To all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem

30 DECEMBER (Lk 2,36-40)

Narrating the works of God. This is the true path of evangelization and announcement.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You. “All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name.” Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us rejoice in Him! He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, Who keeps us in life And does not allow our feet to slip. For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance. I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings; I shall pay You my vows, Which my lips uttered And my mouth spoke when I was in distress. I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts, With the smoke of rams; I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah. Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His loving-kindness from me (Psalm 66 (65),1-20).

Narrating what God has done for us, makes the faith start in our hearts. However, it is not a matter of telling what God has done to others, but what he has done to us.

Now Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel: how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. So his father-in-law Jethro took along Zipporah, Moses’ wife, whom Moses had sent back to him, and her two sons. One of these was called Gershom; for he said, “I am a stranger in a foreign land.” The other was called Eliezer; for he said, “My father’s God is my helper; he has rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword.” Together with Moses’ wife and sons, then, his father-in-law Jethro came to him in the desert where he was encamped near the mountain of God, and he sent word to Moses, “I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons.” Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down before him, and kissed him. Having greeted each other, they went into the tent. Moses then told his father-in-law of all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of all the hardships they had had to endure on their journey, and how the Lord had come to their rescue. Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness that the Lord had shown Israel in rescuing them from the hands of the Egyptians. “Blessed be the Lord,” he said, “who has rescued his people from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is a deity great beyond any other; for he took occasion of their being dealt with insolently to deliver the people from the power of the Egyptians.” Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brought a holocaust and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to participate with Moses’ father-in-law in the meal before God (Ex 18,1-12).

We have rationalized God, we locked him in some wonderful theological works, in most high and complicated systems of thought. Jesus told the Father’s works by performing them. My father does these things and he did them. Anna, the prophetess tells and speaks of the true God, proclaims the last great events of salvation. She speaks of the redemption that is happening before their eyes. She speaks of the God present in life, today and in this time. She sees in that Child the fulfillment of the divine promises. Either one talks of the God present and active, or our word is not needed.

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Today, Anna teaches us how evangelism is done: talking, narrating, telling, conversing of her God that is among us for our salvation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us how to speak of God.