“Now lettest thou thy servant depart, Lord, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. . .”

Consider how Simeon must have felt before the Holy Family brought Jesus to the temple. Simeon was a man of abiding faith and steadfast devotion, who held firmly to the promise that he would see the Christ before he died. Day after day, year after year, this devout and righteous old man remained patiently focused on what God had promised him.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he came to the temple on the very day that Mary and Joseph presented the baby Jesus at the temple. Taking the baby in his arms, Simeon said, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart, Lord, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. . .”

Simeon’s waiting had not been in vain. But his firm resolve and perseverance in prayer stand in sharp contrast to today’s media-driven mindset, which seeks a quick fix, Jiffy Lube, Instant Message solution to all of life’s problems. The constant barrage of advertising can distract us and lead to impulsivity and hyperactivity. We want it all and we want it now.

But the euphoria of instant gratification is short-lived. There is a penalty for acting impulsively as was demonstrated by a famous experiment involving children. Four-year olds were given a marshmallow and told by the experimenter that if they hadn’t eaten it when he returned in five minutes, he would give them a second one to eat. Most of the children couldn’t wait.

Follow up research over a number of years showed that those children who couldn’t wait did not perform as well in life. We see the same behavior pattern among many adults, who shop ‘til they drop, stop at every garage sale, run up credit card debt and save less than 2% of their income for a rainy day.

Impulse control takes perseverance. It is only through perseverance that we turn our focus away from the here and now to the hereafter. Perseverance looks to the future with the same abiding faith that Simeon demonstrated. It persists in the face of setbacks and delays, trusting in God’s plan for our life.

Persistence is the outward sign of inner faith and the means by which we come to a deeper understanding of God’s power to sustain us in the midst of life’s trials. But it takes a firm commitment to daily prayer.

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher, once said, "Most of the world's troubles are the result of people being unable to sit quietly alone in a room."

In today’s Gospel, we learn that Simeon came to the temple because the Holy Spirit had inspired him. In all likelihood, Simeon had been sitting alone at home, praying and meditating, when God revealed that His promise was about to be fulfilled.

Daily prayer and meditation cultivate a spirit of patient watchfulness. They are the means by which we learn to persevere and hear God’s voice calling to us. Our spirits are uplifted and our strength is renewed as God gives us the grace for each new day. The Holy Spirit stands ready to help and guide us just as He did when He inspired Simeon to worship at the temple on that epochal day.