To fulfill the law of Moses, Jesus’ parents present their son to the Lord.  When they meet Simeon and Anna, it is an encounter between the past and the future.  Simeon and Anna represent the long awaited hope of the Jewish people; Jesus is the fulfillment of that hope.  As Jesus’ mission unfolds, a mission that will be accepted and rejected.  Simeon’s words come true.  In our time we also live in the hope that Jesus’ mission will be kept alive by faithful disciples and that his teachings even those that are hard to bear, will one day be fulfilled.