The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the Wisdom in our spiritual tradition and use our specific experience of God to guide our action in bringing “Good News” to all people.
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| Bringing "Good News" |
The reading from the First Letter of John warns members of the community not to love things opposed to Christ.
* [2:15] The world: all that is hostile toward God and alienated from him. Love of the world and love of God are thus mutually exclusive; cf. Jas 4:4.1
Psalm 96 is a hymn that ascribes to the Lord, just ruler of all, worship.
* [Psalm 96] A hymn inviting all humanity to praise the glories of Israel’s God (Ps 96:1–3), who is the sole God (Ps 96:4–6). To the just ruler of all belongs worship (Ps 96:7–10);2
In Gospel of Luke the parents of Jesus, as devout Jews, attend to the appropriate rites following birth in the Temple and return to Nazareth.
* [2:22–40] The presentation of Jesus in the temple depicts the parents of Jesus as devout Jews, faithful observers of the law of the Lord (Lk 2:23–24, 39), i.e., the law of Moses. In this respect, they are described in a fashion similar to the parents of John (Lk 1:6) and Simeon (Lk 2:25) and Anna (Lk 2:36–37).3
Scott McClure reflects that an airport is a fascinating place. It is a city unto itself. It has restaurants, clothing stores, book stores, bars, and chiropractic kiosks. It has wifi and outlets to charge your devices. And Starbucks! It has seemingly everything a person would need to survive. (except fresh air!) (The 2004 Tom hanks movie, The Terminal explores just what it might mean to live in an airport, in fact.)
Today, Luke tells us of Anna whose orientation toward the worship of God is the necessity of her life, her fresh air. Anna, quite clearly, has heeded that the world and its enticement are passing away. The airport is a convenient microcosm of the world's enticement. It features in bright lights the materialism and distraction that can pervade our lives wherever we are, and in a particular way during the Christmas season.
During this Octave of Christmas, let us take our cue from Anna. Jesus has been born in a manger. The King of Kings. Our fresh air. The necessity of our lives. Let us recognize that A holy day has dawned upon us and breathe in the fresh air that has entered our world with the birth of Christ.4
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus, though rich, became poor for us,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.
"Anna, who, by reason of her years of widowhood and her virtues, is set before us as wholly worthy of belief, announces that the Redeemer of all people has come... Not without purpose, however, does he make mention of the eighty-four years of her widowhood, because both the seven twelves and the two forties seemed to imply a number that is sacred." (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 2.62)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 2:36-40 comments that when she came to the Temple on this special day, Anna’s years of prayerful waiting had sharpened her awareness so that she recognized Jesus as her long-awaited Messiah. With the boldness that comes from prayer, she wasn’t shy about pointing him out to people. And because they knew her so well, they listened.
You can probably identify some seasoned parishioners like Anna in your church. Their stories remind you of God’s goodness and faithfulness. They listen attentively to your concerns. They intercede and help lift the burdens of the people around them.
So keep your eyes open for the “Annas” out there. Take the time to thank them for all the ways they act as a positive influence on their surroundings—and on you.6
Friar Jude Winkler comments that the children, young people, and adults in the letter of John probably refer to stages of spiritual development. The dualistic tone of the letter is a starting point for exploration of pastoral response. Friar Jude reminds us of the rites of purification for Mary and redemption for Jesus that are presented in the Gospel.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that anything called “Good News” needs to reveal a universal pattern that can be relied upon, and not just clannish patterns that might be occasionally true. This is probably why Christianity’s break with ethnic Judaism was inevitable, although never intended by either Jesus or Paul, and why by the early second century Christians were already calling themselves “catholics” or “the universals.” They believed God is leading all of history somewhere larger and broader and better for all of humanity… God’s grace cannot be a random problem-solver doled out to the few and the virtuous—or it is hardly grace at all! (See Ephesians 2:7-10 if you want the radical meaning of grace summed up in three succinct verses.)
For me, a true comprehension of the full Christ Mystery is the key to the foundational reform of the Christian religion. Understanding the expansive reality of Christ will move us beyond any attempts to corral or capture God into our exclusive group. As the New Testament dramatically puts it, “Before the world was made, we have been chosen in Christ . . . claimed as God’s own, and chosen from the very beginning” (Ephesians 1:4, 11) “so that God could bring everything together, in heaven and on earth, as a plan for the fullness of times” (1:10). If all of this is true, we have a theological basis for a very natural religion that includes everybody. The problem was solved from the beginning.7
The rites and wisdom in our spiritual tradition are a seed for contemplation of the experiences of God that become our witness to the “Good News”.
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