“Oh, well. I’m going to hell anyway, right?”

I have a few family members and friends who are not practicing Catholics who say this to me from time to time. It’s always spoken in a teasing manner, with a wink and a shoulder shrug, usually to explain away some sort of minor misbehavior they feel guilty about.

I craved four things as a teenager: success in sports, food, fun and the attention of popular people. However, I noticed that as I acquired them, I was more unsatisfied than before. So, I’d strive even more energetically, achieve more, and the sense of emptiness was greater still. These four things started to feel like burdens or even curses. Soon after, I encountered Christ in my high school youth group. Experiencing his love was totally different than anything those four things previously produced. It produced a lasting happiness.

My parents’ garage is full of old junk that no longer serves any purpose in my life. As a 46-year-old man, I admit that’s pretty lame. Either due to my sentimentality or laziness (or both, probably), I just couldn’t get myself to throw things away. But a few days ago, by a grace of God, I thought: “I’ll hire my nephew Ryan to throw a bunch of my stuff away — he couldn’t care less about my junk!” And you know what? It worked. In one day, Ryan chucked the majority of his uncle’s useless stuff. I feel so free, ready for a new junk-free chapter in my life.

When Simeon cradles the infant Messiah in his arms, he speaks of salvation and glory and revelation. He speaks of his own death. He speaks of the fulfillment of God’s promise to all people.

But most memorable, in my opinion, are his words about the hearts of men. This Child, he says, will be the way “the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”