The Presentation of the Lord Feast

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed. Luke 2:34

Today Jesus was presented to God in the Temple. Simon's startling prophecy that Jesus would be a sign of contradiction prepared Mary to meet the hostility with which Christ and His Message was to be received by Israel. May this prophecy prepare us not to be overcome when the world opposes the Truth of the Gospel in our own times.