PRESENT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for is, “Present.”

Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Presentation - February 2^nd.

We celebrate the day Jesus was brought by Mary and Joseph to the temple to present him to the Lord our God.

THE  present -gift - was presented to the Lord our God.

So I’d like to present a few ideas to look at on the theme of present - and presentation.

EXAMPLES

How many classrooms, how many meetings, have we been at when we said, “Present” when we heard our name called out? “

What a great morning prayer - to hear God call out our name - the first thing in the morning - and we say to God’s voice, “Present.”

What a great morning prayer - to call out to God, God’s name - the first thing in the morning and we hear God say back to us, “Present.”

What a great morning prayer:  to say to all those we are going to meet this new day of life, “Present!” and then to look directly into the center of the eyes of all those I’ll meet today, to say “Hi.” Translation:  “What’s going on inside your temple today. Tell me what’s happening? I’ll try to be present to you today.”

What a great morning prayer it would be,  to say to the planet, “Present”. I will try to be present to you today - to water my plants, to pay attention to you - to see trees and birds - flowers and green or brown earth of grass.

When we say first thing in the morning: “Present” - we’re announcing that we are present to God this new day of life and God is present to us, this new day of life - as well as to each other - and to the whole of creation.

Each day is a feast.

A mother - our mom - a day or two after finding out she was  pregnant with us - going into church and presenting us to the Lord - and praying for a healthy pregnancy.

And doing that for 8 months or so.

Pregnancy - presentation - we are the present - the gift of God.

Present. Thank you God.

Then we are born - and we scream our first scream.

Translation from baby talk or life talk, a scream, a cry, is saying,  “Present! I am here!”

Presentation: a baby is brought to church to be baptized, anointed, blessed, presented to the Lord - and to the Church and to the world.

I like crying babies - at baptisms and at Church.

Father Joe Krastel was telling me the other day - about his surprise - when he found out about babies and children at Heritage Harbor.

When do you go to get your share of babies babbling and crying?

I like to hear the sound of crying babies - because of calls at times to pray over babies who are still born - or who are about to die when born at Anne Arundel Medical Center.

Sometimes it’s a blessing. Sometimes it’s a horror that is present.

I remember a funeral Mass last year for a tiny baby girl that who only had 3 days of life.  The funeral was on a Saturday morning at 9 AM - at St Mary’s.  Her parents had her remains in a tiny box on a tiny table in the center aisle - up front - near where a casket would be.  They had next to her picture a small vase of flowers.

At 10:30 AM there was going to be another funeral. It was for the governor’s father.  However,  around 8:30 in came flowers - about 30 or 40 vases and bouquets of beautiful flowers - and they surrounded the little baby girl’s remains.

I told the father right after the funeral Mass to stand there with the flowers and someone take he and his wife’s picture. It was a beautiful scene. It was a scene of the beautiful. It had presence and presents.

HERE ARE  MORE EXAMPLES OF PRESENTATION AND PRESENCE.

At our first day of school.

At the day we won a spelling bee.

At the day we got our first basket in basketball.

At the day we were starting to really be present. It was our 3^rd  birthday party.

At the day we graduated from kindergarten.

At the day we made our first communion, confirmation, graduation.

At the day we walked into high school or college or the day we came down the aisle to be presented by our dad to our husband to be. It was the day we were present to take and make vows to each other.

At the day we were handed our first child….

At the day we entered the military or police or our first job or what have you.

At the day we moved into Heritage Harbor.

Presentations - we were present for  a lot of them.  It’s called, “Life!”

CONCLUSION: MOVING INTO PRAYER

Thank you God.

Sorry God for the days - or years - I was not present to you.

Sorry God for the times I forgot I am a gift and those around me are gifts to me and I didn’t say “Thank you” for the gifts - the presents I have received.

Sorry God for the times I sat down for food together - but I was somewhere else - on the phone - elsewhere - anywhere but the place I was in.

Sorry Jesus for the times I forgot about your real presence in the Eucharist - the bread of life - as well as the real presence of you in the Body of Christ - the community  - in the hurting, in the hungry, in the forgotten, in those who are dealing with one specific station of the cross that day.