The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Today's Mass Readings

For the first time in Scripture, we find someone happy to die: St. Simeon. Before this, death was a punishment or at the very least a resignation. Even King David rests with his ancestors but not without running from rivals and enemies and mourning the loss of his son Absalom.

Now, Simeon is happy to die! He was no doubt seen by his contemporaries as an old fool pathetically lurking in the Temple precincts. Yet when the Christ Child is brought there by Mary and Joseph, Simeon realizes that all Israel’s hopes of being reconciled to God were accomplished in this little baby. And Simeon tells God that He can now die vindicated because the Savior has come to set mankind free from sin’s slavery and the fear of death.

But why is Simeon hanging out in the Temple through all of his golden years anyway? Because the Temple was the special dwelling of God on earth. And sacrifices were performed there. What is the point of sacrifices? In the ancient world, sacrifice meant taking something from creation to offer it back to the Lord in order to symbolize a union between the human and divine. And a frequent kind of sacrifice was for reconciliation due to sin. God did not need these, but we did.

Here at Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple, God meets His faithful people awaiting salvation. That promised salvation will reach its fulfillment when Christ returns to the Temple as an adult on behalf of mankind proclaiming His own body as the New Temple. And when He is crucified just days later, He will enact the final sacrifice that swallows up the power of death for us, risen to glorified life. With this new hope in Resurrection, a long-suffering old man can be joyful and ready to die.

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB