It’s unusual for the Presentation of the Lord to fall on a Sunday, bumping the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time right off the church calendar. But when that Sunday is also Super Bowl Sunday, there are likely to be some weird homilies, for sure.

Even if it is Super Bowl Sunday, see if you can persuade the liturgy folks and presider(s) to read the long form of the Gospel. There are few enough mentions of women in the gospels that we really don’t want to omit Anna. Note too that it was Anna, not Simeon, whom the evangelist described as “prophet.” (The feminine ending –ess really is superfluous.) The cheerful Renaissance tune of my setting of “Luke 2: Now Let Your Servants, Lord, Depart in Peace” (OCP) might serve as a postcommunion hymn:

Make us apostles, we are yours to send
that all with Simeon’s eyes may see,
and seeing, live your gospel truth
like Anna: wise and joyful, thankful, free.

The psalm of the day is Psalm 24, which, you will no doubt remember, was the psalm for the Fourth Sunday of Advent last month. As I said then, it’s probably not a good idea to sing Willard Jabusch’s “The King of Glory” as the responsorial psalm because it specifically equates God’s promised Messiah with the coming of Jesus—an anachronism that wrenches the psalm out of context. There are good alternatives: settings by Kevin Keil (GIA), Timothy R. Smith (OCP) and Ed Bolduc (WLP). Whatever you chose for December 22, use the same setting again.

Fortunately, the kickoff isn’t till dinnertime.