The Rise And Fall Of Many
Today’s Gospel is kind of a sneak peek forward to Candlemas, when Mary and Joseph presented their Child in the temple and the old man Simeon gave them his blessing. While this event is one of our five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, as usual it contains the usual darker connotation. In this case it is Simeon’s message to Mary, often referred to as the Dark Prophecy of Simeon. “Behold,” he says, “this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
We’re familiar with the image of the sword piercing our Lady’s soul. Often it is not a single sword but seven swords, each inflicting terrible suffering in the soul of Mary, the Seven Sorrows of our Lady. This very prophecy is the first of these Sorrows, and we can imagine how the Mother of the Infant Jesus must have felt at hearing this dark prophecy of Simeon. For he tells of the fate of this Child, her Son, warning her that he will be persecuted by many. The presence of the Son of God dwelling amongst us may bring joy to the just, but the unjust shall reap different fruits from the coming of the Saviour. It was a message hinted at by the Herald Angels on Christmas night, who proclaimed peace on earth, but only to men who are of good will. Now Simeon adds to their message that other men who are not of good will are destined not for peace but for a very different fate.
This warning is meant not only for the “many in Israel” but for us also two thousand years later. Will the graces showered upon us this Christmas be for our fall or for our rising again? Will our joyful gratitude for these graces raise us closer to our Father in heaven, or will our rejection of those graces bring us to that entirely different fate of which Simeon speaks? St. Ambrose of Milan tells us plainly: “According to our individual works will the True and Just Judge apportion to us punishment or reward.” Christmas must never be relegated to a time of partying, gluttony, and greed. Christmas is our most inspiring time of year to benefit from the graces we receive from our loving Father and commit to a life most worthy of the greatest gift of all, his most beloved Son.
Simeon was not the only one to prophesy that day. For living in the temple was a lady “of a great age” who had been a widow for 84 years. Her name was Anna and St. Luke tells us in this Gospel that she was a prophetess. She was the third woman to prophesy about the Son of God—first was the prophecy of our Lady, the Magnificat, then the prophecy of St. Elizabeth at the Visitation, and now the prophecy of Anna who “spake of him [our Lord] to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Three women who each had a different status: Mary the Virgin, Elizabeth the Wife of Zacharias, and now Anna the Widow, announcing the Advent of the Redeemer. God neither overlooks nor belittles any of these three states of life, and shows us, by giving each the gift of prophecy, that no matter what our own state of life may be, we are equally loved by God and equally able to gain our salvation by living that life with good will, a will that follows the will of God himself.
None of us can say that we are forgotten or neglected by God—we all have the same opportunity to use our Christmas graces to the full. As the joy of Christmas fills our hearts this week, let it inspire us to renew our commitment to a life of service, the service of our fellow-man certainly, but most importantly in the service of God. In serving him, the swords of sorrow will be sure to pierce our own hearts just as they pierced the Immaculate Heart of our Blessed Mother. We’re just a few days away now from the Feast of the Circumcision, when our little Christ Child will shed the first drops of his Blood. No sooner is he born than the suffering begins. We, the followers of Christ, must not find ourselves wallowing in the luxuries of our Christmas holiday. On this Sunday within the Octave, we must now prepare to take the first steps of suffering with him. We should not expect to follow him only when he leads us in pastures green. The time is coming when we must follow him also through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, fearing no evil. The Christ Child is not just an image in a manger, to be walked away from when we’ve had enough of looking at him. As Christmas fades into winter, we must never ever walk away from him. If we do, we will fall. Rather, each of us must walk behind him, carrying our own crosses as he leads us up the steep hill to our reward. Are we ready to do this? Will this Child be for our fall or for our rising again?