Walking In Peace

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This week we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. This holy family heads to Jerusalem (from Nazareth we suppose from the end of the gospel). It is time to present Jesus in the temple. We are introduced to a couple of characters who have been waiting patiently at the temple for the Christ to appear there. No disappointment for Simeon as he takes Jesus in his arms and pronounces his canticle of salvation to the whole world as promised by the “Master”. 

Anna on the other hand, who is identified by her father and the lost tribe of Asher, the eighth son of Jacob, gets no direct dialogue. She apparently gives thanks to God and echos Simeon by speaking of redemption but only that of Jerusalem. 

I would consider Anna to be an Old Testament prophetess since she was awaiting the Messiah for 84 years (long before Jesus’ birth). Other Old Testament prophetesses sung the praises of God as a sort of preview to Jesus’ coming. Miriam, Aaron’s sister was considered a prophetess in Exodus 15:20-21. She took up the tambourine with other women and led them in a refrain from the song of Moses (which begins Exodus 15) praising God for the salvation of the Israelites over the Egyptians. 

Having great expectations of salvation is an underlying theme of scripture and something we can mirror in our prayer life as we read the Word of God.