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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Learn to "detect" the presence of God in smallness, as did the two elders of the Temple, Simeon and Anna, who thanks to their "clear eyes" were "capable of seeing beyond appearances" and recognize in the child Jesus the salvation of the world.
While waiting to know the results of the CT scan carried out in recent hours, from the tenth floor of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where he has been hospitalized for over ten days for bilateral pneumonia, Pope Francis released late this morning the text of the catechesis prepared for the General Audience that he was supposed to preside over this morning in the Paul VI Hall.
Continuing the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the life of Jesus in the perspective of the Jubilee, the Pope, in the text of the catechesis released today, dwells again on the infancy of Jesus, in particular on the episode of the presentation at the Temple. In Israel, the Bishop of Rome explains in the text, " there was no obligation to present the child at the Temple, but those who lived listening to the Word of the Lord and wished to conform to it, considered it a valuable practice".
In this way, " Mary and Joseph do not simply embed Jesus in a history of the family, the people, of the covenant with the Lord God. They take care of His growth, and introduce Him into the atmosphere of faith and worship. And they too gradually grow in their comprehension of a vocation that far surpasses them ".
And in the Temple they meet two elderly people. The first, Simeon, is a man to whom "the Holy Spirit speaks", and he "perceives in the Temple the presence of the Lord’s Anointed One". In embracing the child he finds "consolation and the fullness of his existence". His joy is transformed in "a canticle full of heartfelt gratitude, which in the Church has become the prayer at the end of the day", that is, the Nunc Dimittis ("Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel").
In this canticle "Simeon sings the joy of those who have seen Him, who have recognized Him and are able to transmit to others the encounter with the Saviour of Israel and of the peoples. He is a witness of faith received as a gift and communicated to others". Now, this elderly, "sees death not as the end, but as fulfilment, fullness; he awaits it like a “sister” that does not annihilate but introduces to the true life that he has already foretasted and in which he believes". And the same also happens to Anna. Both become "pilgrims of hope" "who know how to welcome God’s visit with joy and rekindle hope in the heart of brothers and sisters". (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 26/2/2025)
