Simeon’s Prophecy

Maybe the last time someone predicts something about the Messiah is at the Presentation when an old man, Simeon, recognizes the baby Jesus as the Christ. This is an old man who has waited his whole life for the Anointed One. He’s the perfect symbol of faithful Israel. And he holds the child in his arms, and thanks God that he has been blessed to see the bringing of salvation and light. But then he begins to predict some not very pleasant things.

He foretells that Jesus will be the occasion for the downfall of many in Israel. That He will be rejected, a sign of contradiction. And then Simeon, speaking to Mary, says these mysterious words, “And your own heart shall be pierced by a sword.”

Why would he say that? What does that mean?

When was Mary’s Heart Pierced?

It’s an odd thing to say that Mary’s heart would be pierced by a sword, since, of course, Mary’s life came to an end without violence, and because of her perfect sanctity, she was taken up into Heaven, body and soul, both of them perfectly intact. But of course, the traditional way to interpret Simeon’s prophecy is to say that Mary’s heart was pierced by a sword at Calvary. Because, of course, who would suffer more at seeing someone tortured to death than that person’s loving mother?

Mary felt every wound, every heaving breath. Every shudder she felt in the sympathy of her love for her Son. Christ, as the New Adam, had His Passion on Good Friday. Mary, as the New Eve, had her Compassion on Good Friday. As St. John Paul II said, Mary was “spiritually crucified” while Christ was physically crucified.

If you get the chance, look up the famous painting by Van Der Weyden, the Descent from the Cross. Look at how the artist paints the dead body of Jesus and the sorrowful body of Mary in the same position. Because there was a parallel, and even a partnership of suffering on Good Friday between the New Adam and the New Eve. They suffered together, that we might be saved.

Making Up What is Lacking in the Sufferings of Christ

In Colossians 1:24, St. Paul makes a very strange statement. He says, “I rejoice in my sufferings, and in my flesh, I make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church.” But what on earth could be “lacking” in the sufferings of Christ?

Of course, it’s not like there was anything Christ didn’t do perfectly, especially when it comes to His Passion on Good Friday. So St. Paul doesn’t mean Christ did something imperfectly or incompletely. But what St. Paul does mean, and what is true, is that Christ wants us to participate in His activity for His activity to have its full effect.

Christ’s preaching of the Gospel was perfect, but if we don’t preach the Gospel too, then His preaching won’t have its full effect. Christ’s prayer was perfect, but if we don’t pray too, then His prayer won’t have its full effect. And Christ’s suffering for souls was perfect, but if we don’t suffer for souls too, the way St. Paul did, then Christ’s suffering on the cross won’t have its full effect.

Christ wants us to suffer with Him, so that His suffering may have its full effect. And the one who did that first was Mary.

Whose Heart was Pierced? Who Felt It?

Simeon said that Mary’s heart would be pierced. But, of course, the person whose heart was actually, physically pierced at Calvary was Jesus’. Now here’s a question: did Jesus feel it when His heart was pierced? No, He didn’t. Remember, He was already dead when they thrust the lance in. He didn’t feel it. He didn’t suffer from that final, awful wound. His time of salvific suffering on the cross was over. But who did feel it? Who recoiled when Christ’s heart was pierced? Who hurt as her Son’s body was desecrated with one more act of violence? Christ’s passion was over. Mary’s compassion wasn’t.

Mary felt the wounds of Christ when Christ no longer could. Mary was the first to do what St. Paul wrote about. Mary was the first to make up what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the Church. 

Look at What it Cost

At the end of Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion, they take the lifeless body of Jesus off the cross and put it in the arms of His Mother. It’s the classic pieta moment. The grieving Mother, holding the body of her Child. But in the movie, there’s a difference; Mary doesn’t just keep her gaze fixed on Christ’s body. Slowly, very slowly, the grieving Mother raises her eyes, until she’s looking at you, the viewer, head-on.

There she is, her son dead, and her heart broken. His heart was pierced physically, and her heart was cut through with grief. And she’s looking at us. She’s saying, “Do you see what it cost? Do you see what your sins did to my baby? What are you going to do now? Are you just going to pretend this didn’t happen? Are you going to pretend you didn’t put us through this? Or are you going to do something about it? Are you going to change? Are you going to make it so that my child’s sacrifice didn’t go to waste?”

So, as a resolution, what are you going to do? What are you going to do to make it up to that Mother, whose Son your sinfulness put through so much agony? What are you going to do to make it up to that Mother whose heart your sins pierced with grief?

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