhog Day! How? Well, the precise connection is lost in the mist of antiquity, but let’s start with why the Presentation of the Lord is celebrated on February 2.

For the past two months, we have heard many Scripture passages about light and darkness. And it makes sense: Advent falls in December, the darkest month of the year. We celebrate Christmas on December 25, three days after the winter solstice, when we can just barely perceive that the days are getting longer again. It is a day to celebrate the promise that God will not let everything fall into darkness. But today? Today is 40 days later. Today is the absolute last day that you can consider to be part of the Christmas season. This is our last story about the infancy of Jesus, and it’s been six weeks since Christmas, so the days are noticeably longer. The truth of longer, brighter days is obvious, clear to anyone paying attention!

What does this have to do with groundhogs? Well, we’re not sure if the Roman legions brought the practice of Candlemas to the Germanic peoples, or if the Germanic peoples already had a pagan practice related to this date. But February 2 is the mid-point of winter. Some time after the Roman Christians interacted with the Germanic tribes, people throughout Northern Europe believed that this day foretold a lot about the upcoming weather. For example, here’s the lyrics of an Old English song:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Come, Winter, have another flight;

If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,

Go Winter, and come not again.

To determine if February 2 was bright or cloudy, the Germans traditionally looked to the shadows of hedgehogs. However, when the Germans settled in Pennsylvania, there weren’t an abundance of hedgehogs, so they turned to groundhogs instead.

What does this mean to us as Christian disciples? Whatever weather we’re currently experiencing on our spiritual journeys – whether it be fair and bright or clouds and rain – we are each called to be light in the darkness, like Simeon and Anna. They seem so different from us – they apparently each received a distinct revelation from God – but are they really that different? They simply proclaimed God’s promises that had already been revealed in Scripture. This weekend, we have five people among us re-enacting the drama of the Presentation of the Lord: Chantelle and Matthew bring Avery to the Church, and Rebecca and Kenson attest to the promises God has already made to her.  

Anna was a prophetess, but would the people around her have thought that? She was an 84-year-old widow with no one to care for her. In the United States today, there are only a dozen facilities to care for the elderly homeless, including Samaritan Place here in Knoxville. Anna was from the tribe of Asher – the stretch of Israelite land farthest from Judah – and yet she was in the Jerusalem Temple, night and day.

Simeon is often depicted as an elderly man, but we know nothing about his age. Perhaps he was a young man when he received his revelation from God, similar to Therese of Lisieux, Joan of Arc, Lucy, or Agnes. (In other words, maybe he was younger than any of the undergraduate students in the room!)

No matter our age, no matter our spiritual circumstances, no matter what Punxsutawney Phil predicts – we, like Avery, have been baptized into the Body of Christ to be the light of the world, to proclaim God’s Good News and future promises with joy.