A Reflection on the Daily Office Readings

Collect: Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Malachi 3:1-4

The prophesied messenger in this passage in none other than John the Baptist. Like John the Baptist, we are called to prepare the way for God to work in our life and in our community. In what ways is God refining us and purifying us so that we might have a transformative impact on outreach and evangelism in our neighborhood?


Hebrews 2:14-18

Jesus shared in our humanity in every respect so that through his own death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free us all who were held in slavery by the fear of death. Because Christ himself was tested by what he suffered and because he endured to the end, he now stands as a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of all of us. Christ is more than able to help us when we are tested. What tests are we facing today that Christ can help us face and overcome?


Luke 2:22-40

This passage records how, according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus present him at the temple. As Jesus is being presented, a man named Simeon and a widow woman named Anna both identify Jesus as the Messiah. As Jesus and his parents left the temple and journeyed forward in life, Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Traditions and rituals are wonderful if they bring new life into the worshipping community. However, when we merely go through the motions of religious life, our faith is dead and we fail to truly be transformative in our thoughts, words and deeds. Jaroslav Pelikan once said, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Does our life reflect more the living faith of those who have gone before us or is our life littered with empty actions that reflect a faith that is dead? Like Jesus, the traditions and rituals that we take part in must help us grow and became strong, filled with wisdom; and reflecting the love of God through our life.


To God be the glory now and forever. Amen.

Fr. Thomas+




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