“My eyes have seen the Salvation” (Lk 2 :30)
God’s Servant Cardinal Wyszyński once brilliantly commented on today's Gospel: Simeon, this old man may remind us the old world, seems powerless in his hopelessness to struggle with the reality of each day, a world wearies of centuries, on which the deluge of times collapses, catastrophes, hopeless defeats, lost fights. Suddenly a new life shone! The old man felt a new power in his flabby arms. He felt the life entering him, a new life for the world and for humanity! The world will not die, it will not destroy, because there is new, true Life that does not die - Jesus Christ".
The old man Simeon was a prayerful man who was in love with God, so he knew that the Messiah had come not only to one nation, but that He would be the Savior of all. Therefore, he thanks God that at the end of his days he was able to see with his own eyes the Savior of all nations, who will be "a light for the illumination of the Gentiles and the glory of God's people Israel." For us, from this attitude of Simeon, there is an important lesson, that the closer someone is to God, the less he/sheis in danger of becoming entangled in some unhealthy particularisms, the easier it is for usto understand that we should love all whom God loves.
The old man Simeon, holding the Child in his arms, also said: " Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted." Later, the same will be said about the Lord Jesus by the Apostles, both Paul and Peter. For example, Paul wrote in the Letter to the Romans (9) that Christ became “a stone that will make people stumble and a rock that will make them fall” (cf. Rom 9:33); but whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed. And in the First Letter to the Corinthians (1), Paul would write that the Crucified Christ became a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who believed in Him - both Jews and Gentiles - He is God's power and God's wisdom. (cf. 1 Cor 1:23)
“A sword will pierce your soul” (Lk 2:35)
The term "sword", in the prophecy of Simeon cannot be limited only to Mary's compassion at the cross. This prophecy covers the whole mission of the Mother of the Savior, especially the drama of Golgotha. In her life, as the life of the Lord's most perfect disciple, Jesus' words came true: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23). "Every day" Simeon's prophecy was fulfilled in Mary's life. Perhaps that is why so many elements referring to the passion and death of Jesus can be found in the "Childhood Gospels". Already then, she began her way of the cross. Timeliness of Simeon's prophecy
Mary, faithful to the law of the Lord (Lk 2, 22-23; cf. Ex 13, 2, 12, 15), brings her firstborn Son to the temple to offer him as a sacrifice to God (cf. Lk 2, 22-38). As in her fiat she was similar to Abraham, who trusted God completely (cf. Genesis 15: 6), so in offering it resembles the gesture of the patriarch who was ready to sacrifice his son (cf. Genesis 22: 1-18). There is a difference, however. The Angel of the Lord stopped the hand of Abraham at the last moment (cf. Genesis 22:12) but did not stop the hands that crucified the Son of Mary. Her sacrifice was so much greater.
No way you can bypass Christ
We cannot remain indifferent to Christ today. Christ constantly demands from man a decision: for or against. He also asks us: "Do you also want to leave?" (cf. John 6:67).
Every year in Rome, railway workers build a Crèche for Christmas at Termini station; especially original and meaningful they built in 1962. They threw several dozen meters of an ordinary track onto the floor of the waiting room; on the track, an altar-manger was laid out of railway sleepers, with the Baby Jesus in it. Many travelers stopped and perhaps asked themselves the question: why was the Child Jesus put on the track? The meaning of the symbol was clear: the track is a sign of a person's life path, which is constantly affected by the problem of Christ. And as the train on this symbolic track could not miss Jesus, so is with the way of our life.
No way can bypass Christ now ... so shepherds and wise men come to him, people come with their hearts full of longing for the truth, and people in the terrible power of hating this truth. People constantly descend from the pages of the Gospels and repeat gestures of dedication to the Master of Nazareth, and others who faithfully recreate the world of the Pharisees ... The track on which the Child Jesus lies extends and passes through consciences, raising in them questions about the purpose of life.
Christ also stays on the way of our lives! We cannot avoid him. Which people do I belong to? To those who cry out that the emperor is their king, or to those represented by Peter? Today, also, Christ is a sign of contradiction. Given by God for the rise and fall of many in the new Israel, i.e., in the Church. That is why we should also ask ourselves today the questions that Jesus' countrymen once asked: "Is he not the carpenter's son?" (cf. Mt 13:55). Who is he? Who is He for me? This question cannot be ignored. Even atheists cannot do this: "Therefore any attempt to invalidate Jesus, remove Him from our culture ... is ridiculous and senseless. The person and teachings of Jesus Christ cannot be removed from our culture or invalidated, if this culture is to persist and continue to create itself." (L. Kołakowski, Jesus ridiculed: an apologetic and sceptical essay). We would like to repeat the sentence of Peter over and over again: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and know that you are the holy one of God" (cf. Jn 6: 68-69). We want this sentence to become the reality of our lives, so that the living person of Jesus never fades to us, does not become a dead formula.
Until Tomorow
fr. george