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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
We all have a unique and sacred calling given to us from God. Each
one of us is called to fulfill that calling with generosity and
wholehearted commitment. As the famous prayer of Saint John Henry
Newman puts it:
God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has
committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I
have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be
told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection
between persons…
Anna, the prophetess, was given a very unique, one-of-a-kind
mission. When she was young, she was married for seven years. Then
after losing her husband, she remained a widow until she was
eighty-four. During those decades of her life, the Scripture
reveals that “She never left the temple, but worshiped night and
day with fasting and prayer.” What an incredible calling from
God!
Anna’s unique calling was to be a prophetess. She fulfilled this
calling by allowing her whole life to be a symbol of the Christian
vocation. Her life was spent in prayer, fasting and, most
especially, in anticipation. God called her to wait, year after
year, decade after decade, for the one and definitive moment of her
life: her encounter with the Christ Child in the Temple.
Anna’s prophetic life tells us that we each must live our lives in
such a way that our ultimate goal is to continually prepare for the
moment when we meet our divine Lord in the Temple of Heaven. Unlike
Anna, most are not called to literal fasting and prayer every day
all day within the church buildings. But like Anna, we must all
foster an interior life of ongoing prayer and penance, and we must
direct all of our actions in life to the praise and glory of God
and the salvation of our souls. Though the way this universal
vocation is lived out will be unique to each and every person,
Anna’s life is nonetheless a symbolic prophecy of every
vocation.
Reflect, today, upon how well you imitate this holy woman in your
own life. Do you foster an interior life of prayer and penance and
daily seek to devote yourself to the glory of God and the salvation
of your soul? Evaluate your life this day in light of the wonderful
prophetic life of Anna that we are given to ponder.
Lord, I thank You for the powerful witness of the prophetess
Anna. May her lifelong devotion to You, a life of continual prayer
and sacrifice, be a model and inspiration for me and for all who
follow You. I pray that You daily reveal to me the unique way in
which I am called to live out my vocation to total dedication to
You. Jesus, I trust in You.
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Featured image above: Simeon in the Temple
by Rembrandt, via Wikimedia Commons
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