The month of February began with an explosion of light and an announcement of joy for the entire Church, but in the past the joy was for two elderly people who had the desire to be able to see the Messiah. There were two old men who stood guard at the doors of the temple to indicate the presence of the Messiah in a human creature. There was the old Simeon who, after having taken the son of God made man in his arms, feels satisfied with days and tells the Lord that he can close his eyes on the earth because his pupils had seen the divine light invade the paths of life Human.  

 

On that occasion there was also a woman, the old Anna who truly becomes a prophet, bearer of a message of infinite divine mercy and model of the heralds of God's presence in human life. In fact, the evangelist says: «Anna, daughter of Phanuel... also began to praise God and spoke about the child to those who were waiting for redemption». 

Pope Francis said in his homily at Mass in St. Peter's on Sunday:

«And here is the meeting between the Holy Family and these two representatives of the holy people of God. At the center there is Jesus. It is He who moves everything, who attracts both to the Temple, which is the home of his Father.

It is a meeting between young people full of joy in observing the Law of the Lord and elderly people full of joy in the action of the Holy Spirit. It is a singular encounter between observance and prophecy, where the young are the observant and the elderly are the prophetic! In reality, if we reflect carefully, the observance of the Law is animated by the same Spirit, and prophecy moves along the path traced by the Law." Who is full of the Holy Spirit more than Mary? Who more than Mary and Saint Joseph were docile to the action of God who moved the steps of human history?

Simeon tells the Madonna that that firstborn son is placed at the foundation of the salvation of humanity, but she will have to accompany him with her participation and her pain as a mother.

Just as at the dawn of the Resurrection it will be a woman who announces that in the darkness of a tomb life has won over death, so at the first flowering of redemption with the birth of Jesus, it will be an elderly woman who announces the dawn of redemption. Praise and words constitute the sound of the announcement of faith which becomes gratitude, gaze, word, communion and joy of the eyes.

Both the old Simeon and the elderly Anna prayed many times with the words of the book of Proverbs: «O God, I ask you two things, do not deny them to me before I die: keep falsehood and lies far from me, do not give me poverty or wealth , but let me have the necessary food, so that, once satisfied, I do not deny you and say: "Who is the Lord?", or, reduced to poverty, I do not steal and profane the name of my God." 

It is the supplication to God to preserve a clear soul, transparent like the splendor of truth and also what is necessary, what is sufficient to live, so as not to fall into discouragement and act fraudulently. 

 That morning at the presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem, two sentinels of the Absolute were present: Simeon and Anna. It was an eagerly awaited appointment. Finally they saw in the Child, brought to the temple by Joseph and Mary, the silent invitation of God who called them to feel a humble and gentle presence like a child, but with a future of salvation full of light to "enlighten the people".

Anna and Simeone were not people parched with old age. The "light of those who walk in darkness", brought to the temple by those two young spouses, struck the tired eyes of the old Simeon who exploded in a hymn of joy: finally his eyes were filled with light and he could now cut off the moorings to set sail towards eternity. He warned that the parable of earthly life had come to an end; but his sunset is not a drama, he faces the frontier of a dawn: "his eyes have seen salvation". 

The smile of hope had blossomed on the lips of these two wise old men.

This episode invites us to pray that even our sunset may be clothed in the lights of dawn.