Every February 2, the Church celebrates the Day of Consecrated Life, a day dedicated to recognizing and giving thanks for the witness of those who have given their lives to God through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 
This date coincides with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, in which Jesus is taken to the temple as a sign of his total consecration to the Father. Thus, this celebration recalls that consecrated life is a gift for the Church and the world, manifesting the light of Christ in the midst of humanity.
A passage in chapter 2 of the Gospel according to Luke offers a fundamental key to understanding this mystery. The evangelist pursues two clear objectives. First, to reveal that this child is the manifestation of God: Jesus, from his infancy, does not wait until the last events of his life to make his mission known. Second, to convince the Christian community at the end of the first century, still largely composed of Hebrews, that Jesus is truly the fulfillment of the whole history of Israel.
The story unfolds in a key place: the temple. According to the evangelist, it is there that the identity of Jesus is revealed and where it is understood that the new temple is no longer a building, but the encounter with Christ himself, the revelation of God.
How does this happen? The gospel mentions that Jesus’ parents go to the temple to fulfill the rite of purification. What does this consist of? The mother had to go to the temple to be purified after the natural process that her body underwent during childbirth.
But there is something else: a sacrifice is offered. The Gospel mentions that Jesus’ parents brought two young pigeons, the offering allowed for poor families. However, this sacrifice has a deeper meaning, for it reveals to us who Jesus is: he will be the new sacrifice. Like the two young pigeons, Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, the one who fulfills the whole history of the sacrifices offered by the firstborn. He himself is the Firstborn. In this passage two levels of revelation can be distinguished. On the one hand, Jesus is the Firstborn, but, on the other hand, the people of Israel are also the firstborn, the chosen one to manifest to all nations the love of God.
The text also introduces two key characters: Simeon and Anna, who represent the temple. The etymology of their names is significant. “Simeon” comes from the Hebrew root ×¢ (shamá), which means “to hear.”
Its name indicates that God has heard all the prayers raised in the temple. In him are condensed all the supplications of the people in Jerusalem.
Simeon’s gesture is equally revealing: he takes the child and lifts him up. This is, par excellence, the gesture of sacrifice. In fact, many of the Hebrew words translated as “sacrifice” have their root in terms related to elevation. Thus, Luke shows us that the sacrifice that Jesus’ parents were going to offer in the temple finds its true meaning in Jesus himself.
It is important to note that Simeon is not a priest. The Gospel describes him as a “just and God-fearing” man. With these words, Luke directly interpellates his readers. “Righteous” was the title with which the Hebrews identified themselves, for they considered righteous those who kept the Law. “God-fearing,” on the other hand, is a technical term referring to the pagans who had recognized the one God of Hebrew monotheism, although without being fully integrated into the people of Israel.
Here, the evangelist Luke speaks especially for them. Scholars agree that Luke is the gospel most influenced by Greek culture. His community consisted of both Hebrews and pagans who had come to Judaism. With this passage, Luke proclaims that God-fearers – that is, Greeks and pagans who had already recognized the God of Israel – also have free access to Jesus Christ. Jesus is not only the Messiah for the righteous, but also for the God-fearers.
In the figure of Simeon, both groups are united. He represents the communion that the early Christian community would experience between the righteous Hebrews and the pagans who recognized monotheism.
What does Simeon say? His proclamation contains the core of the Kerygma, the central proclamation of the Christian faith. At this point, Luke transports us to the end of the Gospel. Simeon declares that Jesus has come “for the falling and rising (ἀνάστασις) of many in Israel.”
It is interesting to note that in the New Testament there is no exact term for “resurrection” in the sense in which we understand it today. Instead, expressions such as “to awake again” or “to rise again” are used, terms that help to understand the mystery of the resurrection. With this brief phrase, Simeon has said everything about Jesus: he has come to die and to give life. He takes him in his arms and offers him in sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice. His death becomes our death, in the sense that it becomes completely united to our human condition, reaching us in our darkest moments: when we are in despair, when we have lost a loved one, when we feel there is no way out, when we have accumulated failures or fallen into grave sin. It is in those moments that we understand that he is there with us, even in death, to raise us to life.
Luke adds that Jesus’ parents were “astonished” (θαυµάζω). This verb, in ancient tradition, marks the beginning of wisdom. It was used to describe the moment when the great sages began to open their eyes to reality. What is the great revelation in this passage? That this child has come to reach humanity in death and resurrect it.
The text underlines a key statement: “light to enlighten the nations”. This expression is not a simple addition by Luke, but introduces one of Jesus’ messianic titles. In fact, these words that Simeon pronounces over the child are the same words that the early Christian community attributed to Christ.
In the Old Testament, this mission of enlightening the nations was attributed to Israel. But Israel was not chosen because it was the best of the nations, but precisely because it was the smallest, so that God’s greatness would be manifested and it would be clear that the choice was not based on its own merit. God chose Israel to be a light among the nations, not because of its qualities, but so that through its history all peoples would recognize who God is.
“Light to enlighten the nations” or “light of the nations” is a historical expression referring to Israel, which will later be applied to the Messiah and, in this passage, is proclaimed about Jesus. Its meaning is universal: it is not limited to the Hebrews, but extends to all peoples. Later, this same expression will be used to refer to the Christian community, for at one point Jesus will say:
“You are the light of the world.”
Finally, the prophetess Anna appears, who represents another face of the temple. Her name means tenderness and grace, and in her the temple of Jerusalem becomes the place where God’s mercy is manifested. Throughout Israel’s history, the temple has gathered the deepest longings for tenderness, and Hannah is the one who proclaims:
“Behold the tenderness of God”, the tenderness of a God who becomes a child, who becomes close.
This is the great news left to us by Anna, an 84-year-old woman, a number that in Hebrew symbolism (12 times 7) represents the totality of history and its openness to all peoples. In her testimony resounds the Word of the Lord: a God who becomes tenderness, who assumes our deaths to resurrect us to a full life.