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Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Luke 2:36-40

I started visiting monasteries on silent retreat when I’d been married only a year. We were pregnant with our first child after six months, so in those early years, I was adjusting to being a new wife and a new mom. My husband suggested a silent retreat and, let’s just say, he didn’t have to ask me twice.

I loved sitting in the side chambers while the monks chanted the divine office. I missed my family, but I found monastic life quite attractive. No, I don’t think I missed my vocational call; I just think my weary soul craved quiet. And it craved a closeness with Jesus I was ready to fully invest in.

In today’s reading, the prophetess Anna gets a short taste of married life but then spends the next several decades at the temple, worshiping God.

Anna knows something few others know. The child is nearly here. Now, at the very end of her life, she plays her final performance to perfection. Because there are no newspapers, no social media, and no batteries for the megaphone. Anna must tell everyone the news. The redeemer of Jerusalem has finally come! He’s here. The wait is over.

My husband and I now have four children. The oldest is away at college. I still go away on silent retreats, but now I’m adjusting to watching my little birds transition out of the nest. Jesus is close to hold my hand when I get caught up short thinking of an empty house. In a few years, I won’t have to go away to find the silence. Like Anna, the older I get, the more inclined I am to share the good news: He’s here, dwelling inside us! Here, in the Eucharist! The wait is over. We are redeemed.

 

Ponder:

 

Have you ever considered visiting a monastery to make a silent retreat? 

 

Pray:


Lord, keep us hungry for You so we might find You waiting for us in new and unexpected places. Inspire in us a desire to spend time alone with You in silence so we may hear Your still, quiet voice.

 



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Copyright 2025 Natalie Hanemann

 

About the Author

Natalie Hanemann

Natalie Hanemann

Natalie Hanemann earned an M.A. in Theology from Franciscan University. As a wife and mom of four, she is obsessed with reading, hiking, and talking about God. She has worked as a book editor for 25 years and also ghostwrites. Her first book, on spiritual intimacy, is slated to come out some time before Jesus returns, God willing. Subscribe to her blog by visiting NatalieHanemann.com.