Reflect today on how you imitate the prophetess Anna in your life

There was a prophetess, Anna ... She never left the temple, but she worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And at that moment, stepping forward, he gave thanks to God and spoke of the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2: 36–38

We all have a unique and sacred call that has been given to us by God. Each of us is called to fulfill that call with generosity and sincere commitment. As the famous prayer of St. John Henry Newman says:

God created me to do Him a definite service. He entrusted me with a job that he did not entrust to another. I have my mission. I may never know in this life, but I will tell me in the next. They are a link in a chain, a bond of connection between people ...

Anna, the prophetess, was entrusted with a truly unique and unique mission. When she was young, she was married for seven years. Then, after losing her husband, she was widowed until the age of eighty-four. During those decades of his life, Scripture reveals that he "never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer." What an incredible call from God!

Anna's unique vocation was to be a prophetess. He fulfilled this call by letting his whole life be a symbol of the Christian vocation. His life was spent in prayer, fasting and, above all, waiting. God called her to await, year after year, decade after decade, the unique and definitive moment of her life: her encounter with the Child Jesus in the Temple.

Anna's prophetic life tells us that each of us must live our lives in such a way that our ultimate goal is to continually prepare for the moment when we will meet our divine Lord in the Temple of Heaven. Unlike Anna, most are not called to fast and literal prayer every day all day inside the church buildings. But like Anna, we must all foster an interior life of continuous prayer and penance, and we must direct all our actions in life to the praise and glory of God and the salvation of our souls. Even if the way in which this universal vocation will be lived will be unique for each person, Anna's life is nevertheless a symbolic prophecy of each vocation.

Reflect today on how you imitate this holy woman in your life. Do you promote an interior life of prayer and penance and do you seek every day to dedicate yourself to the glory of God and the salvation of your soul? Evaluate your life today in light of Anna's wonderful prophetic life on which we have been given the task of reflecting.

Lord, I thank you for the powerful testimony of the prophetess Anna. May his lifelong devotion to You, a life of continuous prayer and sacrifice, be a model and inspiration for me and for all who follow You. I pray that each day will reveal to me the unique way in which I am called to live my vocation of total dedication to you. Jesus I believe in you.