Today, December 29th, we celebrate the festivity of the saint King David. But, it is actually the David's entire family the Church wants to honor today, and most of all, it is the most illustrious of them all: Jesus, the Son of God, and Son of David! Today, in this eternal “today” of the Son of God, the Old Alliance of King David's time is executed and fully consummated. For, as today's Gospel narrates, the Child Jesus is presented to the Temple by His parents according to the custom of the old Law: “When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord.” (Lk 2:22-23).

Today, the old prophecy is eclipsed leaving the way for the new one: He, who King David had announced when intoning his Messianic Psalms, has at long last entered into the Temple of God! Today is the great day when he, who St. Luke names Simeon will soon abandon this world of darkness to enter the vision of eternal Light: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

Also, we, who are God's Shrine, in which His Spirit dwells (cf. 1Cor 3:16), must be alert to receive Jesus in our interior. If today we have the joy of receiving the Holy Communion, let us ask Mary, God's Mother, to advocate for us before her Son: let the old self be taken off and the new self be put on (cf. Col 3:10) so that we can renew our whole being and become the new prophets, who will announce to the whole world the presence of God, thrice saint, Father, God and Holy Spirit!

Let us be, along with Simeon, prophets because of the death of the “old self”! As Saint John Paul II said “The fullness of the Spirit of God is accompanied (…) first of all through that interior availability which comes from faith. The aged Simeon, the ‘righteous and devout man’ upon whom ‘rested the Holy Spirit’, sensed this at the moment of Jesus' presentation in the Temple.”

Today, we contemplate the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, to accomplish what the Law of Moses prescribes: mother's purification and presentation and ransom of the firstborn child.

This scene is described by Saint Josemaría Escrivá in the fourth Joyful mystery of his book The Holy Rosary, while inviting us to get involved in it: “This time, my friend, it will be up to you to bring the cage with the turtledoves. —Do you realize? She —the Immaculate!— submits to the law as if she was unclean. Will you ever learn, you silly child, to submit, no matter what personal sacrifices, to God's Holy Law?”

“Purified! It is certainly you and I who need to be purified! To atone, and, over and above atonement, Love. —A love that sears, that burns away our soul's dirt, and a fire, that inflames with divine flames our heart's misery.”

This Christmas it is appropriate to take advantage of Mary's example to “clean” our soul, by making a sincere sacramental confession and to be able to receive our Lord with our best attitude. Thus, Joseph offers the pair of turtledoves, but most of all, with his work and his pure love, he offers his own capacity to carry forward God's established plan for the Holy Family, example to all families.

The Holy Spirit had assured Simeon that he would not die before seeing the Christ. He goes to the Temple and when, full of joy, he holds in his arms the Messiah, he says: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation.” (Lk 2:29-30). With the eyes of faith, this Christmas, let us contemplate Jesus who, with His birth, has come to save us. Just as Simeon intoned a thanksgiving song, let all the families gather around the manger and, together, sing in joy, for we are aware the infant Jesus has saved us.