Treading Water

I am not a very strong swimmer.  I have horrible vision (I'm actually legally blind), and I didn't begin wearing glasses until I was six.  Of course, wearing glasses in the swimming pool isn't very practical, so I was never able to really see what I was doing when it came to swimming.  Eventually, I taught myself the basics, and I can swim enough to keep myself afloat.  But every time I swim, I pray I'll never have to save someone from drowning.

I'm awesome at treading water, though.  At basically every aspect of my life.

The Sunday before last was Candlemas, or the Feast of the Presentation.  Basically, Mary got to come back into the public (as was customary for women to be secluded for a set amount of time after giving birth) and infant Jesus was presented to the world.  And the readings leading up to Christ's presentation have a certain anxious waiting to them, almost like we've gone back to Advent when we wait for the coming of the Lord.  The first reading (from Malachi) even tells us that the messenger is coming to prepare the way for the Lord, and the messenger will purify and refine like gold.  So right away, we're told someone is coming and we've set the stage for anticipation.  The second reading (from Hebrews) tells us that Christ is coming, not for the perfect, but for the imperfect.  And believe me (someone who is super imperfect), that's something worth waiting for.  And of course, the Gospel tells of His presentation.

We learn that two people have been patiently waiting for Christ when he arrives at the temple with his parents.  The prophetess Anna, who was old and a widow, had been waiting without ceasing.  She spends all of her time waiting in the temple, praying and fasting.  And when she sees Christ, she thanks God for him and tells everyone about the child who will redeem them.  And then there's Simeon.  Simeon was a really holy man, very devout and pious, and he had received a message from God that he wouldn't die until he'd seen Christ.  So when Simeon does see Christ, he holds him and praises God and declares that he has seen the salvation and that Jesus will see the rise and fall of many Israelites.  The thing about Simeon is that, unlike Anna, he hasn't been at the temple waiting every day.  He came that day because the Spirit had told him to.

Fr. Trahan spoke about actively seeking the Lord.  All of the readings provoke a sense of urgency in us, a feeling of waiting for something big.  We recall the feelings we have right before Christmas when we're actively waiting for something (hopefully the birth of Christ, but often the opening of gifts).  We do all these things to prepare for Christmas both in our spiritual lives and in our lives preparing for the customs of the holiday.  And the Candlemas readings remind us that we must continue to actively prepare for the coming of Christ a second time.  Of course, actively preparing is not the same as passively waiting.  And too often, I think, we all find ourselves living lives of passive Christianity.

When we are passive Christians, we are boring Christians.  We're treading water instead of swimming.  Instead of actively seeking Christ, we just wait and expect him to knock on our door and let us know he's here for us.  We must be proactive, constantly seeking Christ like Anna and Simeon.  It is not enough to be stagnant, keeping ourselves afloat in our Christian lives by treading water constantly.  How will we find Christ in the smallest of places if we aren't actively looking for him?  How much will we miss if we stay in the same place, expecting him to come to us?  Simeon didn't wait at home, expecting Mary and Joseph to bring Jesus to him for a visit.  The Spirit led him to the temple, and he went.  Anna knew that Christ would be there and she never left!  She never stopped waiting for him where she knew he'd be.

We cannot expect everything we seek (even beyond our relationship with Christ) to simply come to us.  We tell children from an early age that they can do anything, but we often leave out exactly how much work one must put into achieving those things.  Thus, we've bred a generation full of entitlement, a generation of people who believe they deserve everything they could ever want but don't realize they may have to work for it.  When our school systems refuse to issue failing grades and we hand out participation trophies, we teach our children that they will be rewarded for just participating in life without exerting much effort.  We reward them for being stagnant, for treading water.  And how much do they miss out on because they haven't been encouraged to try?

I often see members of my generation wondering why they didn't walk right into a well-paying job after receiving their diplomas.  We once were told that a college diploma was what one needed to do well.  But now, with the huge influx of college grads flooding the workforce, we need more.  We need drive, motivation, marketability.  In the ever-appropriate words of Dr. Seuss, “You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  You’re on your own.  And I know that you know.  And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”  We need to be swimming toward success, actively seeking it.  We can't tread water and expect success to float past us.

The book of Jeremiah tells us that we must look for Christ, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."  We're not told that he will come tap us on our shoulders when we're parked in front of the television on Sunday morning.  We're told that when we search, we will find Christ.  Searching isn't always easy or enjoyable.  It isn't comfortable to be always swimming toward something.  But as Pope Benedict XVI said, "The world offers you comfort.  But you were not made for comfort.  You were made for greatness."  We are not meant to be stagnant, sitting ducks.  We were meant to swim.