Simeon and Anna

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

"When the day came for them to be purified, in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every firstborn male must be consecrated to the Lord, and also to offer in sacrifice, according with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons” (Lk 2:22-24).

Forty days have passed since the birth of Jesus, and the Holy Family begins their journey to fulfill what is laid down in the Law of Moses: “Every male that opens the womb will be called holy to the Lord” (Nb 18:15). The distance from Bethlehem to Jerusalem is not much, but many hours are needed to get there. Once they've reached the Jewish capital, Mary and Joseph go to the Temple.

Before entering, they would have fulfilled with piety the rites of purification. They would also have bought in one of the nearby stalls the prescribed offering: “a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons” (Lv 14:22). They would have entered the largest esplanade through one of the underground tunnels used by all the pilgrims. You can imagine their excitement as they went towards the hall for women.

We are told that in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man. He looked forward to the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. We are given an impressive description of this man, the holy man. The Holy Spirit rested on him.

It had been revealed to him, we are told, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death until he had set eyes on Christ the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit, he came to the temple. And when his parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for Him what the Lord required, he took Him in his arms (cf. Lk 2:25-28).

In this short passage, the Holy Spirit is mentioned three times. He's very active in the life of Simeon. We are told that Simeon was prompted by the Holy Spirit. These days we could listen in a special way to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

As we finish one year and begin another: What is God saying to me at this stage of my life, after this year that has passed, or this moment in my marriage, in my family, with my children, in my work, in my sanctity? What is He saying to me about the most important things, about my apostolic mission in the middle of the world? What is the Holy Spirit saying to me about the year that is in front of me?

Simeon was prompted by the Spirit and so he is sensitive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit in his heart and in his mind. He is listening very carefully. He is led by God, and so we can imagine that the face of Simeon is radiant with joy.

Our Lady and St. Joseph were approached by this holy man. Simeon would have greeted Our Lady and St. Joseph affectionately and possibly showed the excitement with which he had awaited this moment.

He knows something great is about to happen because “it has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:26-27).

He is aware his time is coming to a close. He is elderly. But he also knows, because the Holy Spirit has revealed it to him, that he was not to die without seeing the Redeemer. And so, when he sees the Holy Family enter, God lets him identify this Baby, the Holy One of God.

With the logical care that the tender age of Jesus requires, Simeon took Him in his arms and lifted up his prayer to God. What did Simeon say to God? Did he say, “Now, Lord, I hold the World Cup in my hands. I have reached the zenith of my existence. This is the greatest joy that I could possibly have”? All these great human excitements, even winning the greatest sporting competition on the whole planet, is nothing to what Simeon is experiencing.

We're told he took Him in his arms and blessed God. And he said, “Now Master, you can let your servant go in peace as you promised. For my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the sight of the nations, a light of revelation for the Gentiles and glory for your people, Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

These words are very special. They are words that every priest says each night in the breviary, ‘Now you can let your servant go in peace,’ as part of Compline. It's the greatest moment of his life. He holds the Christ Child.

We could think for a moment what happens in the moment of Holy Communion when that Christ Child comes into our souls sacramentally, with the periods of thanksgiving after Mass each day. How special those moments are!

What a special experience it is to have the Christ Child within us! We're called to experience something similar to that of Simeon, which perhaps is not expressed in human emotions but in supernatural and spiritual joy.

And we are told, “As the Child's father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about Him, Simeon blessed them and said to His mother, ‘Look, He is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed—and a sword will pierce your soul too, so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare’” (Lk 2:33-35).

Joseph and Our Lady are surprised. They were not expecting Simeon. He was not in the program. He was not on the agenda. And suddenly, he is saying these very lofty words. They begin to detect further messages that are being given to them about their own vocation.

The story is unraveling itself little by little. God has used other people to confirm Joseph and Mary in their calling: the shepherds, the Magi, and now Simeon. We are told the Child's father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about Him.

In other places, we are told that Mary pondered all these things carefully in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19). Little by little they're learning more as they walk along the pilgrimage of faith, which is their vocation.

With every twist and turn of the pathway of our vocation, we can also expect that the Holy Spirit is going to use certain people, certain places, at times unexpectedly, maybe unexpected people, to give us very deep and important messages.

Simeon addresses Our Lady in a special way: “He is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed, a sign of contradiction.”

The Catholic Church in the world is a sign of contradiction. We should not be surprised when the Gentiles rage, that people utter all sorts of vain things (cf. Ps 2:1). It has happened throughout history.

The Catholic Church has been called to be that sign of contradiction, to proclaim the truth—the truth about marriage, the truth about the family, the truth about human love, the truth about human sexuality.

One writer says what we suffer so much from in the world today is not so much an excess of sex but a lack of true human sexuality, which is beautiful, which is sacred. Part of our apostolate with our words and with our example is to spread that word.

When we find the Church is a sign of contradiction, when there are persecutions and the teaching of the Church isn’t understood, and maybe there are scandals or things might seem to be everything different than what they should be, none of this is particularly new.

What we have to do is focus on the purpose of our Christian vocation, stay close to the Holy Family and the sacraments, go deeper in our knowledge of the faith. And all the difficulties pass, the problems get solved.

Then he said to Our Lady, “Your own soul a sword will pierce” (Luke 2:35). This is the first time that anyone is speaking in this way. Up till now, all the revelations to Joseph and Mary have been about joy at the birth of Christ: the Annunciation, the revelations to Joseph, the inspired words of St. Elizabeth, the shepherds, the Magi—they had all proclaimed the joy of the birth of the Savior of the world.

But Simeon prophesied that Mary was to carry in her life the destiny of her people. She was to occupy the front line in the work of salvation. She is to accompany her Son, placing herself at the center of the contradiction in which the hearts of men would show themselves for or against Jesus.

This is the first time that anyone has talked to Our Lady about the cross: “your soul a sword will pierce." You're going to have a broken heart. Maybe in the course of our lives, we might suffer from a broken heart, the loss of a loved one, or some major contradiction or difficulty. We might know someone close to us who has a broken heart. The world is full of broken hearts.

But we have the solution to broken hearts. We go to the protection of Our Lady and of Jesus who both have broken hearts. They allow their hearts to be broken on the cross so that they would have the solution for all time for all broken hearts, so that we find our solace in the heart of Mary, in the Heart of Christ, the wounded Heart of Christ, the wounded heart of Mary.

Fulton Sheen says that only Our Lord and Our Lady know how to mend broken hearts, but you've got to give them all the pieces. He said if God ever allows our hearts to be broken, it is because He wants to enter into them a little more. There is always some great divine purpose, some great apostolic plan. God is at work here.

That is what Simeon is talking to Our Lady about: the whole future program of her life. “A sword will pierce your soul too so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.”

Our Lady realizes that the prophecy of Simeon is no lie, and it sort of completes what God has made known to her beforehand. Her reaction on this occasion is the same as what the pages of the Gospel indicate on other occasions: “Mary kept all these things carefully in her heart” (cf. Lk 2:19).

Our Lady meditates on the events that are taking place around her. She seeks the will of God in them. She deepens in the thoughts that Yahweh places in her soul. She does not react passively to what is around her.

This is the pathway that Pope St. John Paul pointed out, to be loyal to Our Lord. She is living out her promise, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).

Our Lady teaches us that in the moments of contradiction, of the cross, of the broken hearts, that can be our response also—unity to the will of God. Pope St. John Paul said that Mary was faithful above all when with love she sought the deepest meaning of the plans of God about her and about the world.

There would be no fidelity if there was not this ardent, generous, and patient seeking; if there was not found a certain question in the heart of man, a question for which, only God is the answer. This seeking of the will of God brings Our Lady to accept whatever she discovers: “be it done unto me.”

Our Lady was going to find out that there are going to be many opportunities in the course of her life to say those very same words. These were crucial moments of fidelity, in which probably she didn't realize that she was not able to understand the depth of the plans of God, nor how they would take place. But observing these moments, her desire to fulfill the will of God becomes greater.

We're also told when they find Our Lord in the temple, He said, “Did you not know I must be about my Father's business?” We're told they did not understand the things that He said to them (Lk 2:49-50). Our Lady accepts the mystery, giving it a place in her heart.

Our Christian vocation is a bit of a mystery. Our life is a bit of a mystery—day by day, week by week, month by month. Each one of our children, our friends is a bit of a mystery. But yet God is working out His plans in them and through them.

Pope John Paul continues: Not with the resignation of someone who surrenders in the face of something not understandable, of something unusual, but rather with the availability of someone who opens to be imbued by something, or rather by someone, greater than one's own heart.

We're going to be told that later “Jesus grew in wisdom, and age, and grace before God and men” (cf. Lk 2:52), under the attentive gaze of Our Lady. And as the years of the public life of Our Lord came closer, she was going to notice how the prophecy of Simeon begins to be carried out: “He is destined for the rise and for the fall of many in Israel” (Lk 2:34).

These are years of fidelity to Our Lady's vocation. Living in accordance with what she believed, continues Pope St. John Paul, in adjusting her own life to that on which she was focused. In accepting misunderstandings and persecutions, rather than allow any rupture between her and her children, rather than allow any rupture between how she lived and what she believed.

There are years of showing in thousands of ways her love and loyalty to Jesus, years of coherence, the most intimate nucleus of fidelity. But all fidelity, he says, has to pass through the most demanding trial, that of duration, that is to say of constancy. He says it's easy to have coherence between one's beliefs and actions for one or a few days.

But to be coherent throughout one's life is difficult and important. It is easier to be coherent in moments of exaltation, and difficult to be so in times of tribulation. Only a coherence which lasts a lifetime can be fidelity.

Often, parents, by their struggle in virtue, and by their fidelity over decades, leave the greatest spiritual legacy that they can to their children—fidelity to a Christian vocation. This is how Our Lady was, always loyal, and even more in times of tribulation.

In the hour of the cross, she's there, accompanied by a few women and St. John. The earth is covered in darkness. Jesus, nailed to the cross with immense physical and moral pain, directs to heaven a prayer that expresses personal suffering and also radical confidence in the Father, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46). Psalm 22 begins in this way, but ends with a note of confidence, “all the families of the nations will bow down before Him” (Ps 22:27).

When Our Lady, standing at the foot of the cross, heard that prayer of her Son, what would have been her thoughts? For years she had meditated on what God wanted from her. Now, seeing her Son on the Cross, forsaken by almost everyone, she might have remembered the words of Simeon, “Your own soul a sword will pierce” (Lk 2:35). She would suffer, in a special way, the injustice that was taking place.

However, in the obscurity of the Cross, her faith was placed before her eyes, the reality of the mystery. She was helping the salvation of all men, of each man, to take place. She is the mother of all human persons.

The words of Jesus, full of confidence, would let her understand with new lights that her own suffering linked her more intimately to redemption. In this moment, she could be speaking to all mothers, to all fathers, showing them an example of the priestly soul that they are called to have.

A priest is someone who offers sacrifices. Priestly virtues are the virtues Christ lived on the cross, humility, obedience, sacrifice, generosity. Our Lady unites her priestly soul to that of her Son. From high on the Cross, in the very moment of His death, the gaze of Jesus crosses with that of His Mother.

He finds, at her side, a union of intention and sacrifice. Pope John Paul says, the fiat of Mary, the “be it done unto me” (Lk 2:38) in the Annunciation, finds its fullness in the silent Fiat that she utters at the foot of the Cross. To be faithful is not to abandon in the darkness what one has proclaimed in public.

With her daily correspondence all throughout her life, Our Lady has prepared herself for this moment. She knew that with her unconditional self-giving on the day of the Annunciation, she also embraced these events in a certain way in which she was now participating with full interior freedom.

Pope Benedict says, our sorrow forms a whole with that of her Son (cf. Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI on 15 September 2008). It is a sorrow full of faith and love. Our Lady on Calvary participates in the salvific strength of the sorrow of Christ, uniting her Fiat, her yes, to that of her Son.

Our Lady stays faithful. “She offers her Son a balm of tenderness, of union, of fidelity, a yes to the divine will” (St. Josemaría, Way of The Cross, Fourth Station). Under the protection of that fidelity, Our Lord says, according to St. John and with him, the Church for all time, “behold your Mother” (Jn 19:27).

Mary does all of this in an ordinary way. She passes unnoticed, with great naturalness, as one more in the crowd. She is not calling any attention to herself or to her importance. Our Lady responds with faith to the most varied situations. And that response is possible because she was moved at receiving the messages of God and she meditated on them. Her whole life forms a unity.

This is what Our Lord Himself lets us understand when, in the face of the praise of that enthusiastic woman, He clarified the real motive for which the Woman should be praised. “Blessed are they rather who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28).

One of the greatest lessons we can learn from Our Lady is that fidelity is not improvised. It is cultivated day by day. We do not spontaneously learn to be faithful.

When Our Lady heard the words of Simeon, she didn't suddenly drop everything and run. ‘Oh no, I don't want that.’ She goes forward to embrace everything that God has in mind for her.

We're told in The Way, “Don't fall into a vicious circle. You are thinking: when this is settled one way or another, I'll be very generous with my God. Can't you see that Jesus is waiting for you to be generous without reserve, so that He can settle things far better than you imagine? A firm resolution, as logical consequence: in each moment of each day, I will try to generously carry out the will of God.” (St. Josemaría, The Way, Point 776)

In the Bible we are told a decree went out from the Emperor Augustus, enjoining that all the inhabitants of Israel should be registered. Mary and Joseph made their way to Bethlehem (cf. Luke 2:1-5).

“Has it ever occurred to you that the Lord made use of the prompt acceptance of q law to fulfill His prophecy? Love and respect the ways of behaving by which you may live in amity with other people. I have no doubt, either, that your loyal submission to duty can be the means for others to discover Christian integrity, which is the fruit of divine love, and to find God” (St. Josemaría, Furrow, Point 322).

“There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years, her days of girlhood over. She had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came up just at that moment and began to praise God and she spoke of the Child to all who look forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

“And when they had done everything that the law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their town of Nazareth. And the child grew to maturity, He was filled with wisdom. And God's favor was with Him” (Luke 2:36-40).

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

BWM