“Anna never left the temple, but worshipped
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.” Lk. 2:37-38
The widow Anna in her faithfulness to
Temple worship and prayer reminds us of the many women who form the core of the
faithful at daily worship, who probably do more than anyone to foster and pass
on faith. The real mark of any virtue is perseverance in it through thick and
thin, in fervor or dullness. Anna “never left the temple, but worshiped night and
day with fasting and prayer” (Luke 2:37). It’s so much easier to do things by
fits and starts and to pray by whim and feeling. The wisdom and insight which
Anna has—that those who have stayed with prayer over the years gain—is to a
large degree the result of staying with prayer in dry periods and times of
fervor, when our heart sings, and also when it is heavy as a rock.
Some insights come from constant attentiveness
to God and prayer which cannot be gained from books or study. Anna’s recognition
of the Child and his significance is an example of such insight. The poor, hungry,
abandoned, abused, and discarded children of our world, of our big cities, and
elsewhere need more people who see the Christ Child in them and feel obliged to
care and help.
The world of which John speaks so
negatively today is not God’s creation as such, but a world which is under the
domination of selfishness and self. Those who do identify these children with
the Child Jesus can pressure the powers of our world and work themselves to see
that they are given respect and love. The children of the world require more
than an occasional smile or gasp of admiration at how cute they are; each one
of them requires someone to show God’s love to them.
Reflected by Fr. Don Talafous from Give
Us This Day
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