Feast of the holy family. Today’s readings: Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3; Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17 or Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19; Luke 2:22-40.
Flight (1927), a theatre piece by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (1891-1940), presents Khloudov, a White Army general who ironically cites the opening verse of Simeon’s Canticle, found in Luke 2:22-40, today’s Gospel narrative: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word...”
But he rejects the idea of divine providence and protection as the Bolcheviks easily crossed the Gulf of Sivatch. Set in the context of the Russian Civil War, the play provides a reflection where remnants of the White Army desperately resisted the Red Army.
The play was only allowed to be staged in 1957, 17 years after Bulgakov’s demise, as it was considered an anti-Soviet spectacle, justifying the White Army’s resistance as well as that of all those who refused to comply with the demands of the Communist regime, thus being considered as enemies of the proletariat. In the play, dissenters are represented by Serafima Korzukhina, university professor Sergei Golubkov and the two White generals Charnota and Khludov. Bulgakov, a doctor born in Kyiv and a member of the White Army, presents the dissenting characters as pitiful, tormented humans marked by failure. The play is not about heroes but a poignant depiction of the turmoil and terror resulting from the fall of a nation’s rulers.
The son of a renowned theologian and hailing from a family of doctors and priests, Bulgakov wrote innovative plays as “road drama” where characters, caught in their nation’s political upheaval, flee to Crimea, Constantinople and Paris, suffering exile and pining to return home. Structured in the form of eight dreams, the play elevates the road and flight imagery to a new dimension of reality.
A firm commitment to that which is true, admirable and good is required to counteract the dreadful absurdities of life
In today’s Gospel, the same themes emerge in the characters featuring in the narrative of Jesus’s presentation in the temple. Simeon awaits consolation for his oppressed people, dreaming the coming of the messiah. Anne, daughter of Phanuel, awaited redemption after her life’s misfortunes.
Suffering is prophesied to Mary whose heart will be pierced by the sword and the child is recognised as the one who will bring the rise and fall of many. Joy and sorrow; dreams and failures; consolation and distress; redemption and bondage – all form part of any human story, no exceptions. Like it or not, we all have to shoulder our share in the toll of life, which constantly throws at us challenges and difficulties over which we do not always have control. But, faced by this reality, we can always do our best to change what is in our power to change and to respond in responsible ways as there are no magical fairy tale solutions to life’s complexities.
The Christ story shatters any childish magical belief system, as the invisible God ‘up there’ became a helpless human being, shouldering His share in life’s toll.
The apostle exhorts Colossian Christians to “put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another”, putting love over everything, allowing “the peace of Christ control our hearts”. In this manner, a firm commitment to that which is true, admirable and good is required to counteract the dreadful absurdities of life.
Abraham’s story in the first reading of today’s liturgy teaches us that faith in God and basic trust in the human capacity for goodness is actually an act of righteousness which can transform deadly state of affairs into life-giving circumstances. The Letter to the Hebrews credits the faith of Abraham for the birth of a new people.
In a world on the brim of self-destruction through ecological disasters, ongoing armed conflicts, wars, displacement of peoples, genocides, as well as misfortunes and crimes of sorts, people of good will are called to keep the faith and plant seeds for a new humanity.