Today is the feast of the Meeting of the Lord. Sometimes it’s referred to as the “Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.” In Greek, though, the name “Ypapandi” means “meeting” or “encounter.” And indeed, this is a feast that celebrates an encounter with God. Not only is this the feast of the encounter of righteous Simeon and St. Anna the prophetess with the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem; it is also a feast of our encounter with the living God.

Simeon and Anna, both, had long awaited this encounter. Both were elderly, Simeon being especially, even unnaturally, old. According to the tradition of the Church, he was one of the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures), and had doubted the prophecy about a virgin giving birth. Because of this, he was informed by an angel that he would not die until he had seen the prophecy come to pass. So he lived on and on, and decades - even centuries - passed until finally he saw that day that he had lived in expectation of for so long.

Both SS. Simeon and Anna had presumably had various ambitions and expectations for their lives in their youth. Anna, we know, had been married at one time, and then lived a long time in widowhood. Simeon was an accomplished scholar, a translator of the Scriptures. But both of them came to know beyond any doubt that the most important reality in life is the encounter with God. Everything else is vanity in comparison; Ss. Simeon and Anna had come to live for this Meeting; the defining moment in their lives came at the end - as Simeon prayed, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation…” The moment had come, the promise had been kept, Simeon encountered Christ, and his life was fulfilled. He was ready for eternity.

In that total focus on the coming of the Messiah that Simeon and Anna had, they were open to God’s leading and were able to speak prophetically. St. Simeon spoke of Christ as being “destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” He spoke in advance, as it were, the words of the Lord following the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” These words are for us. And this feast of Encounter is for us. If we are proud, the encounter with Christ is a humbling one. If we are lowly, it lifts us up. Either way, the encounter with the Lord is the most central reality of our lives. Whatever else we may have expected or desired from our lives pales in comparison with the encounter with the living God. Nothing else is of greater importance than this.

So we, too, like Simeon and Anna, must encounter the Lord. How do we encounter Him? We meet Him in the Divine Liturgy. We partake of Him concretely in the Eucharist, we receive Him physically, as Simeon held Him in his arms. What do we proclaim at the end of the Liturgy? “We have seen the true light…” That is, we have encountered the One who is the Light of the world.

We also meet Him in all the other Sacraments, in which He offers us His grace, His life. We encounter Him in all the services of the Church, as we gather together for worship. We encounter Him in the Scriptures, through which He speaks to us. We encounter Him in prayer, as we pour out our hearts, offering up our contrite hearts to Him. We encounter Him in the difficult circumstances of life. When we waiver, when we struggle, when we are like Peter on the sea of Galilee, sinking, and we cry out to the Lord to save us, He is right there, instantly, lifting us up.

We encounter Him, also, in one another. We are called to see Him in each person. And He meets us through our brothers and sisters.

In the end, when that moment comes when our life in this world fades away, we will know for certain that the encounter with God is the most important, even the only important, thing. At that moment, like Simeon, we want to be able to say, “Lord now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation…” But let’s not wait until the end of our life to embrace that reality. Let us live now with the awareness that the encounter with God is what matters at every moment of our life.

Through the prayers of Ss. Simeon and Anna, may we live with this awareness, seeking at every moment, in every circumstance - through the Liturgy, the Mysteries of the Church, all the services, the holy scriptures, our prayers, our struggles, and the people around us - to encounter the Living God and to know His love for us, and for the whole world. Amen.