Gospel: Luke 2: 22-40

 

The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is also known as the Feast of the Encounter: the Liturgy says at the beginning that Jesus goes to meet his people. The first encounter between Jesus and his people, represented by Simeon and Anna, took place there.

 

It was also the first encounter within the history of the people, a meeting between the young (Mary and Joseph) and the old (Simeon and Anna). 

 

Saint Luke says four times that Our Lady and St Joseph wanted to do what was required by the Law of the Lord. Jesus’ parents had the joy of observing the precepts of God, they were motivated by the desire to do what is prescribed. It’s a strong desire, a deep desire, full of joy. That’s what the Psalm says: “In the way of thy testimonies I delight…. For thy law is my delight”.

 

And St Luke say of Simeon and Anna, more than once, that they were guided by the Holy Spirit. He called Simeon called righteous because he sought not his own good, but the good of his nation, the consolation of Israel, a real happiness, hence it follows “the Holy Spirit was upon him”, and “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit” that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

 

He received an answer from the Holy Spirit and he went to the Temple “inspired by the Spirit“, and he “took him up in his arms”. 

 

 

And Origen comments: “If you would touch Jesus and grasp Him in your hands, strive with all your strength to have the Spirit for your guide, and come to the temple of God”. If we marvel to hear that a woman was healed by touching the hem of his garment, what should we think of Simeon, who received the Infant in his arms, and rejoiced seeing that the little one he carried was the One who had come to let loose the captives!

 

St. Luke says Anna was a “prophetess”; that is she was inspired by God. Anna also favours the mysteries of the Church, being by interpretation its “grace,” and being both the daughter of Phanuel, who is called “the face of God” and descended from the tribe of Aser, i. e. the blessed.

 

These two elders are full of life because they are enlivened by the Holy Spirit, obedient to his action. Jesus is at the centre. It is he who moves everything, who draws all of them to the Temple, the house of his Father.

 

It is a meeting between the young, who are full of joy in observing the Law of the Lord, and the elderly who are full of joy in the action of the Holy Spirit. 

 

It is a unique encounter between observance and prophecy. Observance of the Law is animated by the Spirit and the prophecy moves forward along the path traced by the Law. Who, more than Mary, is full of the Holy Spirit? Who more than her is docile to its action?

 

May the grace of this mystery, the mystery of the Encounter, enlighten us and comfort us on our journey in this moment that the Holy Spirit has prepared for the Church in India.