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. But in just four short verses, Saint Luke paints a beautiful picture of her with three particular traits.
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First, Anna was a widow.
Anyone who’s lost a loved one – particularly a spouse – has known the sorrow of Anna. But her sorrow didn’t make her bitter. As Luke tells us, she never left the temple; she worshipped God, day and night.
Anna reminds us that sorrow can do one of two things: it can dry up our faith. Or it can make us kinder, softer, more sympathetic people, who trust that God will never waste our tears.
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Secondly, Anna was eighty-four.
Age changes us. As our bodies weaken, we either become increasingly irritable, complaining about all of our health issues, or increasingly grateful for a long life well lived.
In Anna’s case, though the strength of her body was slowly being taken away, the strength of her heart and character increased by the day. She was a joyful, holy – and elderly – woman.
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How did Anna come to be the person she was?
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She prayed. In spite of her age and sorrow, she praised the Lord, not only publicly in the Temple; she also prayed to him in private.
As the old 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) theendtime.org (2) Anna, Vic Laura (3) Amazon.com
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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If you read a transcript of all the conversations you had with your family over the course of a day, it might include a combination of questions and commands, such as:
“How was your day?” … “Stop hitting your brother!” … “Why should I clean my room?” … “Put your phone down.” … “Dinner’s ready!”
Communication is an essential part of family life.
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Yet there are only three recorded conversations in the Gospels between members of the Holy Family.
Joseph is a silent figure. He never speaks. Nor do Mary or Jesus ever speak to him.
Mary speaks to Jesus twice.
Jesus speaks to Mary a whopping three times!
Given the scarcity of their dialogue, when they do speak to each other, something important is being revealed about the nature of their family life. Today’s Gospel includes one of those conversations.
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It begins with their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, revealing they were a religiously observant family.
Joseph and Mary would’ve seen themselves as Christ’s first teachers; it was their responsibility to teach him what it meant to be Jewish, and from a human perspective, how to worship God.
And like us, they experienced conflict… even on their way home from “church.”
Heading back from Jerusalem, Mary realizes that she’s lost Jesus. Any parent can empathize with that fear of losing a child.
After searching frantically for three long days, Mary finally discovers Jesus sitting in the Temple, conversing with the religious leaders, leading to the first words she ever speaks to him in the Gospels:
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety!”
If I were in her position, I would’ve also added, “You’re grounded young man!”
Like a typical teenager, Jesus withholds an apology, issuing his own type of reverential rebuke: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
This curt back-and-forth between Mary and Jesus offers several precious insights.
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For the first time in the Gospels, Jesus breaks away from Mary and Joseph, planting himself firmly in the Temple, where he claims that God – not Joseph – is his true Father.
Previously, the only mention of Christ’s divinity comes from the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Now Jesus makes this declaration on his own. He is, in fact, divine.
This effectively concludes the infancy narratives, starting a new chapter in his life: the teenage years, when Jesus grows “in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
At age twelve, children were considered old enough and responsible enough to make the faith their own, which is why the Lord chose this moment to reveal his divinity and his deepest obligation – to be obedient to his heavenly Father.
Here Jesus also becomes a model for young people, who often receive the Sacrament of Confirmation around the same age.
After years of religious preparation by their parents and faith community, youngsters are expected to take ownership of their faith as they publicly declare their own desire to love and serve God.
How well might our young people relate to Jesus in the Temple? As they age, are they becoming more religiously mature? And in what ways might we as a parish continue to encourage them along their faith journeys?
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Notice Mary does not rebuke the Lord after he speaks with her. Rather, she keeps “all of these things in her heart.” Literally, she tries “stitching together” the meaning of his words.
Mary doesn’t know where Christ’s path will lead; she doesn’t have any foreknowledge of his public ministry, his healing power, his bloody cross, or his empty tomb.
But even as a young mother, she understands that the heart of parenting is not about making Jesus obey her; rather, she must encourage him to obey God, which will lead to both grief and glory.
It takes another twenty years before Mary sees where it all leads. But through it all, she’s patient, she trusts, and she surrenders.
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Like Mary, how supportive are we of our children, especially when they attempt to follow God’s plans, not our own?
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Communication is an essential part of family life. Often our conversations include questions and commands, like: “How was your day?” … And “stop hitting your brother!”
May it also include the words of Mary: “Do whatever he tells you.”
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Image credits: (1) Covenant Network (2) Heinrich Hoffman, Jesus in the Temple, BYU Museum of Art Store (3) We Are Saintly
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Over the last three days, our readings have described the Christian journey in miniature.
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On Wednesday, we celebrated the birth of our Lord. This is the beginning of any journey of faith – believing in Jesus as Emmanuel, “God with us.”
The image of the Christ-child also serves as an appropriate image of faith for a new believer, whose faith is still meek and mild.
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Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of Saint Stephen, who performed miracles, preached skillfully to crowds, and ministered to widows.
Stephen represents what happens to us when faith begins to mature: we act on it.
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Today we encounter the third, final stage of the Christian journey: the empty tomb.
After we run the race of life to the finish and keep the faith, it’s our hope to follow in the footsteps of our Lord, whom Mary and the Apostles remind us, has been raised from the dead.
May the same Spirit bring us life, as well.
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Image credits: (1) Art and the Bible (2) Bible Art (3) Pinterest
