Seeing the Salvation

Gospel: Luke 2: 22-35

At the end of each day the Church has in her official prayer this song of Simeon that forms the core of our Gospel text today.  Simeon was an old man who waited for the coming of the Lord in his life.  He sat day and night in the Temple awaiting this coming, and when it finally arrived Simeon gave thanks, and stated that he was now ready to depart this mortal coil, for all that he waited for had come to him and he is now truly at peace.

We might well consider in our own life to incorporate this prayer at the end of our days and reflect each day on the various ways the Lord has come to us, where we have encountered God in the midst of the world.  It is well for us to give thanks for those moments.  At the same time, this Gospel scene has Mary come to the Temple in order to give thanks for the birth of her child, providing the offering of the poor as a thanksgiving sacrifice for the privilege of bearing God to the world.

We too have the opportunity each day to bring forth God to the world through acts of love and mercy, of compassion and kindness.  Each day we have the opportunity to reflect on the ways that we have - and have not - done so in our daily living.  We then have the opportunity to cleanse ourselves in repentance for those times we failed, and also to give thanks for the times we did succeed in bringing God to others in deeds of loving kindness.