When holy Simeon had finished his act of thanksgiving, and had blessed the Holy Family, he uttered the prophecy that still goes by his name, and that is especially remembered by us as having pierced with anguish the Immaculate Heart of Mary. "This Child is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel." How could Jesus their Saviour be set for their fall? Yet so it is: to those who reject Him, He is not a Saviour, but a Judge.

How can this be? Because every grace rejected is not merely lost, but the loss leaves him who has rejected it in a worse condition than before. It actually proves the occasion of sorrow and regret to him. The fact of rejection injures and weakens the soul. My God, may I never knowingly reject any grace of Thine!

The last portion of Simeon's prophecy was a direct presage of anguish to Mary herself: "Yea, through thine own soul a sword shall pierce." Mary knew well that these words contained a promise of sorrow such as no child of Adam had ever endured before. She knew this, and she joyfully accepted it for the sake of being like to her Divine Son, who, she well knew, was to be the Man of Sorrows. Am I thus willing to bear pain for His sake?