The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
I’ve been a priest now for three and a half years, and I believe it’s for that reason that I was drawn to Simeon as I read today’s Gospel. While the passage does not explicitly say he was a priest, it was fruitful for me to reflect upon it with that possibility.
I imagined that the ceremony he performed for the Holy Family was fairly routine at this point in his life. With many years of ministerial experience, and it would have been easy for Simeon simply to go through the motions while he performed this ceremony for a family that appeared no different from the thousands of families that regularly came to the temple.
But he didn’t.
The Gospel relates that Simeon came into the temple, “in the Spirit.” The grace of the Holy Spirit moved Simeon to recognize something extraordinary in the day to day. This was not simply another baby - it was his salvation. “Master, you may let your servant go in peace… my eyes have seen your salvation.”
By virtue of our baptism, each one of us is a priest - each one of us can live in the Spirit. Going through the motions of the daily grind can cause us to miss the gift of salvation hidden in the present moment. God is love, and love is always present - God is always present. Simeon gives us an example of how to find the Lord in our ordinary tasks. He trusted in the promises the Lord had made to Israel, and he awaited their fulfillment.
The Lord has promised us “life to the full” (John 10:10), and that life consists in love. With God’s grace, we can imitate Simeon and find salvation in our day to day by living with the same holy anticipation.
Fr. Greg Gerhart is the associate pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, TX. He enjoys sports, writing, and coffee. His homilies, podcasts, and blogs are available on the Aggie Catholic website.