What does our faith call us to do? We can approach their faith by looking at the obligations and demands it puts on us. We can look at how God is joyfully calling us to out our faith as a disciple and a servant. Or, we can look at the bare minimum we must do in order to live out their faith, not going beyond that. As a priest, it edifies me to see Catholics who feel called by the Holy Spirit to specific devotions and practices, such as those who pray weekly in the presence of the blessed sacrament in adoration, or those of you who faithfully come to the daily mass to be fed by the Eucharist and God's holy word, or those who come to the First Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Today, we hear of a widow named Anna who never left the Temple area. She worshipped God through fasting and prayer day and night. Anna did this due to a calling she felt from God, since she would have been able to persevere in such deep devotion without her faith or without a call from God. While many were not able to recognize Jesus as the Son of God in the midst of his public ministry, Anna and Simeon instantly recognized Jesus as the child who would bring redemption to the people of Israel as foretold by the prophets. We're told that Anna was a prophetess herself: her act of love and prophecy call out to us today.
Where is God calling us to live out our faith? Where are we called to go beyond the bare minimum? Just as Anna saw Jesus' true identity in the little baby who was brought to the Temple by his family in accordance to Jewish law for the Jewish purification ritual, where do we see Jesus in our world today? Where is Jesus present among us?
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