This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
In today’s gospel we see how tenderly and personally God loved Simeon. God promised Simeon that he would not see death until he had beheld the salvation God was sending to the people of Israel and to the gentiles.
And this promise was also tied up in a special role that God had chosen for Simeon in the plan of salvation. He was to utter a confirming prophecy to the Mother of God herself, reaffirming from the perspective of the governing religious authority, representing the people of God and God Himself, the message that she and Joseph had each received privately from the angel Gabriel.
So each of us is tenderly and personally loved by God; and this love and its manifestation to us are tied up inexorably with the role He has prepared for us in salvation history.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask God to review with you some of the primary manifestations in your life of His tender love, and ask Him how these relate to His great plan for saving souls the the infinitely meritorious act of His Son, Jesus Christ.
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