The Fifth Day of Christmas

Simeon
There are so many lamps then, my brethren, to lighten your way, if only you would come to the source of all light and be enlightened. Come, I say, to Jesus who shines out to us from Simeon’s arms. He will give light to your faith, luster to your works, meaning to your words, ardor to your prayers, purity to your intentions….There are many lamps then, to glow with ardor in these inmost depths of yours, that when this life’s lamp is extinguished there will arise a life’s light, arising as it were at the evening of your life; and at the very moment when you think you are burnt out, your wick’s flame will arise again and darkest night for you will be as the noonday. No more need of the sun’s rays by day, nor of the brilliance of the moon to light your way at night: for the Lamb it is who is the lamp of the new Jerusalem, he who is the All-Blessed and Crystal-Clear, throughout endless ages. Amen.
 
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.   And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”   Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.   And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.”

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