Namaste: Recognizing the Divine in One Another

One of my dear friends, Mary Regan, often closes her emails with this beautiful greeting. It’s a word many of us recognize, but only a few truly understand. Namaste is more than a salutation—it’s a gesture of reverence. With hands placed near the heart, fingers pointing outward and thumbs inward, we bow and say namaste, acknowledging the presence of the Creator in both the one we greet and in ourselves.

This greeting resonates deeply with today’s Gospel reading—the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Mary and Joseph, faithful to the Law of Moses, brought their newborn son to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord, offering a humble sacrifice of two doves or pigeons.

While in the temple, a righteous man named Simeon took the infant Jesus into his arms and immediately recognized Him as the long-awaited Messiah. He praised God, saying he could now die in peace, having seen salvation with his own eyes. Also present was Anna, an 84-year-old widow who had devoted her life to prayer and fasting. Upon seeing Jesus, she too recognized the redemption of Jerusalem in this tiny child.

These moments remind us of the power of spiritual recognition—of seeing God in our midst.

How many people do we encounter each day, each week, each month? How often do we pause to honestly acknowledge the gifts, talents, and divine spark within them? Do we see the Creator in the stranger, the colleague, the student, the neighbor? Or do we, like Dionne Warwick once sang, simply “walk on by”?

When was the last time we told someone, “Thank you for being you” or “I appreciate you”?

It is my hope that we begin to see one another as Simeon and Anna saw Jesus—not just as people passing through our lives, but as reflections of God’s love and purpose. Let us recognize the sacred in the ordinary, the divine in each encounter.

Namaste. The Creator in me honors the Creator in you.

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