Presentation of our Lord
Seeing God’s Salvation
Luke 2:22-40

Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionary

Forty days have passed since Christmas and on the feast of the presentation, perhaps with a bit of nostalgia, we remember the emotions aroused in us by that feast and, even more, the good news that the baby brought us.

The feast presents us with the reading of Mary and Joseph taking the baby to the temple.
Mary and Joseph know that the child they carry in their arms is not theirs: God entrusted him to their care but always remained God’s. They will guard him with care until the day in which he will inaugurate the extraordinary mission he is destined to accomplish. It is a mission not revealed to them and is completely shrouded in mystery. They take him in the temple and consecrate him to the Lord: they recognize that he is the Lord’s. They will never withhold him for themselves; they will prepare him to deliver him as a gift to the world—in the time appointed by God.

They are a model for all the parents to whom God entrusts his children. These are not their own offsprings whom they hold with possessive love. They are Heaven’s gifts to be given to the world. Parents are called to consecrate them to the Lord: to discover the mission which the Heavenly Father has destined them and put them in a position to carry it out.

On the presentation scene is Simeon who is caught by a sudden shudder, by an uncontrollable emotion when he sees the parents with the little child. He takes him from the arms of his parents, raises him up to heaven moved and exclaims: “Now, O Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace, for you have fulfilled your word and my eyes have seen your salvation.” Simeon was not an old man—as he is customarily depicted. Luke describes him thus: “he was upright and devout, waiting for the time when the Lord would comfort Israel” (v. 25), and further on, he was a man “led by the Spirit” (v. 27). These are the interior dispositions that characterize the contemplatives, those who can discern the true reality, those who find themselves beyond the appearances of this world. It’s not enough to be pious and religious to see people and the world with God’s eyes. Simeon is the symbol of the faithful remnant of Israel who, for many centuries, has been waiting for the Messiah. He understands that the Messiah does not belong only to his people but is sent to bring salvation to all nations, to be the light of all the nations.

Like Simeon is another woman at the scene, Anna, the elderly prophetess who recognizes the Lord in the child who has no noticeable distinction outwardly. Who gave her this spiritual sensitivity? From where does this prophetic vision come from? Anna—the evangelist explains—was a woman intimately united to the Lord. All her life, she thought only of him: “She had been continually about the temple serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer” She was eighty-four years old, and this number—which is equivalent to 7×12—has a symbolic meaning: 7 indicates perfection, 12 representing the 12 tribes of Israel. Anna is a symbol of the holy people that come to full maturity, delivering the awaited Savior to the world. Like Simeon, Anna represents faithful Israel. In her life, the bride-Israel has had only one love. Then she lived in the mourning of widowhood until the day when, in Jesus, she recognizes her husband, the Lord. Then she again rejoices, like the bride who finds her only love. Anna did not depart from the temple because it was the home of ‘her husband.’

The Feast of Presentation typically invites us to two spiritual sensibilities. One, consecrating ourselves and our children to God. Two, the spiritual insight to identify the presence of God in the people and around us like Simeon and Anna.

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Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025