30 December 2026 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38
After Simeon comes Anna, a prophet, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, a widow of great age. She “never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” A whole life of faithful prayer prepares her to recognise the child at once. She becomes one of the first evangelists: she praises God and speaks about the child to everyone waiting for redemption.
Luke places a man and a woman, Simeon and Anna, side by side as witnesses; both elderly, both full of the Spirit. The elderly have a mission in the Church: to pray, to remember and to pass on the faith (Pope Francis, catecheses on old age, 2022). The first reading warns that “the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.” Then the Holy Family returns to Nazareth, and “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom”.
Theme: “She spoke about the child.”
Anna's faithful prayer, her joyful witness, and the quiet growth of Jesus at Nazareth.
“even to your old age I am he, even when you turn gray I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” Isaiah 46:4
“There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” Luke 2:36–37
Apply: Pray for the elderly in your parish.
“Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” Joel 2:28
“At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38
Apply: Speak to one person about Jesus this week.
“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” Proverbs 22:6
“When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” Luke 2:39–40
Apply: Teach a child a prayer this week.
A life of prayer leads to joyful witness.
The world passes; God's will remains.
Take-home resolution: Thank an elderly person who taught you the faith.
Dear friends, St John writes to Christians of every age: I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven; to you, fathers, because you know him; to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one (1 John 2:12–14). Every generation has its place in God's family.
Then he warns: do not love the world or the things in the world. The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches, comes not from the Father. The world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever (1 John 2:15–17).
In the Gospel we meet Anna, a prophet, eighty-four years old, a widow who never left the Temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:36–38).
Anna was a widow for most of her life. She could have become bitter. Instead, she made her loneliness into prayer. And because she was praying, she was there at the right moment to meet the Messiah.
Then the Gospel says: the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him (Luke 2:40). The Son of God grew up slowly, in an ordinary home in Nazareth.
At the end of this year, let us examine what we love: the passing things of the world, or the will of God that lasts for ever? Let us honour the widows and elderly in our parish, and learn from Anna to turn loneliness into prayer and praise. Amen.
Children, Anna was very old and prayed every day. Thank God for your grandparents who pray for you!
Lord, give me Anna's faithfulness in prayer and her joy in speaking of your Son. Keep me from loving what is passing away, and let me do your will, that I may live forever. Amen.
John writes to the whole community, young and old, to remind them of what they already have: forgiveness, knowledge of God, strength against evil. Then he warns them not to set their hearts on what is passing away. Luke shows us someone who has done exactly that. Anna, a widow of great age, has given her life to God in the Temple, and she is ready when the child comes.
Setting.
The passage falls into two parts. A short, almost poetic section addresses the believers as children, fathers and young people, and is full of encouragement. A sharp warning follows about love of “the world”. Encouragement comes first, because John is not writing to people who are lost.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” (2:14)
John first tells the young what is true of them. Their strength lies in the word of God that lives in them, and not in their own force.
“the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches” (2:16)
Many commentators compare the tree in Genesis 3:6, which was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desired to make one wise.
“And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.” (2:17)
On the second-last day of the calendar year this is a good sentence to read slowly. Whatever is done for God stays.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism names these three desires when it speaks of the harmony lost by sin (CCC 377) and explains that St John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence (CCC 2514). The Church does not despise the world God made. Vatican II says plainly that Christians are to work in the world and order it toward God (Lumen Gentium 31). The warning is about where the heart rests.
Setting.
Luke likes to set a woman next to a man: Zechariah and Mary, Simeon and Anna. Two witnesses are given, as the law asked (Deuteronomy 19:15). Anna is of the tribe of Asher, a northern tribe. Her presence means that the whole of Israel, even from the scattered tribes, is present in the Temple to greet the child.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.” (2:36)
Her name is the Hebrew Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and it comes from a root meaning grace or favour. Phanuel means “face of God”. Beyond this brief notice, nothing more is known of her.
“She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” (2:37)
Not a wasted old age. A life of prayer was the hidden preparation for this one moment, of which she could not have known the date.
“At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (2:38)
Her words are not recorded. She finds those who are waiting and tells them. This is the simplest form of evangelization.
“When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” (2:39)
The Son of God goes back to thirty hidden years. God's great work continues in a small town.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that with Simeon and Anna all Israel awaits its encounter with the Savior (CCC 529). Since apostolic times the Church has honoured Christian widows and virgins who, called by the Lord to cling only to him, have given their lives to God (CCC 922). In every parish there are Annas, elderly people of daily Mass and the rosary, and their prayer holds up more than we can see.
Luke has the family go back to Nazareth. Where is the flight into Egypt that Matthew tells of?
Each Evangelist selects his material for his own purpose. Luke does not mention Egypt, and Matthew does not mention the Presentation. The Gospels do not give a complete timetable of these years, and the Church has not bound us to one way of fitting them together. Both accounts teach the same faith.