Today, we hear the last part of the Gospel that
we heard on Sunday on the Feast of the Holy Family. The prophetess Anna is described as an elderly
widow who spends every moment she can in the Temple. Her prayer life, her
fasting, and her communion with God became the focus of her whole life. She sees Jesus and his parents in the Temple and
she is overcome with joy. Anna sees what others cannot see. She sees the redemption of Israel. Through the lens of our faith, we’re also called
to see things that others cannot see. Those who do not follow the Way of Jesus often
do not see things that we do. Anna fulfilled her calling from God through the
course of many years. So many in our modern world who struggle with
patience; they lose faith or hope if something does not happen immediately or
does not go in the expected way. In Anna, we see a woman whose quiet patience and
persistence kept her coming to the Temple day after day, to wait for the
Messiah until he appeared and to be there when he did come. I remember the last time I started the Camino, a
walk of four weeks with a group of three others. From the first day of our hiking, I realized that
our goals and our hiking styles were very different. It was starting out very differently from
what I expected. In those first few days on the Camino, I thought:
Maybe this was not a good idea. Maybe
this is going to be a very long Camino. However,
when we all found our ground and learned to be patient with ourselves and with
each other, we grew to really appreciate our Camino experience together and
learn a great deal from each other. How can we be more patient and persistent in our
lives of faith like the prophetess Anna?
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