Today, the Gospel portrays Mary in the act of an unconditional offering of her Son to the Temple. There, Simeon comes out as a bearer of an ancient hope, and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to his heart. This is why he could contemplate the One whom numerous prophets and kings had desired to see: Christ, Light of revelation for all Nations.

Simeon recognizes that Child as the Savior, but he foresaw —thanks to the Spirit— that the destinies of humanity would be played out around Him, and that He would have to suffer deeply from those who rejected Him; he proclaimed the identity and mission of the Messiah with words that form one of the hymns of the newborn Church: the "Nunc dimittis" ("Now, Lord, you can let your servant go in peace"). Having "touched" the salvation, the enthusiasm was so great that for Simeon to live and to die were one and the same.

—The first person to be associated with Christ on the path of proven faith and shared suffering was His Mother, Mary.