November 20, 2022
Gospel – December 30, 2019 – Luke 2:36-40
There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
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.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
My dad was 90 years old when he passed. Many people who knew our family when I was growing up knew my mother well. She was involved in everything. Not so my dad. He was the quiet one.
He had these green eyes that could penetrate to your very soul I felt. But he rarely said much. I think back now at what I learned from him even when I didn’t realize I was listening.
But he was always the one we went to to get advice.
Today we hear old Anna, a prophetess who spent all her days in the Temple praying and fasting – no one saw her – a Quiet One. But when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to present him at the Temple as prescribed there was Anna to give her Wisdom to the parents.
Anna was likely widowed in her early to mid twenties and entered the temple and now was eighty four. What wisdom she must have had. But no one really knew her.
Then Jesus goes home and for thirty years lives in obscurity in a tiny town and no one knew him until . . . well, you know.
Lord let me seek to be a good listener that I may be a sharer of your Wisdom.
Oh, happy birthday to me.
At least that’s what I heard Him say…
What I Heard Him Say 