Tuesday, December 29, 2026 — The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
Simeon's prophecy
Luke 2:22-35
Readings of the day: 1 John 2:3-11; Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 5b-6; Luke 2:22-35.
The Gospel
Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord, as the law commands, and Simeon, just and devout, takes the child in his arms and blesses God. He has seen the salvation prepared for all peoples, a light to reveal God to the nations and the glory of Israel. Then he blesses the parents and says to Mary: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will pierce, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Reflection
Simeon’s blessing turns, in a single breath, into a prophecy of contradiction. “As the light though it may annoy weak eyes, is still light,” says St. Chrysostom; “in like manner the Saviour endures, though many fall away, for His office is not to destroy.” Christ is a sign that cannot be ignored: before him, hearts are revealed, and the fall comes first, so that the rising can follow. “Thou wert a sinner, let that which is sin fall in thee, that thou mayest thence rise again,” says Origen. And Mary hears that her own soul will be pierced: the Mother who carried the light will stand beneath it on the cross. To receive Christ is to let him reveal what is in our hearts, and to rise with him.
From the Fathers
“As the light though it may annoy weak eyes, is still light; in like manner the Saviour endures, though many fall away, for His office is not to destroy.”
— St. John Chrysostom, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 2:33–35
“Thou wert a sinner, let that which is sin fall in thee, that thou mayest thence rise again.”
— Origen, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 2:33–35
Saint of the day
Saint Thomas Becket (c. 1119–1170), Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr. Once Lord Chancellor and a close friend of King Henry II, he became Archbishop in 1162 and defended the rights and freedom of the Church against the king. After years of exile and conflict, he was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights of the king on December 29, 1170. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1173, and his tomb at Canterbury became one of the great pilgrimage shrines of Christendom.
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Sources: the day’s readings follow the daily lectionary (USCCB, Lectionary 202). The Gospel text is not reproduced here; read it at the link above. Patristic quotes: Catena Aurea on Luke 2:22–35, compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by John Henry Newman (1841, public domain).