Surprise like no other

Maybe it was an element of surprise, for this poor old man. “Now, Master, you may let your servant go, in peace, according to your word”. It took the eyes of an old man and the faith of an old woman to recognize that the Lord was in their presence.  These two had been waiting, they had been preparing for His coming, and the world had waited and prepared for hundreds of years. Surprise, and maybe amazement for them both.

I don’t know if there will be an element of surprise for us today, or anytime soon, but, Like Simeon and Anna, we need to prepare ourselves for an encounter with the Lord. 

Jesus has many ways of surprising us, and there are many ways to encounter Jesus in our lives.  Every creature we meet, every person we speak to, everyone who is around is an encounter with. As we all know, the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways.

The poor and helpless, the sick and dying, and those in prison, hospitals and the homebound; our co-workers, both holy and unholy people, Jesus is in every one of those souls. Maybe that can be an element of surprise for us.

Jesus is always waiting for us in his temple, every one of his brothers and sisters. He is in the Eucharist, waiting for us to embrace him and hold him close to our hearts.  His love, stronger than any sin we may commit – will purify us.  Then like Simeon, we will be filled with his grace and peace.  Like Anna, we will give thanks to God.

Yes, preparation is the key, for the element of surprise may not be today, may not be in our meeting of a homeless person, may not be in the Scripture verse we read, but our element of surprise, may be that day we are judged by our Lord.