Feast of the Presentation of Jesus

For the past year or so when I think about the Feast of the Presentation -- a recurring theme while meditating on the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary -- the character that calls out to me is the prophetess Anna.

Anna was a constant presence in the temple, and served God with fasting and prayer (Luke 2:37). By grace coming to the place where Simeon was speaking to the Holy Family, Anna was also led to recognize the Savior.

And what does Anna then do?

Anna becomes a kind of new Isaiah, speaking comfortingly to Jerusalem (Isaiah 40:1-2) about the Christ child.

Having maintained a kind of static watchfulness for so many years, Anna is rewarded with the One she has sought and hoped for.  The Presentation of the Lord moves her to great change. Think of this old lady, probably considered pitiful by most who see her, suddenly filled with great joy.  Think of this old lady, always locked in silence of prayer and mortification, now suddenly bubbling over with a spirit of thanks and praise.

There is no Canticle of Anna.  Yet Anna's witness is antiphon to Simeon's song.

Yes, our God is True!  This baby!  This one here!  He is the One!

For Simeon, it is "now let your servant depart in peace" -- depart into the sleep of death peacefully, having seen the coming of the glory of the Lord.  For Anna, the move is to depart not immediately to death but to depart from the temple, into the neighborhoods and dining rooms of all who look in hope for the coming of the Savior of Israel.

I can almost hear her:  "Yes! The prophecies are true!  Look for Him, all of you.  When the boy grows up -- oh, look for Him!  It will be after I am gone, but look for Him!"

The time that is given to us

Frodo:  "I wish the Ring had never come to me.  I wish none of this had happened!"

Gandalf:  "So do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.  There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides evil."

As the calendar year winds to a close, and during the darkest days of midwinter, the temptation to lose hope, wallow in nostalgia, or indulge in remorse, can become monstrous and real. 

As we think back on the past, and resolve toward the future, it is important to remember that the antidote to fear is not courage per se --  the remedy for fear is  faith.  Faith that the Good, the True, the Beautiful are also at work in the world.  This is a mystery.

Fix it firmly in the mind and heart. Practice it.  Drill it.  There are other forces at work in this world besides evil.  We win, they lose.  I read it in a book. 

Eschatonic epistemology

Genetic epistemology  has to do with the study of how people come to know.  How do children learn?  How does a body of knowledge come to be "in" the mind? 

What would be the other side of the coin of genetic epistemology?  What if instead of coming out of ignorance into knowledge we dealt with the ultimate destination of knowledge?  Or instead of dealing with the coming-to-be of knowledge of things, we flipped it over to the coming-to-be of the knowledge of  ... persons? 

One may come to knowledge, and know that they have  knowledge; knowing you know is a species of belief, right?  One may come to a certainty that they will come to know; that knowing that you will know is a species of hope, right? 

Faith / belief is something you have, based on what has been experienced before.  Hope is knowledge grounded in -- well in something or someone else -- that has not been experienced (personally) before, but which is held by the power of some report (some other person).

Thoughts for the penseive.  Thinking out loud.