Like many of us, Simeon and Anna were in the second half of life. Yet, their age did not diminish their ability to discern the presence of the long-awaited Messiah! Why were they so perceptive in recognizing the Promised Messiah in a little child presented by an outwardly ordinary young couple simply fulfilling the law? Their years of prayer and devotion shaped them into welcoming receptacles for the indwelling Spirit. And prompted by the Spirit, Anna and Simeon blessed and thanked God for their encounter of the Promised One (in the guise of a little child) and spoke about this child who would bring about the salvation of Israel. Anna and Simeon have much to teach us.

Anna'a and Simeon's pattern of life-long formation is echoed in our SSJ Constitutions when it calls for our gradual transformation through choices influenced by grace and repeated over a lifetime (#146)?

Am I truly convinced of my need for life-long learning/formation?

What choices lie before me that will open me to discern more readily the Spirit's promptings?

How will I nourish an attitude of soul to perceive Christ in unexpected places, perplexing persons, painful situations?

Fran DiLisle, ssj

 print