My Dear People,

The Holy Family returned to Jerusalem to fulfill the prescriptions of the Law of Moses—the purification and then redemption or buying back the first born. According to Leviticus 12:2-8, a woman who bore a child was considered unclean. In the case of a mother of a male child, the period of legal impurity ended after forty days with a rite of purification. Mary did not need purification because her child was from virginal birth; yet, she chose to submit herself to the Law—although she was under no obligation to do so. 

Exodus 13:2, 12-13 tells us every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God. However, once divine worship was received to the tribe of Levi, first born males who did not belong to that tribe were not dedicated to God’s service, and to show that they continued to be God’s special property—a rite of redemption was performed.

It is important to note that in Egypt the first-born male was dedicated to a pagan god, and this was something that definitively influenced the Hebrews, since they had lived there for years. The tenth plague was: when the angel of death passed over the houses of the Hebrews it was because they had sacrificed a lamb and put its blood on the door posts. In Egypt, the first-born males all died. (They had been offered to a pagan god).  For that reason, the first-born male among the Hebrews was dedicated to God. Egypt, in a way to punish the Hebrews, instructed the midwives to kill the first male child when he was born. 

Those dedicating their first born to God, the Law stated the Israelites would offer a sacrifice of some lesser victims—for example, a lamb or, if they were very poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons. Mary and Joseph offered to sacrifice two turtledoves. 

Our Lord, “though He was rich,’ for our sake, became poor, 

so that by His poverty we might become rich, chose to have 

a poor man’s offering made on His behalf.

 Simeon who is described as a righteous and devout man, obedient to God’s will, addresses himself to our Lord as a vassal or loyal servant, who, having kept watch all his life in expectation of the coming of his Lord, sees that this moment has “now” come—the moment that explains his whole life. When he takes the Child in his arms, he learns, not through any reasoning process but through a special grace from God, that this Child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the nations.

The canticle of Simeon highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption—something foretold in many Old Testament prophesies. It is easy to realize how extremely happy Simeon was—given that many patriarchs, prophets, and kings of Israel had yearned to see the Messiah yet did not see him, whereas he now held him in his arms. (LK. 10:24). 

May you all have a Happy New Year.

Fr Vincent Clemente