OLD SIMEON'S FLESH is weary of life; it is flesh that has retreated from passions and from attempts to control God; it is flesh that lets itself be led by the Spirit, who promises it consolation. Simeon is the prototype of the person of prayer who allows himself to be held by God. Saint /Apostle Luke stresses three times that Simeon is a person "guided by the Spirit" (cf. Luke 2:25-27). 

Simeon is the human face of the merciful Father. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father waits for his boy to return from the sin into which he has voluntary exiled himself, but in Simeon we see the father who awaits not the return from exile, but the coming of the new flesh of the Son, who voluntarily exiles himself to save us (cf. Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:3). We see incarnate in Simeon all the expectation of the prophets, especially Isaiah, the indefatigable prophet of the people's new exodus.

He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3)

The flesh of that newborn baby is light for revelation to the nations. How can flesh be light? Our image of the world, our dreams, all our projections are linked with the history of our flesh. Often, we find ourselves banished, living in chains in the foreign land of our complexes; we have no energy or will to return to the point where sin began to darken our soul. But there is a sure way to return: in the flesh of Christ so free of complexes, in that flesh brought up by Mary whose smile was dimmed by no shadow of sin. In the flesh of Jesus we find the bright gateway that allows our flesh to return once again to what our Creator dreamed it should be: formed of clay, but in his image and likeness.

Flesh is the key to the reading of each person's life, and the flesh of Christ is the key to the reading of the whole of salvation history. Simeon sees the glory of God in the flesh of the Child of Jesus, and there is nothing more he needs to see in this world: he can depart in peace. Simeon is both "leader" and "led," and that is how the liturgy presents him: Senex puerum portabat, puer autem senem regebat. "The old man was carrying the child, but the child was guiding the old man."

Simeon has been waiting for the consolation of Israel. His heart has aged, but not the promises he heard in the words of Isaiah: "'Comfort, comfort my people,' says your God. "Speak kindly to Jerusalem'" (Isaiah 40:1-2). This is the great message with which Handel began his meditation on the Messiah - he understood something. And the composer, once purified by the tears of his long artistic reflection, serenely concluded his meditation with the confident assurance that consolation would come: "I know that my Redeemer liveth!"

"All flesh is grass... The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever" (Isaiah 40:6-8). In old Simeon, we see the fulfillment of Isaiah's promise: "The glory of God will be revealed, and all people will see it at the same time" (Isaiah 40:5).

Holding the Child Jesus in his hands, Simeon performs the first eucharistic gesture in Luke's Gospel, and thus he blesses the Father. He also addresses the heart of Mary: "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem" (Isaiah 40:2).

                                                      For Prayer and Reflection

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" (Luke 2:25-32).

 -              Simeon: Led by the Spirit              -             Judith: Speaking Freely with God             -

JUDITH REPRESENTS the true daughter of Israel, a strong woman who embodies the destiny of her people and leads them forward in the midst of the vicissitudes of history. She is a woman free in spirit, and she speaks out boldly (with parrhesia). The sacred writer introduces Judith after describing a situation that threatens the future history of the Jewish people. The Assyrians army of Holofernes is besieging the mythical city of Bethulia, a type of Macondo. Deprived of access to water, the people call a meeting and demand that their leader, Uzziah, seek terms of surrender. Uzziah, however, tries to convince the people not to give in to the enemy; he pleads with them to continue the struggle a while more: "Have courage, brothers and sisters! Let us hold out for five more days... If these days pass by, and no help comes to us, I will do as you say (Judith 7:30-31).

Judith is described as a widow of exceptional beauty and dignity whose husband died of heatstroke. In her grief, she dwells in a tent on the roof of her house and from there witnesses all the problems and the protests of her people. Judith's moral authority becomes manifest when she summons the city elders and tells them that their human prudence is foolishness to God: "Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like man, to be threatened, nor like a human being, to be won over with pleading." She then advises them enigmatically: "While we wait for deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice if it pleases him" (Judith 8:10-19).

The reason for Judith's hope is that the people of Israel faithfully recognize Yahweh as the one and only God, and they do not worship other gods. The people's acknowledgement of Yahweh is not just an intellectual assent; it is a vivid memory branded into their flesh, as Judith reminds them: "Remember what he did with Abraham, and how he tested Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia, while he was tending the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. For he has not tried us with fire, as he did to them, to search their hearts, nor has he taken vengeance on us; but the Lord scourges those who are close to him in order to admonish them" (Judith 8:26-27). The memory that this woman evokes is more than just recollection: it is a hidden treasure takes on flesh and reveals to her the path the people must follow. Judith reinterprets the present moment in the light of enfleshed memory, which we might call "Catholic" in the sense that it is memory of the past that opens new spaces for God in the future. By making salvation history a present reality, Judith discovers good reasons to encourage the people to continue hoping. Both her prayer and her actions are saturated with memory. Indeed, she has access to the living God precisely because she is a woman with memory-soaked flesh. 

Judith declares that the people of Bethulia cannot afford to negotiate with the Assyrians, for if this stronghold falls, so will all Judea. Bethulia must set an example for the rest of the nation, "for their lives depend upon us, and the sanctuary and the altar and the temple rest upon us" (Judith 8:24). What the sacred writer has earlier explained in "sociological" terms, Judith now reinterprets from the perspective of her faith, which reveals to her that in this crisis God is testing those who draw close to him.

Uzziah agrees that Judith's understanding of the situation is accurate and judicious, but he says that her advice will be effective only if Judith herself intercedes for her people and risks her own neck. If she does not intervene personally, her analysis, as inspired as it may be by faith and memory, will remain at the level of good intentions.

After asserting the authority before the city elders, Judith cries out to the Lord as a poor widow, asking him to remember the outrages committed against the people (Judith 9:1, 4-6) and beseeching him to crush the enemy's pride by the hand of a woman (Judith 9:10). And when she goes forth to meet the enemy general Holofernes, she is gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent. 

Judith is the prototype of the person who knows how to speak freely with God and with others. She practices parrhesia by telling the full story with confident, courage and by dealing openly with one and all. She corrects and instructs her own people even as she adroitly deceives the enemy with adulation but without deceit, for she always refers to God as "my Lord" (Judith 11:5-6).

Judith answered Holofernes, "Accept the words of your slave, and let your servant speak in your presence. I will say nothing false to my lord this night. If you follow out the words of your servant, God will accomplish something through you, and my lord will not fail to achieve his purposes." (Judith 11:5-6 )

Judith prays even while in action: both before and after she beheads Holofernes, she calls upon the Lord. Her action is truly dramatic, for the truest drama is that which takes places between our freedom and God's (Judith 13:4-10). There is no question here of the self-sufficiency of Tosca's lethal kiss (questo e' il baccio) or of Macbeth's debate with himself about killing the king. The sufficiency here is the tragedy. What we see in Judith is true salvation history, the struggle between freedom and grace.

Finally, Judith is the model of the person who praises God. Her praise becomes contagious among all the people and leads them to victory in God (Judith 13:11-17).

Judith believes neither in quietism nor in deal-making. She does not isolate herself in self-sufficiency, nor does she retreat into insecurity. What cries out to God and lets God act is simply her memory-filled woundedness. By letting God lead, she feels free to embark on whatever action God inspires in her. Her plain and simple courage in the Spirit empowers her to reinterpret events in the light of salvation history, and so she is able to envision actions that inspire hope in the people. Praise to the One who is strong in our weakness!

                                                      For Prayer and Reflection  

"Who are you to put God to the test today, and to set yourselves up in the place of God in human affairs? You are putting the Lord Almighty to the test, but you will never learn anything! You cannot plump the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? No, my brothers/sisters, do not anger the Lord our God... Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like a human being, to be threatened, or like a mere mortal, to be won over by pleading. Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice if it pleases him" (Judith 8:12-14, 16-17).

- Prayer - Word of God, eternal light divine, eternal source of all pure truth, glory of God that illumines the cosmos, bright burning torch in darkest night. Word eternally pronounced in the Father's mind, what joy that in our history he was born a child from the bosom of the Virgin. Do not cease to shine, heavenly beacons, with the rays of light that God sends forth; faithfully guide our friends, our peoples; proclaim the truth on every path. Amen.

BY  HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  FRANCIS / JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO

Open Mind,  Faithful Heart - Reflections on Following Jesus - Translated by Joseph V. Owens, 

 

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -