3 February 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38
Yesterday we kept Mayaltho, the Entrance of our Lord into the Temple. Today our Church turns to the two old people who were waiting there. Simeon “was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.” He had been promised “that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah,” and he came into the temple “guided by the Spirit.” Beside him is Anna, “of a great age”, a widow of eighty-four who “never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” When she saw the child, “she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Long waiting did not make them bitter; it made them ready.
Paul's prayer to the Ephesians shows what such a life is built on. He bows his knees before the Father and prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love,” so that we may “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Simeon and Anna were rooted in that love long before they held it in their arms. Our Church calls them Mar Shem'on and Morth Hanna and keeps them close to the feast. An ancient antiphon of the Church says that the old man carried the child, but the child was guiding the old man (in substance). On this day we thank God for the grandparents and elders of our parishes, whose prayer holds up more than we know.
Theme: “She came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child.”
Two old people who waited, prayed and were not disappointed.
“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.” Isaiah 40:1
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.” Luke 2:25
Apply: Ask the Holy Spirit each morning this week to guide your steps.
“In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap,” Psalm 92:14
“then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” Luke 2:37
Apply: Plan one concrete act of prayer and fasting for the Great Fast.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3
“and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” Ephesians 3:17
Apply: Thank an elder who taught you the faith.
God keeps his promises to those who wait for him.
Prayer rooted in love becomes witness.
Take-home resolution: Visit or call one elderly person this week.
Dear friends, yesterday Jesus was carried into the temple. Today we honour the two old people who were waiting for him: Simeon, righteous and devout, on whom the Holy Spirit rested, and Anna, the widow of eighty-four (Luke 2:25, 37).
Simeon had been promised that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. He came into the temple guided by the Spirit, and the promise was kept. God does not forget those who wait for him.
Anna never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. When she saw the child she began to praise God and to speak about him to all who were looking for redemption (Luke 2:37–38). Her prayer turned into proclamation.
Paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, as we are being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17). As the Fast draws near, let us learn from Simeon and Anna to pray with patience, and thank God for the elders who pray for us. Amen.
Children, Simeon and Anna were very old, and they waited all their lives to see Jesus. When they saw the baby, they were full of joy! Pray today for your grandparents.
Lord Jesus, Light of the nations, you came into the temple and were welcomed by Simeon and Anna. Through their prayers give us patient and faithful hearts, rooted and grounded in love. Bless the grandparents and elders of our families and parishes, and let their long prayer bear fruit in us. Amen.
Our Church today keeps close to the Temple door and remembers Mar Shem'on and Morth Hanna, Simeon and Anna. Luke shows us two people whose long years of prayer end in a meeting. Paul's prayer in Ephesians shows what such a life is rooted in. Together the readings teach that the Holy Spirit does much of his work slowly, in those who stay faithful.
Setting.
This prayer closes the first half of the letter. Chapters 1–3 tell what God has done in Christ, bringing Jew and Gentile into one body; chapters 4–6 tell how to live because of it. The letter names Paul as its author, though many scholars think a disciple wrote it in his name; the Church receives it as inspired Scripture either way.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” (3:14)
Standing was a common posture for prayer in the Jewish and early Christian world. Kneeling expresses special earnestness, as it does in the Great Fast, when our Church bends the knee in prayer.
“and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” (3:17)
The Greek speaks of a rooting already done that lasts, and the English “as you are being” brings out that it goes on. Roots grow slowly and out of sight. Simeon and Anna had been growing such roots for most of their lives.
“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” (3:19)
A deliberate paradox. We are to know what is beyond knowing. The first thing that Christian learning discovers is how much more there is.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this prayer when it speaks of the Spirit strengthening the inner person so that Christ may dwell in the heart (CCC 2714). It also cites v. 14 when it says that God's fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood, and so of the honour owed to parents (CCC 2214). On this day we may apply that to the elders of our parishes.
Setting.
This reading continues the scene of the Lord's Entrance and adds Anna. Luke likes to set a man and a woman side by side: Zechariah and Mary, Simeon and Anna. Two witnesses were needed for a testimony under the Law (Deuteronomy 19:15), and here the two are a devout man and a prophet who is an aged widow.
Together they stand for the people Luke calls those who were looking forward to God's coming: the “poor of the Lord”, who had nothing to rely on but his promise. The Catechism calls such people the great achievement of the Holy Spirit's hidden work in the time before Christ (CCC 716).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple;” (2:27)
The Holy Spirit is named three times in three verses (vv. 25, 26, 27). The same Spirit who came on Mary (1:35) is at work in this quiet old devotion. Simeon's part was to come when he was prompted.
“then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” (2:37)
The Greek could also mean that she had been a widow for eighty-four years. Either way, Luke is praising a long fidelity. Fasting and prayer are the very things our Church is about to take up in the Great Fast.
“At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (2:38)
Simeon speaks to God and to Mary; Anna speaks to everybody. Luke tells us she was “of a great age” (2:36), and she goes on telling the news. Nobody is too old to proclaim the gospel.
How the Church reads it.
The Church reads Simeon and Anna as the Old Testament arriving at its goal: with them, all Israel comes to meet its Saviour (CCC 529). A Latin antiphon that goes back to ancient times says that the old man carried the child, but the child guided the old man (in substance). Many Christians know Simeon's song by heart as a prayer at the close of the day. The advice of 1 Timothy 5:3 that widows be honoured finds a fine image here.
Was Simeon an old man, and was he a priest?
Luke says neither thing directly. He says that Simeon was promised he would not die before seeing the Messiah, and that he now asks to be dismissed (2:26, 29), so Christians have always pictured him as old. Luke does not call him a priest, though the Syriac tradition, in St Ephrem for example, does so. Our Church honours him for what the Gospel does say: he was righteous and devout, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.
Mar and Morth are the Syriac titles of honour, “my lord” and “my lady”, that our Church gives to her saints. So the two from the Temple are named in our calendar as we name our own holy ones. They remind us that the saints of the Syriac calendar do not begin with the Church: the holy people of Israel come first, and we are grafted onto them.