29 December 2025 – 5th day of the Christmas Octave
Homily
After yesterday's Gospel from Matthew and the day before yesterday's from John, today's Gospel is taken from the Gospel according to Saint Luke, specifically from the end of the second chapter. We know that in his first two chapters, the evangelist Luke announces all the major themes of his Gospel. At the end of chapter two, he recounts two events from Jesus' childhood: His presentation in the Temple and His journey to Jerusalem with His parents at the age of twelve.
These two accounts are composed in exactly the same way. In both cases, Jesus goes up to the Temple in Jerusalem in fulfilment of a precept of the Law - already foreshadowing the great journey to Jerusalem towards which the whole Gospel of Luke tends. In both cases, a proclamation is made about Jesus: in the first case, it is made by Simeon and Anna; in the second case, by Jesus Himself. In both cases, Jesus returns to Nazareth after this journey to Jerusalem, and He grows in age and wisdom, Luke tells us.
In each of these two journeys of Jesus to Jerusalem, there is an encounter that foreshadows all the other encounters in Jesus' public life. The encounter with the teachers of the law and the scribes, during Jesus' journey to the Temple at the age of twelve, foreshadows all the tensions and discussions between Jesus and these teachers of the Law, confident in their knowledge, during His ministry. Today's encounter with Simeon and Anna foreshadows all of Jesus' encounters with the little ones and the humble.
Simeon and Anna are God's poor, the Anawim. They have no official role in the Temple. Simeon did not belong to the priestly class. Luke simply presents him as ‘a man named Simeon... who was waiting for the consolation of Israel’ and on whom the Holy Spirit rested. Anna was an elderly woman who had been widowed while still young and who lived constantly in the Temple, serving God night and day in fasting and prayer.
Simeon and Anna are models for us. Why were they able to recognize God's messenger in this child presented at the Temple like the others? Because they were people of desire; because they lived in expectation of the Consolation of Israel, of salvation; because the Holy Spirit rested upon them, and they praised God in the Temple day and night, in fasting and prayer. Do we not find here all the aspects of our monastic life?
Yes, we too will be able to see God, to recognize the presence of Christ around us, if we stretch out our whole being in anticipation of His Kingdom, if we live faithfully in His temple, in fasting and prayer, in a spirit of poverty of heart, without ambition or pretension. It is then that the Holy Spirit will rest upon us as He did upon Simeon.