Christmas Octave – 6th Day: Saturday 30th December, 2023 December 30, 2023
Reflection on the WORD
Prophetess Anna – Faith: In today’s Gospel, Anna the prophetess who served the Temple of Jerusalem; night and day, and with fasting and prayers, was specially blessed by God to see the Infant Messiah; and praised God. Ponder on: When our hearts and lives love and serve God and His Will with deep dedication, God will never fail to reward us personally.
Luke 2:36-40
There was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity and he was filled with wisdom; and God's favour was with him.
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- Anna, a very devout woman of God, was able to sense the presence of God and the divinity in the child Jesus. She was even in touch with the Spirit to prophesy what is to happen to Jesus.
- This gift to be able to sense the presence of God and the deeper meaning of life is also found in our lives if we focus on God deeply enough in our daily living.
- Whenever God seems to be far away from us or when we seem to have drifted from God in our living, we can be sure that we have over- focused on our self-centered needs instead of the God of our life.