OMELIE / Omelie EN

02 feb 2025

02/02/2025 - PRESENTATION of the LORD

02/02/2025 - PRESENTATION of the LORD

1st lett. ml 3,1-4 from Ps 23 2nd lett. Heb 2,14-18 gospel Lk 2,22-40

‘Behold, I will send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and straightway the Lord whom you seek shall enter his temple; and the angel of the covenant, whom you long for, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts": these are the first words of today's first reading, which prepares us to hear the Gospel and understand the mystery we celebrate on this day. The liturgy of this fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time is in fact replaced by the Liturgy of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

Forty days have passed since the birth of Jesus, and the Gospel reminds us that after forty days from the birth of the first male child, the mother, purified by contact with blood, could enter the precincts of the Temple to offer her son to God, according to the Law. She would then redeem him and bring him home, offering a sacrifice. The poor would bring two turtledoves or two doves. This is what occupied Joseph's hands. From this we know that Jesus was born into a poor family: he was never ashamed of this, indeed, from it he learned the blessedness of the poor!

The visit to the Temple had some surprises. Among the many parents arriving with their first child, they were spotted by an elderly man who stopped them to talk to them. It was Simeon, who lived with the certainty that he would not die before his dream was fulfilled: to see the one who would save the people. He had the child given to him and, holding him in his arms, he exclaimed his joy: behold, he is the Saviour. Now he can leave this world: he has been fulfilled by God. That child is the light for all peoples, not only for the people of Israel.

At the beginning of the celebration we held a lighted candle in our hands. We received it to participate in Simeon's prophecy. We, too, want to exclaim and let everyone hear the good news: Jesus is the saviour, Jesus is the light we and everyone else need to live, so that our life is not to live in darkness, but to enjoy and rejoice as free, loved and loving people.

The amazement of Mary and Joseph continues, so that we too today repeat the same exultation of Simeon. And their amazement becomes more serious, when the elder announces that their son will be welcomed, yes, but not by everyone. Before him humanity will be divided. And they will soon see him, when the Magi will arrive from afar to adore him, while Herod and his men will seek him out to consign him to death. And Simeon continues, predicting that his mother too will be reached in her innermost being by the suffering of the deadly sword. And her pain too will reveal the differences in human hearts. She will see this when she stands beneath the cross: up there, one of the two thieves will blaspheme her son, while the other will love him, worshipping him.

The elderly woman, who bears the name of Mary's mother, spreads Simeon's joy even more: she is not afraid to speak of the child and to present him to those who, like her, awaited salvation from God. This again astonishes the parents, because the child is a child: it has not yet said or done anything worthy of note. Mary and Joseph have proof that the mysterious words they had heard from the angel and the shepherds are not fanciful words, although they do not yet understand their ultimate meaning.

What Simeon said suggests that the salvation, which we will receive from the child's life, will cost him suffering and death. The letter to the Hebrews shares this prophecy with us in these terms: ‘Precisely because he has been put to the test and has suffered personally, he is able to come to the aid of those who undergo the test. We undergo the trial every day, and every day we receive help from the life of that child. That is why for us too the encounters in the temple are a feast, a prelude to salvation from all the miseries we face daily.

We are also grateful to Mary and Joseph for their simplicity: through their obedience to all the details of the Mosaic Law, the encounter we witness today took place. Obedience is the opportunity that God the Father always uses to manifest himself, to reveal the beauty and fullness of his love. In this way they also participate in the service of the Son of God to humanity. To them, too, we are indebted, and grateful.