1 John 2:3-11 / Luke 2:22-35
It is really amazing as well intriguing to see how some people seem to know that their time to leave this world was approaching.
There have been some cases of people who were seriously ill and then they seem to get a "second wind" and for a moment they seem to have recovered and they could even talk to their family members about family affairs at some length.
After that they will slip back into their illness and then slowly slip away and slip out of this world.
In retrospect, it seems that these people were trying to settle any unfinished business in this world maybe because they could sense their time was near.
What they felt, what they saw or what they heard, we do not know. But there will come a time when we will have make that last leg of our earthly journey.
But in the gospel, we know what Simeon saw and that signalled to him that the time had come for him.
When he saw the parents of Jesus presenting Him in the Temple, he saw not only just a baby, but he saw the light.
He saw the light of promise, the light of salvation, the light of enlightenment. It was the light the world was waiting for. It was the light he was waiting for.
For Simeon it was the light that gave him peace. For us it is the light that shines upon us to give us life and love.
The 1st reading tells us that the night is over, because the real light is shining.
That light is a signal for us to move from darkness to light, from hate to love, from bitterness to forgiveness.
Christ the light has already come to us at Christmas. Let us follow that light and we will have no fear of stumbling.