The prophecy of Anna

Monday,
December 30, 2019
6th Day in the Octave of Christmas
1st Reading: 1 Jn 2:12–17
Gospel: Lk 2:36–40
THERE was 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)
We Filipinos are fond of combining words for brevity. That is why I suspect that the word “matanda” (old) might be short for “matapus man, handa!” Old age is precisely this: “Matatapus na ang buhay mo kaya dapat maghanda ka na!” On the other hand, “bata” (young) might also be short for “bagong-tao” (new person). Youth is precisely about newness of life.
Today’s Gospel narrates the encounter between an old person (Anna) and a new person (the infant Jesus). Anna was true to her being “matanda” (matapus man, handa!) by living as an anawim of Yahweh. Anawim is Hebrew for “the poor ones”. As used in the Old Testament it had no reference to social and economic status. It was rather a reference to the spirituality of those who remained humble while waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Anna was the remnant of a people who kept that expectation alive by following the precepts of Yahweh. The Holy Spirit powerfully at work in her was evident in her capacity to recognize the Messiah in the child Jesus. She was truly ‘matanda’ (‘matapus man, handa!’).
Jesus on the other hand came as “bata (bagong tao) to bring newness to humanity. The newness consisted in the fulfillment of Scriptures and in the new Commandment, which he introduced later to his disciples. He lived privately for 30 years and worked in public for only three years. The proportion tells us that he spent more time experiencing the ordinariness of human life and injecting it with newness. The ordinariness of life can already turn us into saints if we do our ordinary duties extraordinarily well.
With Anna’s fading away after that encounter at the Temple, the Old Testament times also came to pass. We now live in the New Covenant governed by the law of love. When Christ returns in glory may he find us prepared as Anna was. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.