NUNC DIMITTIS

A REFLECTION FOR CANDLEMAS

The Holy Ghost had revealed to the old priest Simeon “that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.”  At the Presentation, we can imagine this old man’s joy as he receives the Christ from the very hands of our Blessed Lady.  This old priest had made many offerings to God before now, but this one was different—it was the light that would lighten the Gentiles and be the glory of God’s people Israel.  It was the ultimate sacrifice that would open the gates of heaven for all mankind, and for him too.  When he takes the Body of Christ from the arms of his Mother, he is united in spirit with this Child, and he cries out in joy: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!”  In the days before the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, this was Simeon’s Holy Communion.  In fact, it was his Viaticum—having tasted this union with God, he was now ready to leave the confines of this earth and go to his reward, union with God forever.

Simeon is our inspiration, showing us the utter vanity of this world, and that true happiness is to be found only by union with the Christ Child, the glory of his people.  However, this happiness comes at a price, and it is also Simeon’s role to remind us just how much we are expected to pay.  He does so in the following words: “Behold this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Simeon addresses these words to the Blessed Mother, to her who is and always will be closer to God than any other creature.  However, none of her great privileges, whether her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, or Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth—none of these exempted her from the price of redemption.  That price is Sorrow.  Sorrow and suffering are introduced into the story of Redemption at this point, as the Joyful Mysteries gradually give way to the Sorrowful, and our Christmas season yields to next week’s commencement of the Lenten preparations.  We are reminded that there can be no perfect and undiluted joy in this world.  Holy Mary’s Immaculate Heart is pierced by the first of her Seven Sorrows, and this is a painful reminder to all of us that no matter how close we approach to the holy throne of God in this world, we too must suffer.

But just as sorrows are introduced into our Joyful Mysteries today, we must be consoled by the contrary truth—the joy that hides within those sorrows.  Our Holy Communion with God that we receive from the hands of the priest contains both the joy and sorrow that Simeon imparted to our Blessed Lady.  We receive the joy of knowing that our eyes too have seen our salvation, the light to lighten the Gentiles, and we receive too the sorrow of knowing the price of this salvation.  Our Lord reminds us that his “yoke is easy and his burden light.”  It is our love for him that makes it so, and the greater our love, the easier and lighter our suffering will be, because we suffer for him and with him.  And in the sufferings we must endure in this world, we have the joy of knowing that they have a purpose, that they give greater glory to God and us closer to him, and that by offering them up for others they contribute to the salvation of souls and render assistance to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  “Take up thy Cross.”