Saturday, December 30, 2017 5th Day After Christmas 1st Reading: 1 Jn 2:12-17 Gospel: Lk 2:36-40
There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God and spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the child grew in stature and strength and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon him.D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
In yesterday’s Liturgy we read about Simeon’s prophecy that the baby Jesus would be a “sign of contradiction”. In today’s Gospel Anna speaks of the child as the deliverance of Jerusalem. Simeon and Anna are Old Testament figures who lived to see the promise of a Messiah fulfilled. Their prophecies serve as segue linking the Old Testament and the New Testament eras.
Let’s draw precious lessons from these two old personalities. The late Pope John Paul II wrote in his letter to the elderly that “Elderly people help us see human affairs with greater wisdom…” Simeon and Anna were old but they found a way to be productive. By offering their insights about the child Jesus to a world waiting for a Redeemer they made themselves useful to the community. In Anna and Simeon one finds the key to happy aging.
Their secret was strong prayer life anchored in presence, communion and service. Presence, because they were always present at the temple; communion because their prayer united them with God; service because the fruit of their reflections at the Temple did great service to a community that was getting impatient about the time of fulfillment of God’s promise.
Let’s learn from Simeon and Anna. Prayer hardly deepens without physical presence. The awesome presence of God demands reciprocal presence of the one praying. It is not enough to pray while working. Like a car that must be brought to a gasoline station to refuel so must we find time to be physically present in God’s house.
Not everyone present before God, however, cultivates deep prayer life. If one hardly gives God a chance to speak, there is no communication but only a monologue. If there is no communication there is no communion. One becomes a nuisance before God.
Like Simeon and Anna may our prayer life serve as inspiration to a world groping in hopelessness! —(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email:[email protected].
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