There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Anna is one of the few female prophets mentioned in the bible. In a few short verses, Saint Luke paints a beautiful picture of her.
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She was a widow.
Anyone who’s lost a loved one – particularly a spouse – has known the sorrow of Anna. But her sorrow doesn’t make her bitter. As Luke tells us, she never left the temple; it was the center of her life.
She reminds us that grief can do one of two things: it can dry up our faith. Or it can make us kinder, softer, more sympathetic people, who trust in a God who doesn’t waste our tears.
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Second, Anna was eighty-four.
Age changes us. As our body weakens, we either become increasingly irritable, complaining about all of our aches and pains, or increasingly grateful for the time we’ve been given. As it’s written in the Psalms, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.”
Though the strength of her body was slowly being taken away, the strength of her faith increased by the day. She was a joyful, holy, elderly woman.
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How did she become to be the person she was?
She prayed. In spite of her age and sorrow, she praised the Lord, not only publicly in the Temple, but also in the privacy of her home.
As the saying goes, “They pray best together who first pray alone.”
Prayer lifts the spirit; it keeps us joyful; it fills us with God’s peace, even into the final years of our lives.
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As we look to yet another year, may we become like Anna – not only older in years, but also stronger in spirit.
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Image credits: (1) Pinterest (2) Full of Grace TV, YouTube (3) Simply Organized
When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; 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 (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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This will be our only encounter with Simeon in scripture. But he appears for a very particular reason – to teach us the value of patience.
God promised Simeon that he would see the Christ before his death. But tradition tells us that Simeon was now 120 years old.. and still waiting. Imagine the ache in his bones, and the hope in his heart, that each day would be the day… and it wasn’t.
Suddenly, everything changes.
Luke tells us that Simeon entered the Temple that day, “and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” Meaning, he had a sixth sense, eyes of faith. Thus, when Mary and Joseph presented the Christ-child to him, he recognized exactly who it was.
Overcome with gratitude, Simeon cries out, “Lord, now you may let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.”
While God may have waited until the last minute of the last day of this man’s life to reveal himself, he kept his word.
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We can also feel like God is delayed in keeping his word, or acting in our own lives. Think of how many promises Jesus makes to us:
“Come to me, all of you who are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you.”
“Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you.”
And yet, how many of us are still waiting for divine comfort, for peace, or for that open door to come?
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Simeon reminds us that God will act. But remember that God is not only present in the answer; he is also present in the waiting; in the stillness; in the hope that salvation will come.
As the Psalmist reminds us, “A thousand years in your eyes are merely a day gone by.”
It’s hard being patient, especially with Someone whom we cannot control, yet are entirely dependent upon. But good things come to those who wait, even a “thousand years.”
To God, it’s merely a day gone by.
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Image credits: (1) Expedition of the Soul (2) Simeon Holding Jesus, Andrey Shishkin (3) Living the Everyday
When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazorean.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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We all know the difference between a dream and a nightmare. Dreams are like a burst of consolation. We fall asleep and we’re swept away into an idyllic land, or we’re king of the castle, or perhaps someone we love visits us from heaven.
Suddenly, you wake up and it’s over. We try going back to sleep, squinting our eyes and counting sheep, hoping the dream returns. But it never does. Chasing a dream is like a child chasing a butterfly. You’ll never catch it.
Nightmares are different.
Imagine you’re running along a beach. The sand is sinking, the water is lapping at your feet, and you’re running out of breath as a gigantic crab tries pinching you with its claws. Suddenly, you wake up in a panic.
Thankfully, it wasn’t real.
But, for some odd reason, we can fall back asleep and find that same villainous creature waiting for us!
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In today’s Gospel, Saint Joseph has three different dreams. At least two of them are nightmares. All of them come after the initial dream he had before Christmas, when an angel appeared to him, saying, “Do not be afraid to take Mary into your home.”
That dream forever changed his life.
So will the next three we hear about today.
First, an angel appears to Joseph, telling him to immediately take Mary and the Christ-child down to Egypt because King Herod wants to kill this baby.
I’d imagine Joseph awakened the same way we would from dreaming about that crab – in a cold sweat, scared, clammy, short of breath, his heart racing rapidly with adrenaline flowing through his veins.
Whereas we might roll over and try to go back to sleep relieved that it wasn’t real, Joseph must get up and go.
Now.
This is literally a matter of life or death.
Amazingly, just two verses prior to Joseph having this dream, Jesus was welcomed into the world surrounded by the love of his parents and the adoration of the magi, who miraculously arrived from the east, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
But with a turn of phrase, everything changes. “The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise.’”
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I’d imagine Joseph got up, quickly stuffed the magi’s gifts into a sack, perhaps with a few loaves of bread and a jug of water. After throwing their few belongings over their donkey’s saddle, he awakens Mary while holding Jesus, motioning, “It’s time to go.”
As they journeyed through the city at night on the road heading into Egypt, into the unknown, Joseph’s heart must’ve sank into his stomach every time he and Mary passed by a Roman soldier. Had Herod issued his death decree yet? Were the soldiers aware?
We know shortly after their escape, every male under the age of two was murdered. The attempt to kill Christ was foiled… for now.
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Joseph’s next dream comes while he, Mary, and the child Jesus are in Egypt. The good news is that the monstrous tyrant, Herod, is dead. After braving a new land, adjusting to a new culture, language, and history, the Holy Family could head home.
Or, so it seemed.
But no sooner than stepping foot on their native soil, Joseph has another dream. Archelaus, Herod’s son, was ruling over Judea, making it unsafe for them to return. So, they wait for further instructions.
In a fourth and final dream, Joseph is directed to head north to Galilee.
What a harrowing story. It seems like every time Joseph closed his eyes, he could awaken to a new reality. If I were him, I might’ve developed insomnia, or a fear of sleeping!
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How might we illustrate the drama of the Holy Family’s journey today?
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Traditionally, in the days after Christmas, most families and churches begin taking down their Nativity scenes, each piece wedged back into a Styrofoam mold, then tucked inside a cardboard box until next year.
But Matthew’s account of that first Christmas suggests we could do something different. Yes, we can take away the magi, the ox, the donkey, the angel, or whatever other characters we may have added.
What we could keep is the Holy Family huddled together in some form of temporary shelter, out in the elements, vulnerable to the darkness and the “Herods” of this world.
Perhaps we could move the figurines every so often to another part of the church, reminding us of their journey from Bethlehem to Egypt, to the borders of Judea, to Nazareth in Galilee. They, like so many in our world, searching desperately for safe haven.
A simple place, even a foreign place, to call home.
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Like Saint Joseph, every person – and every family – lives with dreams and nightmares. We all dream of peace, we all dread loss, and fear the unknown.
Perhaps this Christmas season, we can dream Joseph’s dream – a world, or even a small slice of it – where the poor are welcomed, the hungry are fed, and Christ is acknowledged in all of our neighbors.
As we often sing, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
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Image credits: (1) Missionaries of the Holy Family (2) The Dream of Saint Joseph, Philippe de Champaigne (3) Building on the Word
