Pope Francis continued his cycle of catechesis on "Jesus Christ our Hope," as part of the Jubilee 2025. This week, he reflected on the mystery of the Presentation of the Lord and how Mary and Joseph obeyed "the Law of the Lord and [...] all its prescriptions."

Read the prepared text of his catechesis below.  Dear brothers and sisters, good morning! Today we will contemplate the beauty of “Jesus Christ, our hope” (1 Tim 1:1), in the mystery of His presentation at the Temple. In the narratives of Jesus’ infancy, the evangelist Luke shows us Mary and Joseph’s obedience to the Law of the Lord and to all its prescriptions. In reality, in Israel there was no obligation to present the child at the Temple, but those who lived listening to the Word of the Law and wished to conform to it, considered it a valuable practice. So did Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, who was barren; God heard her prayer and she, having had her son, took him to the temple and offered him to the Lord forever (cf. 1 Sam 1:24-28). Luke therefore recounts Jesus’ first act of worship, celebrated in the holy city, Jerusalem, which will be the destination of His entire itinerant ministry from the moment He makes the firm decision to go up there (cf. Lk 9:51), heading towards the fulfilment of His mission. Mary and Joseph do not simply embed Jesus in a history of the family, the people, of the covenant with the Lord God. They take care of His growth, and introduce Him into the atmosphere of faith and worship. And they too gradually grow in their comprehension of a vocation that far surpasses them. In the Temple, which is a “house of prayer” (Lk 19:46), the Holy Spirit breathes, speaks to the heart of an elderly man: Simeon, a member of the holy people of God schooled in expectation and hope, who nurtures the desire for the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel by through the prophets. Simeon perceives in the Temple the presence of the Lord’s Anointed One, he sees the light that shines in the midst of the peoples plunged “in darkness” (cf. Is 9:1) and he goes to meet that child who, as Isaiah prophesies, “is born to us”, He is the son who “is given to us”, the “Prince of Peace” (Is 9:5). Simeon embraces that child who, small and helpless, rests in his arms; but it is he, in fact, who finds consolation and the fullness of his existence by holding Him to himself. He expresses this in a canticle full of heartfelt gratitude, which in the Church has become the prayer at the end of the day:

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go

in peace, according to your word,

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and glory for your people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

Simeon sings the joy of those who have seen Him, who have recognized Him and are able to transmit to others the encounter with the Saviour of Israel and of the peoples. He is a witness of faith received as a gift and communicated to others; he is a witness of the hope that does not disappoint; he is a witness of God’s love, which fills the heart of man with joy and peace. Filled with this spiritual consolation, the elderly Simeon sees death not as the end, but as fulfilment, fullness; he awaits it like a “sister” that does not annihilate but introduces to the true life that he has already foretasted and in which he believes. On that day, Simeon is not the only one to see salvation made flesh in the child Jesus. The same also happens to Anna, a woman more than eighty years old, a widow, entirely devoted to service to the Temple and consecrated to prayer. Indeed, upon seeing the child, Anne celebrates the God of Israel, who has redeemed His people in that very child, and tells others about Him, generously spreading the prophetic word. The song of redemption of two elders thus emits the proclamation of the Jubilee for all the people and for the world. Hope is rekindled in hearts in the Temple of Jerusalem because Christ our hope has entered it. Dear brothers and sisters, let us too imitate Simeon and Anna, these “pilgrims of hope” who have clear eyes capable of seeing beyond appearances, who are able to detect the presence of God in smallness, who know how to welcome God’s visit with joy and rekindle hope in the heart of brothers and sisters. Text courtesy of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana. To read the full catalogue of Pope Francis' General Audiences, visit our General Audience blogroll.