Luke 2:36–40
And there was a prophetess,
Anna, the daughter of Phanu-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age,
having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow
till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with
fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave
thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of
Jerusalem.
And when they had performed
everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to
their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with
wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. [1]
Catholic
Exegesis:
The Second
Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the
sacred texts, attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the
unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and
the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture
is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the
divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the
Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul
II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of
catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic
Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."
He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith
and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in
the Catechism:
Passages from this Gospel reading are
cited in Catechism,
paragraphs 529, 583, and 711.
Commentary:
Anna
the prophetess
2:36–38.
Anna’s testimony is very similar to Simeon’s; like him, she too has been
awaiting the coming of the Messiah her whole life long, in faithful service of
God, and she too is rewarded with the joy of seeing him. She spoke of him, that
is, of the Child—praising God in her prayer and exhorting others to believe
that this Child is the Messiah.
Thus,
the birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different
ways—first, by the shepherds, after the angel’s announcement; second, by the
Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired
by the Holy Spirit.
All
who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no
matter how insignificant their lives seem in men’s eyes, become instruments the
Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to others. In his plan of redemption God
avails of these simple souls to do much good to all mankind.
The
childhood of Jesus
2:39.
Before their return to Nazareth, St Matthew tells us (2:13–23), the Holy Family
fled to Egypt where they stayed for some time.
2:40. “Our Lord Jesus Christ as
a child, that is, as one clothed in the fragility of human nature, had to grow
and become stronger but as the eternal Word of God he had no need to become
stronger or to grow. Hence he is rightly described as full of wisdom and grace”
(St Bede, In Lucae Evangelium expositio,
in loc.).[2]
Source: The Navarre Bible:
Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and
New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of
Navarre, Spain.
Published
by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter
Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study.
See Scepter
Publishers for details.
"Ignorance
of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
[1]
Catholic Lectionary (Bellingham, WA:
Logos Bible Software, 2009).
in loc. in locum,
commentary on this passage
[2]
Saint Luke’s Gospel, The Navarre
Bible (Dublin; New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers, 2005), 49–50.
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