for today's readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/020216.cfm)
Today's readings speak of the messenger(s) that come before the Lord proclaiming him to the people. Who instructs Simeon to act out as the prophet? Or even Anna to know and announce that here is the Christ child? It is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit animates both of them. Simeon, who is promised that he would behold the virgin with the Christ Child before he dies, utters a prayer, in Latin called the Nunc Dimittis. (This is the prayer used at the end of compline, or the evening prayer for the Liturgy of the Hours.)
Simeon is like Elizabeth and Zachary, the family of the Virgin Mary. He is pious, aged, and looking for the fulfillment of God's promises to the people of Israel. It is through the grace of God that Simeon comes to know and welcome the Lord to the temple and acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, the Comforter of the people, the king chosen by God to reign over his people. The Holy Spirit is offering hope as well as a light into the divine mystery of God made manifest as our Savior. Through Simeon gives a more complete picture of the Old Testament predictions of the Messiah. Anna too through her charisms of the Holy Spirit us the same idea, that here indeed is the Messiah come to fulfill the prophesies of the Old Testament. She praises God and proclaims the infant to those who longed for the redemption of Jerusalem. Anna and Simeon are witnesses to the Truth, prophets of God proclaiming, exhorting, and comforting the people awaiting the Messiah. They represent the link between the Old Covenant and the celebration of the New Covenant made through Christ.
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