"And thy own soul a sword shall pierce" are words spoken by Simeon to Our Blessed Mother when she presented her first-born in the Temple, in accordance with the Law of Moses.
It is traditional to reflect on the Sorrows of Mary in the month of September. To this end, in the following posts I offer the words of the French scholar and preacher Bossuet, taken from his Elevation* on the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. I have added my own (fairly literal) translation and occasional notes on Scriptural references.
*élévation: THÉOLOGIE. Mouvement de l’âme vers Dieu ; prière qui favorise et traduit ce mouvement. Elevation: theology. A movement of the soul towards God; a prayer that favours and translates this movement.
Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata.
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| The Presentation in the Temple. J-J Tissot. |
VIe ÉLÉVATION.
Dernière préparation à la grâce que Siméon devait recevoir : le Saint-Esprit le conduit au temple.
The Sixth Elevation
The last preparation Simeon had to receive for the promised grace : the Holy Spirit leads him to the Temple.
L'attente de Siméon était une préparation à la grâce de voir Jésus; mais cette préparation était encore éloignée : la dernière et la plus prochaine disposition, c'est qu'après avoir longtemps attendu avec foi et patience, tout d'un coup il sent dans son cœur une impulsion aussi vive que secrète, qui le pressait à ce moment d'aller au temple, sans qu'il sût peut-être distinctement ce qu'il y allait trouver, Dieu se contentant de lui faire sentir que ses désirs seraient satisfaits. « Il vint » donc « en esprit au temple : » il y vint par une secrète instigation de l'esprit de Dieu. Allons aussi en esprit au temple, si nous y voulons trouver Jésus-Christ. N'y allons point par coutume, par bienséance : « Les vrais adorateurs adorent Dieu en esprIT ET en vérité (5) : » c'est le Saint-Esprit qui les meut, et ils suivent cet invisible moteur.
Simeon's period of waiting was a preparation for the grace of seeing Jesus; but this was still distant. The last stage, and the closest to the fulfilment of the promise, was that, after having waited for a long time with faith and patience, suddenly he felt in his heart and impulse as compelling as it was secret, which urged him at this moment to go to the Temple, without having any distinct idea as to what he was going to find there, God contenting Himself with making Simeon feel that his longings would be satisfied. "And he came by the Spirit into the temple."[1] He came there by a secret instigation of the Spirit of God. Let us too go in spirit to the Temple, if we want to find Jesus Christ there. Let us on no account go there out of habit, through a mere sense of propriety. "The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth."[2] it's the Holy Spirit which moves them, and they follow this invisible guide.
Le temple matériel, l'assemblée visible des fidèles est la figure de leur invisible réunion avec Dieu dans l'éternité. C'est là le vrai temple de Dieu : le vrai temple de Dieu où il habite, c'est la sainte et éternelle société de ses saints, réunis en lui par Jésus-Christ. Ainsi aller au temple en esprit, c'est s'unir en esprit à ce temple invisible et éternel, où Dieu, comme dit l'Apôtre, « sera tout en tous . »
The material Temple, the visible assembly of the faithful, is a figure of their invisible union with God in eternity. This is the true Temple of God: the true Temple of God where He dwells, is the eternal communion of His saints, reunited in Him through Jesus Christ. Accordingly, to go to the Temple in spirit, is to unite oneself in spirit to this invisible and eternal Temple, where God, as the Apostle says, "may be all in all."[3]
Allons donc en esprit au temple ; et toutes les fois que nous entrerons dans ce temple matériel, unissons-nous en esprit « à la sainte et éternelle Jérusalem » où est le temple de Dieu, où sont réunis les saints purifiés et glorifiés, qui attendent pourtant encore à la dernière résurrection leur parfaite glorification, et l'assemblage consommé de leurs frères qui manquent encore en leur sainte société, et que Dieu ne cesse de rassembler tous les jours.
So let us go in spirit to the Temple; and each time that we enter into this material Temple, let us unite ourselves in spirit "to the holy and eternal Jerusalem,"[4] where is to be found the Temple of God, wherein are reunited the purified and glorified saints, who still await nonetheless at the general resurrection their perfect glorification, and the complete assembly of their brethren who are still missing from their blessed communion, and whom God never ceases to gather in as each day passes.
Là donc on trouve Jésus-Christ, mais Jésus-Christ entier, c'est-à-dire le chef et les membres : mais il ne sera entier que lorsque le nombre des saints sera complet. Ayons toujours la vue arrêtée à cette consommation de l'œuvre de Dieu, et nous irons en esprit au temple pour y trouver Jésus-Christ.
There we find Jesus Christ, but in His entirety, which is to say the head and the members; but He will not be complete until the number of saints is filled up. Letter is always have our gaze fixed on this consummation of God's work, and we shall go in spirit to the Temple to find Jesus Christ.
Notes
[1] And he came by the Spirit into the Temple. Et venit in spiritu in templum. [Luc.ii.27]
[2] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. Sed venit hora, et nunc est, quando veri adoratores adorabunt Patrem in spiritu et veritate. Nam et Pater tales quaerit, qui adorent eum.[Joan. iv. 23]
[3] And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then the Son also himself shall be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Cum autem subjecta fuerint illi omnia : tunc et ipse Filius subjectus erit ei, qui subjecit sibi omnia, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus.[I Cor.xv. 28]
[4] But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, Sed accessistis ad Sion montem, et civitatem Dei viventis, Jerusalem caelestem, et multorum millium angelorum frequentiam, this year's [Hebr. xii. 22]
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