Between Christmas & the Passion

For today, now 40 days after Christmas, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple (Luke 2:22-40):

Ye hands of Simeon, weakened by age, be strong, and ye, the feeble legs of the Elder, run straight to meet Christ. Forming a choir with the bodiless powers, let us sing to the Lord, for He has been greatly glorified. (Stichera, First Ode, Matins)

O Lord, the firm foundation of those that put their trust in Thee, do Thou confirm the Church, which Thou hast purchased with Thy precious blood. (Irmos of the Third Ode, Matins)

Moses in days of old saw on Mount Sinai the back parts of God and was counted worthy in darkness and a storm of wind faintly to hear the divine voice. But now Simeon has taken in his arms God who for our sakes took flesh without changing; and joyfully has he made haste to depart from hence to the life eternal. Therefore he cried: "Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace." (Sessional Hymn, Matins)

Reading Simeon's prophetic words to the Virgin about the Passion of her Son also serves to point us to the Lenten season (and pre-Lenten Sundays in the East), now fast upon us. Presentation stands between Christmas and Lent/Holy Week, looking back to the Incarnation and Birth, and looking forward to the Cross. The Virgin is told today by the Prophet Simeon that her Son is the salvation of the Gentiles, and that a sword will pierce her soul. What mother's soul would not be pierced by the crucifixion of her own flesh and blood?