Events echo, foreshadow, and explain one another in Scripture. As we enter the forty days of Lent, for example, we remember Christ's forty days in the wilderness. But even before we get to that, it's worth recalling another forty-day period, prior to the Presentation in the Temple (which we celebrated a few weeks ago), because it reminds us, among many other things, that Christ's earthly end is connected with his beginning.
Consider: One day an old man named Simeon stoops and picks up a child, holding him tenderly in his arms. All his life he has been pining for this moment. For it is the time of Israel's consolation, when Simeon, who represents the people trusting God's promise, was told that he would not see death until he looked upon the face of the Lord.
And when the day at last arrives, he prophesies, telling the child's parents that salvation has come to the whole world, revealing the true glory of God's Chosen People. They are amazed, of course, especially that their child is destined to become “a sign of contradiction,” while “a sword will pierce” his mother.
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