Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.
Today's Gospel: Luke 2:36-40
This Gospel reminds me that one of the fruits of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, by way of Mary and Joseph as observant Jews who presented Jesus at the temple, was obedience. Compare this with a childless widow’s obedience to the Lord in the very same place: "[She] worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer”, as she hopefully waits the redemption of Jerusalem. Together, we have a beautiful - yet different - picture of what obedience to the Lord looks like.
Mary and Joseph show us obedience time and again through their fiat as individuals and their fiat as a couple, especially in this gospel where they bring Jesus to "fulfill all the prescriptions of the Lord."
Anna demonstrates, through her unceasing fasting and prayer, a complete trust in God’s faithfulness to His people in bringing forth a messiah.
As Christians, obedience is what we are compelled to give and yet it is perhaps the hardest thing for us to do, because obedience requires humility. Obedience requires an awareness of what is right, what is just, what is of and for the other. Anna shows us that holy obedience and patience will bear much fruit if we but trust. Mary and Joseph show us the fruit of a different kind of obedience. “Yes, Lord I will."
Ponder:
Where do you find you struggle the most with obedience to God?
Pray:
Lord, help me to understand that obedience to You means freedom from self and that in dying to self I will find true happiness and peace.
Copyright 2021 Laura K. Roland
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