I think one could study the Beatitudes for many years due to the rich language and imagery. The first Beatitude was a mystery to me for years; “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Finally, I understood that those who understand that faith and belief are not things we possess on our own; but faith and belief are graces granted to us by God.
We need to stop thinking it is what we do, but rather who we are that deepens our relationship with God. All of human creation is loved by God and all must rely on Him to be renewed as in the book of Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
To Quiet One’s Soul
Anna, the prophetess we read of in today’s Gospel, illustrates the soul that recognizes one must rely on God’s graces. She emptied herself of all material distractions to be open to God and God alone. Anna quieted her soul by moving away from her community into the temple where she fasted and prayed for years. All her actions were focused on what she knew to be essential.
Then lo and behold, the King of Heaven came to her. Was she surprised that He came as a baby in the arms of his mother? We do not know if Anna had knowledge of the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah or Micah that prophesied an infant born of a virgin in Bethlehem wherein, she might have recognized her Savior. We must imagine that from her many years of fasting and prayer, God graced her with that knowledge. How amazing that her name in Hebrew can be translated as “God has favored me.”
To Seek the Essential
Sometimes I envy those contemplative orders that are dedicated to prayer, worship and union with God living lives of solitude, spiritual reading, and manual labor. Like Anna, they have stepped away from the world. But that is not the life I was called to lead.
As a wife, mother of four, and grandmother of three I must work on developing a poverty of spirit in the world. Like Anna I need to recognize what is essential and to who I truly belong. I pray that all of us in the new year can deepen our faith by relying on God’s graces in our family and our community.
