Joy and suffering at Candlemas

 Today’s gospel (Luke 2: 22-40) is full of fulfilled longing and pathos yet to come. Like any moment in our own lives, there is a sense of something having been accomplished, and of a road ahead that contains both light and darkness.

The longing fulfilled in tangibly the longing of Simeon, but he stands in a way for the longing of all the prophets and fathers of old, the people of Israel awaiting their Saviour whose day has dawned with the birth of Jesus. Jesus is even named as ‘Israel’s comforting’ because whatever the consolations of the Old Law, there is beneath it an enduring anguish of waiting for the wisdom of God to be fulfilled. Most beautifully, Simeon also recognises that the comfort of Israel is not just for Israel but is a light to enlighten the gentiles whose pagan anguish and darkness exceeds the anguish of the Jews. The traditional Catholic ritual this day involved a procession of candles (to symbolise the light of Christ, in anticipation of the Easter light), as the choir would sing with the sweetest melody, Lumen ad revelationem gentium – a light for the revelation of the gentiles. Simeon’s joy that day is our joy now: he had encountered the longed-for Christ, and his joy was complete.

Yet there is pathos – suffering – still to come in this scene. The light has arrived, yet His dawning is but the beginning of a journey which will, as Simeon warns, drive a sword through the heart of his Mother. Such suffering is inseparable from the joy. Love is the cause of joy, but it is also the reason for suffering for we suffer on account of what we love. Mary’s heart, as Simeon says, is in some senses a source of revelation from which we learn how those who love Jesus look upon His suffering. In other words, if with Simeon and Mary we have the joy of the presence of the Lord, a joy renewed in his Resurrection, we will inevitably face our own anguish too, for our Saviour does not come initially as a victorious conqueror but builds His kingdom on the foundation of Calvary, a place of execution. Joseph too shares in this suffering and joy as the silent witness of these mysteries.

We wish each other joy this feast of Candlemas. We should wish each other faithfulness too, the faithfulness of Simeon. But if we love the Lord, as we say we do, that faithfulness will cost us suffering before the final victory. Mary’s immaculate heart is not some pious symbol. It is a hallmark planted by the consuming love of God upon the frail flesh of our Mother in Christ.