Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 2, 2021
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
-and you yourself a sword will pierce-
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
When my wife and I were expecting our first child, my grandfather was at the end of his life. He was in his mid-nineties and had been in decline for about a year. He was “ready to go,” as he would often tell us.
Even as his memory was failing, one thing that he would often remember–and ask about–was the upcoming birth of our child. As much as he was ready to go home to the Lord, he really wanted to meet our daughter before he died. And so we were really delighted when we were able to place our daughter in his arms a few weeks after she was born. He died only a week after that first meeting.
My grandfather was a Simeon figure in our own family. I think this experience is not so uncommon. Death is easier to understand in connection with new life. For the Christian, new life is not the opposite of death, it is a way of understanding death. Simeon’s joy at seeing Jesus in the temple is the greatest example of this. Jesus is the one who will forever redefine death as birth into new life. Simeon is among the first to understand this and to declare that Jesus is our salvation: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
This gospel passage reminds me that the story of salvation is a profoundly human one. The drama of birth and death plays out over and over again, in every generation, and connects us to the story of Jesus, who came to us as a child and died for our sake. Let us remember that each birth and each death in our families and among our friends is a reminder of that human story of salvation.
Prayer
Father in Heaven, you fulfilled your promise to Simeon that he would see the Savior face to face. Shine your face upon us today, we pray, that we may keep the Lord ever in our sight. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today’s feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a hinge upon which we pivot our gaze from Christmas and the Incarnation to Easter and Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.
This day falls 40 days after Christmas, and in the older liturgical calendars, the Presentation of the Lord closed the Christmas season (it now concludes with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord). The roots of this feast are found in Scripture, which tells of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple to follow Jewish law.
The law prescribed two rites following a birth. In one, the new mother was to offer a sacrifice of a lamb and a dove in thanksgiving for a safe delivery (those who were poor, like Mary and Joseph, were allowed to offer two doves, which they did). This offering was also intended for the purification of the mother and it took place 40 days after the birth of a male (80 days after the birth of a female).
In the other rite, which was to symbolically offer the new child to the Lord, the parents presented the child in the Temple and then ransomed him or her with money. In what must be one of the great paradoxes in history, Mary and Joseph “redeemed” Jesus with the traditional five shekels..
The Scriptural accounts of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple tell of the meeting with Simeon, the aged man who had been promised by God that he would see the Messiah before his own death. Along with the prophetess Anna, Simeon represents the hope of devout Jews who were waiting for God’s rule.
Simeon recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, and, after giving thanks to God, makes a prophecy to Mary. His words call to mind the suffering that Jesus will endure for our redemption, and the confusion and sorrow that go with it. The ancient Church used this scene to transition from celebrating Jesus’ Incarnation to preparing to enter the Paschal Mystery in the Lenten and Easter seasons.
The celebration of this feast began in the ancient Church—it appears to have begun in the fourth century, and was celebrated as the culmination of the Christmas season during the Middle Ages.
This feast was always celebrated with candles (and used to be known as Candlemas) because of Simeon’s recognition that in the person of Jesus, God has given us salvation—“a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people, Israel.” The scene with Simeon is depicted in the Basilica, as shown in today's featured image.
On this feast of the presentation of the Lord, let us join Simeon in recognizing our salvation in Jesus, the light of the world!