06/02/2024
THE HOLY OLD SIMEON AND THE PRIEST
On February 2nd of each year the liturgy celebrates the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.
Saint Luke in his Gospel narrates: «When the days of their ritual purification were completed, according to the law of Moses, they brought the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every firstborn male will be sacred to the Lord – to offer as a sacrifice a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, as the law of the Lord prescribes. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon, a righteous and pious man, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. The Holy Spirit had announced to him that he would not see death without first having seen the Christ of the Lord. Moved by the Spirit, he went to the temple and, while the parents brought the baby Jesus there to do what the Law prescribed regarding him, he also welcomed him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now you can leave, oh Lord , may your servant go in peace, according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation, prepared by you before all the people: a light to reveal you to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel”. (Lk 2,22-32)
Simeon was an elderly Jew, “a righteous and God-fearing man, who awaited the comfort of Israel”, that is, the Messiah. «The Holy Spirit who was upon him had foretold him that he would not see death before having seen the Messiah of the Lord». This personal revelation is the reason for his serenity and his joyful perseverance, because his belief is a conviction of faith based on the word of God and not on his simple human desire. He then gets to see with his own eyes the salvation present in that child, whose name, Jesus, means “God saves”; his life purpose has now been fulfilled, so he is ready to go in peace to meet the Lord.
Simeone is not a man closed in on himself, closed in on his past: he is open to the future. He is an old man with a young heart, capable of wonder, of amazement. He is not a man tired and embittered by life, jealous of the past, distrustful, fearful; he is a person open to the new that comes from God, capable of dreaming, projected into God’s future.
Simeone is also a welcoming man, capable of tenderness, who gently takes that little child into his arms. He is, yes, a weak man, but his weakness, thanks to spiritual maturation, has become meekness and humility.
Simeon above all is a man who prays. Even though he feels close to death, he is not a man who regrets to God for the present decay, but he is capable of thanksgiving, of praise, of blessing. Luke reports his wonderful hymn, the Nunc dimittis.
Simeon’s justice is spiritual life, the root of his entire existence: he is just because he lets himself be guided by the Spirit; he listens to the Spirit. Simeon spends his time in the shadow of the house of God. His joy is to pause every day in the presence of God. He is the living example of a life lived in adoration and communion with God.
Do we perhaps not need Priests who, just like Simeon, are men with a young heart, capable of hope, thanksgiving, praise, blessing; serene, open to the future, welcoming, precisely because their life is lived in adoration and communion with God? So let us not tire of asking them with insistence and trust from the One who told us: “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you”.