"So that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." What could that phrase possibly mean? For a poor couple like Mary and Joseph, it was a joy to bring their first born son to the temple to be offered to God. We know they were poor because a sacrifice of two turtledoves was the typical offering of the poor at the time. In the temple, Mary and Joseph encounter an elderly man named Simeon and an elderly widow named Anna...
Both Simeon and Anna were devout and were hoping to live long enough to see the arrival of the long-awaited promised Messiah.
For many days and for years Simeon looked at every young couple bringing their first-born son to be presented in the temple. Repeatedly, Simeon was disappointed. Finally, the day arrived when Mary and Joseph present baby Jesus in the temple. And this is the day when Simeon could offer that beautiful prayer that is repeated every day in the official night prayer of the Church:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel."
The parents of Jesus were amazed at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that would be contradicted {and you yourself a sword will pierce} so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Again, I ask, what do these cryptic words of Simeon mean?
One key to their meaning is found in the words of an early Christian thinker named Origen:
But the evil thoughts of men were revealed; that He Who died for us might slay them; for while they were hidden, it was impossible to utterly destroy them. Hence also when we have sinned, we ought to say, My iniquity have I not hid. For if we make known our sins not only to God, but to whoever can heal our wounds, our sins will be blotted out.
When does the sword pierce Mary’s heart? Certainly when her mother’s heart is broken by the death of her Son on the Cross for the sins of all humanity, for our sins.
That sounds like confession to me, when we humbly acknowledge our sins, no longer hiding them, but making them known to God through the sacramental service of a priest acting in the person of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This end of the old year is the perfect time to allow our Good Lord to blot out all our sins, and the sins of family members, so that we may begin a new year with the freshness and joy of renewal in God’s grace.
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Father Wilfred J. Raymond, C.S.C. (Father Willy), a native of Old Town, Maine, is the eighth of 12 children. He joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1964 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stonehill College in 1967 and a master’s in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. He served in ministry at Stonehill College (1979-1992), Holy Cross leadership (1994-2000), National Director of Family Theater Productions, Hollywood (2000-2014), and President of Holy Cross Family Ministries (2014-2022). In addition to English, he is conversant in French and Spanish. He remains a diehard fan of the Boston Red Sox, even though he has served as Chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
