Posted on 12/30/2025 8:53:11 AM PST by fidelis
There was a prophetess, Anna… 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. Luke 2:36–38
Like Simeon, Anna was among those “awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.” She belonged to the faithful remnant of Israel who believed in the prophecies, understood the Messiah’s spiritual and salvific role, and awaited His coming with great hope.
Because Anna “never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer,” she was deeply attuned to God’s voice. Her life of prayer made her sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, especially on that glorious day when Jesus was presented and ritually redeemed in the Temple.
Imagine Mary and Joseph’s reaction to Simeon’s prophetic words and then to Anna’s. They might have expected the ritual offering and dedication to be a routine event. Yet, the joy and prophetic words of Simeon and Anna must have filled them with awe and wonder at the profound mystery of their Child’s identity and mission.
Like Simeon and Anna, we are called to be part of the faithful remnant today. The chaos and immorality that plague our world can easily lead to discouragement or anger. When this turmoil is close to home, within our families or communities, it becomes even more challenging. Anna’s example in today’s Gospel offers us a powerful model of how to live our lives. While most of us cannot remain in church night and day, fasting and praying, we are all called to carry the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, making our souls temples of God.
Saint Teresa of Ávila speaks highly of the prayer of recollection, a practice that helps us become more aware of God’s presence within. This prayer takes place on two levels. First, “active” recollection is an intentional meditation in which we seek God within the temple, or “castle,” of our souls. It’s an active turning inward to find God dwelling within us by grace.
Over time, as we deepen in this prayer, it becomes “passive” recollection. God begins to take the lead, and we sense His presence more profoundly throughout the day, calling us to be with Him in the temple of our souls. Those who practice these forms of recollection are like Anna who spent day and night in the Temple, attuned to God’s voice.
Reflect, today, on God’s invitation to imitate Anna’s life of prayer. By following her example, you, too, will become more attuned to the voice of God and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. You will recognize the many ways the Messiah comes to you and is present all around you. This grace will empower you to overcome the evils and challenges of the world, making you a member of God’s faithful remnant, awaiting His consolation and redemption.
Most glorious Messiah, You see the chaos in our world, and You come to those who seek You to deliver them and set them free. Help me to become a member of Your faithful remnant, always turning to You in trust and seeking You day and night. Jesus, I trust in You.
Please keep in mind that this is a Catholic Caucus/Devotional thread for the purpose of prayerful reflection on the Sacred Scriptures and is closed to debate of any kind. Per FR policy on Religion Caucus threads, off-topic, argumentative, and abusive comments are not allowed and will be submitted to the Mods for deletion. Thanks, and God bless you.
The Month of December is Dedicated to the Immaculate Conception
“ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”” (Luke 1:26-28)
Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intentions for the month of December, 2025:
For Christians in areas of conflict
Let us pray that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation, and hope.
Today’s First Reading
From: 1 John 2:12-17
The Apostle's Confidence in the Faithful
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[12] I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake. [13] I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. [14] I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Detachment from the World
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[15] Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. [17] And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.
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Commentary:
12-14. These verses, which are a kind of aside, are not easy to translate. The main difficulty has to do with the meaning of the expression, "I am writing (or I insist) because". The Greek conjunction may have an explanatory meaning (as the New Vulgate translates it): "I am writing to you that your sins have been forgiven..."; in which case the Apostle would be trying to build up the Christians' resistance to the arguments of the heretics; as if he were saying "You can be sure that your sins have been forgiven...", that is, that it is you not they, who are Christians.
However, it is also correct in the context to understand it as being the causal. In this way the Apostle is invoking his authority over these Christians, confident that they will listen to him; it is as if he were saying, "I can tell you, and you have the duty and the right to pay heed to me, because your sins have been forgiven...".
The way he addresses his readers, calling them little children, children, fathers, young men, is also open to various interpretations. The first two (little children, children) are usually taken to mean all Christians, without distinction of age or the length of time they have been in the Church; whereas the other two (fathers, young men) would be addressed to those particular groups. However, it is possible that these are simply rhetorical devices, in which case what is said to young people is perfectly applicable to older people, and vice versa; this is the way St Augustine understood it: "Remember that you are fathers; if you forget Him who is from the beginning, you will have lost your paternity. Also see yourselves over and over again as young men: strive to win; win so as to be crowned; be humble in order not to succumb in the struggle" ("In Epist. Joann. Ad Parthos", 2, 7).
"Because you know him who is from the beginning": a reference to Jesus Christ, as distinct from the Father, who appears at the start of v. 14. St John puts emphasis on knowing, which covers not just theoretical knowledge but more particularly a knowledge that comes from faith and love (cf. note on 2: 3-6).
13. "The evil one": the devil is explicitly mentioned several times in this letter; he is the enemy of the children of God (2:14; 5:18); a sinner from the beginning (3:8); and has the world in his power (5:18- 19; cf. Jn 16:11).
"The Apostle writes: 'You have overcome the evil one'! And so it is. It is necessary to keep going back to the origin of evil and of sin in the history of mankind and the universe, just as Christ went back to these same roots in the Paschal Mystery of his Cross and Resurrection. There is no need to be afraid to call the first agent of evil by his name--the Evil One. The strategy which he used and continues to use is that of not revealing himself, so that the evil implanted by him from the beginning may receive its development from man himself, from systems and from relationships between individuals, from classes and nations--so as also to become ever more a 'structural' sin, ever less identifiable as 'personal sin'. In other words, so that man may feel in a certain sense 'freed' from sin but at the same time be ever more deeply immersed in it" (John Paul II, "Letter to Youth", 31 March 1985, 15).
15-17. The term "world" has a number of meanings in Sacred Scripture (cf. note on Jn 17:14-16). Here it has the pejorative sense of enemy of God and man (cf. also note on Jas 1:26-27), and includes everything that is opposed to God--the kingdom of sin. Following Christ involves a radical choice: "No one can serve two masters" (Mt 6:24); "friendship with the world is enmity with God" (Jas 4:4).
"The pride of life": this is the usual translation in Latin. The original Greek says more or less "the arrogance of earthly things"; the two translations are compatible because reliance on material things leads to pride.
The list St John gives here of the signs of a worldly life summarizes everything opposed to fidelity to the love of God. "Lust of the flesh is not limited to disordered sensuality. It also means softness, laziness bent on the easiest, most pleasurable, way, any apparent shortcut, even at the expense of fidelity to God [...]. We can and ought to fight always to overcome the lust of the flesh, because, if we are humble, we will always be granted the grace of our Lord.
"St John tells us that the other enemy is the lust of the eyes, a deep-seated avariciousness that leads us to appreciate only what we can touch. Such eyes are glued to earthly things and, consequently, they are blind to supernatural realities. We can, then, use this expression of Sacred Scripture to mean that disordered desire for material things, as well as that deformation which views everything around us—other people, the circumstances of our life and of our age--in a merely human way.
"Then the eyes of our soul grow dull. Reason proclaims itself capable of understanding everything, without the aid of God. This is a subtle temptation which hides behind the power of our intellect, given by our Father God to man so that he might know and love him freely. Seduced by this temptation, the human mind appoints itself the center of the universe, being thrilled with the prospect that 'you will be like God' (Gen 3:5). So filled with love for itself, it turns its back on the love of God.
"In this way does our existence fall prey unconditionally to the third enemy: pride of life. It's not merely a question of passing thoughts of vanity or self-love, it's a state of general conceit. Let's not deceive ourselves, for this is the worst of all evils, the root of every false step. The fight against pride has to be a constant battle, to such an extent that someone once said that pride only disappears twenty-four hours after each of us has died. It is the arrogance of the Pharisee whom God cannot transform because he finds in him the obstacle of self-sufficiency. It is the haughtiness which leads to despising others, to lording it over them, to mistreating them. For 'when pride comes, then comes disgrace' (Prov 11:2)" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 5-6).
From: Luke 2:36-40
Anna's Prophecy
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[36] And there was a prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, [37] and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day. [38] And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of Him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
The Childhood of Jesus
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[39] And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. [40] And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him.
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Commentary:
36-38. Anna's testimony is very similar to Simeon's; like him, she too has been awaiting the coming of the Messiah her whole life long, in faithful service of God, and she too is rewarded with the joy of seeing Him. "She spoke of Him," that is, of the Child--praising God in her prayer and exhorting others to believe that this Child is the Messiah.
Thus, the birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways--first, by the shepherds, after the angel's announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
All who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men's eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to other. In His plan of redemption God avails of these simple souls to do much good to all mankind.
39. Before their return to Nazareth, St. Matthew tells us (2:13-23), the Holy Family fled to Egypt where they stayed for some time.
40. "Our Lord Jesus Christ as a child, that is, as one clothed in the fragility of human nature, had to grow and become stronger but as the eternal Word of God He had no need to become stronger or to grow. Hence He is rightly described as full of wisdom and grace" (St. Bede, "In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc.").
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