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St. Simeon’s Prophecy at the Presentation

On the eighth day after the Nativity, Joseph and Mary took the Child to the Temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised, to receive the name Jesus and to be consecrated to God.

The Holy Spirit led the holy man,Simeon, to the Temple to greet the Messiah. Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms, praised God, and blessed Joseph and Mary.

Turning to Mary, Simeon said, "And a sword will pierce your own soul too" . This prophesied the sufferings that she would experience during her Son's Passion and Death:

Prayer:

Ah, my Most Blessed Mother, it is not one sword only with which I have pierced your heart, but I have done so with as many as are the sins which I havce committed. Ah, Lady, it is not to you, who art innocent, that sufferings are due, but to me, who am guilty of so many crimes. But since you have been pleased to suffer for my sins, ah, by your merits, obtain me great sorrow for my sins, and patience under trials of this life, which will always be light in comparison with my demerits; for I have often deserved hell. Amen