REFLECTION
Simeon and Anna, a generation of
hope
“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your
word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” (LK 2:29-30)
We all know that history – all history – moves towards its destination
with ups and downs along the road, like when driving along a country road we
are sometimes able to see the horizon widening in front of us from on top of
the hills, and while when down in the valleys – some of them deep and long – we
may lose perspective all together. It is precisely when we find ourselves
driving in the valleys that we need to stay on track and be careful not to lose
sight of our goals when our destination is no longer visible and has become a
mere promise, even though we know that sooner or later the horizon will become
visible once more in all its splendor and show us the way.
Only Luke features in his Gospel the story of rather pretty unknown
characters, two elderly persons, Simeon and Anna, who were living in Jerusalem at
the time of Jesus’ birth. Their lives had been devoted entirely to the
fulfillment of God’s promises for his people, promises of consolation, nearness
and salvation. Both are filled with great joy when meeting with this child,
born just about 40 days earlier in a little town in Judea, and they are able to
see in him the light that illuminates the wide horizon that they for so long had
been yearning to see once more …
Many of us who are just about 40 years old have only known a Church and
a world that was telling us, again and again, about the days long gone of a
time of change, freedom and bravery in which the generation ahead of us had
toiled. Times of clairvoyance and hope, of horizons wide open which didn’t
correspond to what we had lived, a Church sometimes tiresome and with little
vision. We have also witnessed many older people wearing out and, let’s be
honest about it, giving up hope and seeking refuge in apathy, cynicism or, even
worse, bitterness.
But we have also known true prophets, men and women who have been able
to keep the promises of the future alive, and who knew well that every valley
comes to an end, and that any road sooner or later climbs a hill from where we
can once again have the vision of the bright horizon. Men like Simeon, women
like Anne, full of the Spirit, who have never lost that big warm smile on their
faces full of joy and hope, because they never doubted God’s promise.
Our world, our Church, climb today to a height were we are allowed to
dream with the light that shines on the nations, with a creative freedom in
which the project of the God of love can grow, a God who heals our wounds and
cures our divisions. We have not yet seen our destination, but just a child, a
promise of the future that gives us back the horizon which we had lost. In this
past year we have heard many voices joining Simeon and Anna, older people
filled with joy at the vision that God is faithful and always with us along
every step of the way.
I want to deeply thank all those who are part of the generation of
Simeon and Anna, all those prophets in our midst, men and women who have kept
hope alive in our world and in our Church: thanks to them, now
we can dream together.
Pablo Cirujeda
No comments:
Post a Comment