Today is the Feast of Lights. It is the day the Gospel of the Lord’s Presentation is read. Simeon and Anna are in the Temple, and they alone recognize Jesus as the long awaited Savior. Why is it that they alone knew him? Surely, he looked the same to them as he did to the hundred of other pilgrims.
Because they had given long years to listening for the voice of God in their hearts. Their perception became so sharpened that as soon as Joseph and Mary entered the Temple, they knew “He” was there. They didn’t need some exterior “sign” from God. Nor did they test him to be sure He was the one who was to come. They “knew” because they had prepared their hearts, had listened to the spirit, had waited in trust in hope.
John tells us that the Light came into this world, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
- The Light shone in the darkness