Luke 2,36-40 – Sixth day between the Octave of Christmas
On today’s Gospel page there is also Anna in the Temple. It’s not enough to know how to wait like Simeone, you also have to stay. Anna does not pass, does not visit, does not just pass through: she dwells. She lost everything that could give her security, her husband, her future, a normal life, and instead of closing herself in disappointment, she transformed her wound into a habitable space for God. Anna is the image of someone who doesn’t run away from pain, but goes through it without ceasing to love. He doesn’t take refuge in resentment, he doesn’t freeze in “that’s how it happened”. It remains. And remaining, pray, fast, worship. Not to escape from reality, but to learn to look at it with new eyes. And so, when Jesus arrives, Anna recognizes him. Because those who remain faithful to the little are capable of recognizing the much when it arrives. Those who have learned to live in silence know how to recognize the Word when it speaks. She is not a woman who has had everything, she is a woman who has not lost the essentials. The Gospel says that he speaks about Jesus to all those who were waiting for redemption. It’s beautiful: Anna doesn’t keep her joy to herself, she shares it. Those who have truly encountered God do not become possessive, but generative. It doesn’t say “it’s mine”, but “it’s for everyone”. Anna is not a young woman, she is not strong, she is not powerful. She is old, fragile, invisible. Yet it is she who announces the future. Because in the logic of God, age doesn’t matter, it’s the heart that matters. It doesn’t matter how much you have, but how much you are willing to trust, because God almost never comes as a spectacular break. It arrives as a discreet presence that can only be recognized by those who have learned to stay. And Anna, who remained in the Temple all her life, becomes the first witness that that Child is the answer to every expectation.
