Out of many hearts…
Here’s a passage from St. Luke’s gospel that I heard mentioned today. It is the part where Simeon, the whom Luke describes saying “the Holy Spirit was upon him”, sees the baby Jesus and recognizes the Messiah that he has waited for and was promised he would see before he died. Here is the blessing and prophecy that he speaks to Mary;
Luke Chapter 2
Douay-Rheims
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted;
35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.
RSV
34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against
35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
NAB
34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted
35 (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Vulgate
et benedixit illis Symeon et dixit ad Mariam matrem eius ecce positus est hic in ruinam et resurrectionem multorum in Israhel et in signum cui contradicetur
et tuam ipsius animam pertransiet gladius ut revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes
Now it is interesting that the RSV and NAB have both bracketed the reference to the piercing of Mary’s soul by the sword. In looking up this passage, that was specifically what I was looking for between the translations (all of which are Church approved). It struck me, on hearing the passage today, that the last line may be referring to the earlier part of the prophecy regarding Jesus, or it could be referring to the part that some have put in brackets.
That is to say, “out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed” could be very well be saying that as well as being a source of contradiction and contention, (and that is an understatement) Christ will be the cause of the revealing of the thoughts of many. Clearly, by the use of the brackets, that is what the editors or translators have assumed in the RSV and NAB.
But there is another possibility. If we don’t use the brackets, like the D-R or Vulgate, then that last line could be understood another way, when linked to the piercing of Mary’s soul. If understood that way, and we take that line altogether from the D-R it reads by itself thus;
“And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”
How do we understand this? A suggestion. We are certainly hearing Simeon say that Mary is going to suffer, and specifically in her soul. She will have heart-break at the cross. I think that is probably a universal understanding of that part, but then let us make the link and see what it means;
“…that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.” If we think that Simeon, while certainly under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is seeing a vision of what is to come and is trying to put it into words, and perhaps doesn’t understand exactly what he sees and what it means.
Perhaps he is seeing Mary as the Queen of Heaven, as also St. John saw in the Apocalypse, and here Simeon expresses what may indeed be the prayers to Mary for intercession, people (out of many hearts) praying (revealing their thoughts). He may not have seen it clearly, or because it may have been an odd idea for him at that time, he may not have understood what he was seeing and expressed it in that obscure way as a result.
It’s a thought. Clearly, those responsible for the editing of the RSV and NAB didn’t think the reference to Mary was in any way connected to that last line of verse 35. I think you can safely interpret the passage either way.