On February 2, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. This great feast, which commemorates that event at
which Mary presents herself and her child in the temple for purification
prayers forty days after the birth of her Son, is the culmination of the
celebration of the Nativity of Christ. Once again, this feast reminds us of the
Incarnation of God. As a man, Christ is submitting Himself to the Law that all
might be fulfilled. We are confronted again with the amazing truth of the
Incarnation —that God lowered Himself to become a man so that man might be
lifted up out of his sin. Christ was truly a man, “like us in all respects save
sin,” says St. Paul. While remaining fully God, He submits Himself to the
Jewish law as a man, “For I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.”
Upon their arrival at the temple, Mary presents the Christ Child to the Elder
Simeon. It is this “meeting” that the feast celebrates. The second person of
the Trinity “meets” his people as represented by Simeon, allowing mankind to
embrace its creator and the author of its salvation.
How many times have we heard those words uttered in
church? Countless times, no doubt, for they are uttered at every Vespers
service and at the churching of infants. Perhaps we have heard them so many
times that the words flow right past us.
But listen! Do you really hear what is being said?
Simeon the Elder, he who originally spoke these words, certainly knew their
import. In fact, Simeon is asked to explain in one of the hymns of Great
Vespers preceding the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord: “Simeon, tell us: whom
dost thou bear in thine arms that thou dost rejoice so greatly in the temple?
To whom dost thou cry and shout — Now I am set free, for I have seen my
savior?” And Simeon responds: “This is He who was born of a Virgin: this is He,
the Word, God of God, who for our sakes has taken flesh and saved man. Let us
worship him.”
It had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that
he would not die until he had beheld “the Lord’s Christ.”
Simeon knew what he beheld. Simeon knew he could now
“depart in peace,” for he had encountered his salvation, the source of his
eternal peace. He knew once he had embraced His savior, that life was fulfilled
and death was nothing to be feared. Upon meeting Christ, his joy was complete. In
Simeon, we see the response of a man who has encountered his salvation. Let us
ask ourselves, what do we encounter when we enter the Temple? Who is it we
expect to see? Who is it we embrace as Christ is presented to us? Each time we
enter Christ’s Church, we are offered the opportunity to embrace our Savior.
Through the services and the sacraments, He is a living reality, the savior of
our souls, the granter of eternal peace.
Do we receive Him? Or do we allow the distractions of
life to cause Him to pass by unnoticed? Simeon shows us the way — He is
faithful, he is patient, he is obedient to be where he needed to be in order to
embrace his salvation.
Like Simeon, let us embrace our salvation. Like
Simeon, let us be at peace with God, with all men and with ourselves. God has
come in the flesh and allowed us to embrace Him. So intimate is his
love for us that He allows us to carry Him within us, even as
Simeon carried Him in his arms. Christ is among us! “Let the choir of angels be
amazed at this wonder and let us mortal men raise our voice in song, beholding
the ineffable condescension of God. Aged arms now embrace Him before whom the
powers of heaven tremble, He who alone loves mankind.”
The Word uncircmscribed, above all being, who rides in glory on the heavenly thrones, Symeon takes into his arms and cries, ‘Now release me, according to your word, my Saviour, the salvation and delight of the faithful’.
When he saw you, the Word begotten from the Father before the ages, as an infant, wondrous Symeon cried out, ‘I quake and tremble to hold you in my hands, my Master. But, I beg you, now release your servant in peace, for you are compassionate’.
Now let the heavenly gate be opened. God the Word, begotten beyond time from the Father, has been born from a Virgin, taking flesh, for as he is good he wishes to call back mortal nature and set it at the Father’s right hand.
Today the holy Mother, who is higher than the Holy Place, has come to the Holy Place, revealing to the world the Maker of the world and the Giver of the law. Symeon the Elder took him in his arms and cried with veneration, ‘Now you release your servant. For I have seen you, the Saviour of our souls’.
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