Our Lady of Sorrows Pt. II
The Prophecy of Simeon
NB: This is the second part of a series of articles. The first one can be found here.
“And a sword will pierce through your own soul…” Luke 2:351
St. Simeon
Our Lady’s sorrows begin very soon after the birth of Christ. As prescribed by the Law of Moses, a woman who has given birth to a male child must offer sacrifice and cleanse herself forty days after birth.2 In fulfillment of this, Mary and Joseph take the Christ Child to Jerusalem and offer Him to God in the temple. Mary submits herself to the purification ritual prescribed by the Law even though she needs no such purification.3
Our Lord is offered to God as it was commanded in the Law. St. Luke records:
“As it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.’” Luke 2:234
This offering to the Lord implies one of two things: either Christ was consecrated as a priest, or He was purchased from the Levites for a price as prescribed in Numbers 18:15-16. In his commentary on this passage, Dr. Scott Hahn finds it more likely that Christ was consecrated as a priest in this instant as it would follow the Old Testament foreshadowing of Samuel, who was likewise presented in the temple by his holy parents and offered to God as a priest.5 I believe that Dr. Hahn’s assessment is correct here. It would seem most fitting that He who has come to be the eternal high priest and offered Himself as the perpetual victim on the altar of the cross would be consecrated as a priest at this moment, like Samuel.
It is here that we encounter the figure of Simeon. St. Luke says of him:
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” Luke 2:25-26
This holy man was promised by God that he would not see death until he saw the promised Messiah. And so, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Simeon awaited the coming of Christ. In this way, Simeon functions much like a prophet, inspired by the Spirit and awaiting the “consolation of Israel.” It is exactly as a prophet, that upon encountering the Child and His mother, Simeon utters two oracles.
Two Oracles
The first oracle, known as the Nunc Dimittis, is recited during the Liturgy of the Hours every night for Compline. St. Luke records Simeon’s words:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace, your word has been fulfilled; my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations, and the glory of your people, Israel.” Luke 2:29-32, NAB
In this first oracle, Simeon proclaims this child as the awaited Messiah and prophesies that He will be a light to both the House of Israel and the Gentiles. But it is the second oracle that most applies to the sorrows of Mary and becomes the first sorrow that she experiences. Simeon prophesies:
“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 2:34-35
This oracle can be seen in two parts, parallel to one another. The first applies to the child. Christ is foretold to be a line of division in the people of Israel. In His ministry, He will call all men to Himself but will be resisted. As He later goes on to say:
“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” Matthew 12:30
This division can be seen throughout Our Lord’s ministry even to the point of being rejected by His people, handed over to the Gentiles, and put to death. At its heart, the first part of this oracle foretells the passion and death of Christ.
Alongside the passion of her Son, Simeon gives Mary a grave prophecy as well telling her that a sword will pierce her soul. It is this prophecy that constitutes the first great sorrow that Our Lady experiences. The rejection and crucifixion of her son is accompanied by the piercing of her soul.
St. Alphonsus Ligouri comments on this:
“The Blessed Virgin herself told Saint Matilda, that, on this announcement of Saint Simeon, ‘all her joy was changed into sorrow.’ For, as it was reveled to Saint Teresa, although the Blessed Mother already knew that the life of her Son would be sacrificed for the salvation of the world, yet she then learnt more distinctly and in greater detail the sufferings and cruel death that awaited her poor Son.”6
St. Alphonsus beautifully sums up the suffering of Mary as being tied to the suffering of her Son. This parallel resembles the one foretold by Simeon, that as Christ is despised and rejected by man, Mary will suffer with her Son. It is here that we can begin to see the role of Mary as Co-Redemptrix, that is, the woman with the redeemer.
The Co-Redemptrix
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange tells us that from the first moment of His conception, Christ began to suffer because of the sins of mankind.7 From this, we can derive that it is fitting that Our Lady would begin suffering very early in her roles as Mother and Co-Redemptrix. Forty days into the life of Christ, Mary already unites herself to the sufferings of her Son in order to bring about the redemption of mankind. Multiple times in the infancy narrative in St. Luke’s Gospel, he records Mary “pondering or keeping these things in her heart.” These prophecies given by Simeon are kept in the heart of Mary for the rest of her life.
St. Alphonsus tells us:
“O God, not for three days, but for three and thirty years had Mary to endure a like sorrow!... The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget, that, while on earth, there was not an hour in which this grief did not pierce her soul.”8
Our Lady carried these sorrows to the foot of the cross out of love for mankind, knowing that her Son would have to die for our redemption. Again, St. Alphonsus speaks to this:
“But, O God, as love increased in her, so much the more did her grief increase at the thought of having to lose Him by so cruel a death; and the nearer the time of the Passion of her Son approached, so much the deeper did that sword of sorrow, foretold by Saint Simeon, pierce the heart of His mother.”9
With this first sorrow, let us reflect on the suffering that God allowed Mary to undergo. It would have been easier on her to not know what awaited her Son. But, in His salvific plan, God allowed Mary to actively participate in Christ’s redemptive work by carrying in her pierced heart, all that would happen to her precious Son. For thirty-three years, she journeyed with her Son to the consummation of His mission.
Let us pray:
Oh, most sorrowful Mary, I compassionate thee, in the grief thy tender heart underwent when the holy man Simeon prophesied to thee. Dear mother, through that afflicted heart, obtain for me the virtue of humility and the gift of the holy fear of God. Hail Mary…10Amen.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture comes from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.
Leviticus 12:1-8.
St. Thomas Aquinas comments on this: “As the fullness of grace flowed from Christ on to His Mother, so it was becoming that the mother should be like her Son in humility. And, therefore, just as Christ, though not subject to the Law, wished, nevertheless, to submit to circumcision and other burdens of the Law… for the same reasons He wished His Mother also to fulfill the prescriptions of the Law, to which, nevertheless, she was not subject.” Summa Theologiae, IIIa q. 37, a. 4.
The evangelist loosely quotes from Exodus 13:2 here.
See The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Edited with Commentary by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2010.
See Alphonsus Ligouri, The Glories of Mary, On the First Dolour, 411. A note on Mary’s knowledge ought to be included here. In Catholic Tradition four types of knowledge are generally defined in theology. The first, divine knowledge, only applies to God. The other three: Beatific, Infused, and Acquired, apply to rational creatures. Very simply, beatific knowledge is the knowledge that the souls in heaven possess as they gaze upon the essence of God. Infused knowledge is the knowledge given to the prophets, for example. It is knowledge that originates in God that He sees fit to give to man in order to reveal to man His will. It was also given to the Angels at their creation. Acquired knowledge is the learned knowledge of man. This comes from our experience. Now, according to St. Thomas, Christ possessed all four of these types of knowledge. What about Mary? She certainly did not have divine knowledge as she is not God and being human, she certainly had acquired knowledge. What of the other two? There is an old principle in Mariology that we ought not to deny to the Virgin any grace that another human had since she is the most graced creature to ever exist. This means that since the prophets were given infused knowledge, it ought not to be denied to Mary. It certainly is fitting that the Mother of God ought to be given knowledge from above in order to accomplish her mission. This should also extend to beatific knowledge. We know that according to scripture both Moses (Ex. 33:11) and St. Paul (2 Cor. 12:2-7) were given a glimpse of the beatific vision. Again, we ought not to deny this to the Virgin. It is possible and fitting that at certain times in her life, she would be granted a temporary glimpse at the divine and given knowledge associated with the blessed in heaven, much like Moses and St. Paul. I must stress though that this would be temporary. Christ transcends this because He possessed the vision of God in permanence. See. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIIa qq. 9-12.
See Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Our Savior and His Love for Us: Catholic Doctrine on the Interior Life of Christ as it relates to our own Interior Life, Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishing, 1998.
Glories of Mary, 413.
Ibid. 414.
Blessed Be God, Boonville, NY: Preserving Christian Publications, 2022.
Anyone who knows to quote Garrigou-Lagrange so well alongside the Fathers, in context, in such matters, deserves our accolades and confidence.