There was also a prophetess, Anna . . . She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
One picture-perfect fall day, Nate and Mariana Kuhlman exchanged their marriage vows before God. Everything the two had prepared to make their day just right—from decorations to prayer—had now come to fruition. Surely, it was the happiest day of their lives.
Then, just three days into their wedded bliss, tragedy struck. The man whom Mariana had described as “the best thing that ever happened to her” died unexpectedly in a tragic waterskiing accident while on their honeymoon. Just like that, Mariana’s married life was over. She went from young bride, full of hopes and dreams for the future, to distraught widow—in an instant. Her devastation and grief could only have been surpassed by her utter shock.
Why would God allow this?
Then . . . a miracle took place. Weeks after the tragedy, Mariana discovered that in just those three short days of her marriage, she had become pregnant. The deep sorrow that she had experienced at the loss of her husband only made the stark contrast of her unexpected joy and gratitude all the more profound. Still, it was not as if the little one she now carried in her womb “made up” for the loss of her husband; no one can “replace” the love we have for another. But the child was certainly sent by God to Mariana and proved to her one thing: the Lord was with her in her suffering. The Lord’s intent was to draw good out of her pain.
In the great mystery that is suffering, one which we may never fully understand in this life, one thing is clear: if there is any “sense” to be made out of our suffering, the answer is often not revealed to us until later. Our mission, in the meantime, is to strive to trust.
Like Marianna, Anna the prophetess had just a short time as a bride before she was widowed. Though admittedly longer than the three days Marianna shared with her husband, Anna’s seven years of marriage would still have felt to her to be much too brief. Assuming Anna married at the customary age for a young girl of first century Israel, she would not have yet reached her twentieth birthday at the time of her husband’s death.
Scripture gives us no indication that she had given birth to children in those few short years as a wife; the only thing we know about Anna is that she “never” left the temple and that she worshipped “day and night” with fasting and prayer. The fact that Scripture mentions this detail about her life immediately after telling us that she was married for just seven years, then widowed until the age of eighty-four, suggests a causal relationship. In other words, her husband’s death, it would seem, was the precipitating factor that compelled Anna to head to the temple with such fervor, perseverance, and steadfast determination. Anna was on a mission, and it was one of which she neither tired nor could forget. It was tragedy that drove her to the temple; but it was her love of God—one which would have developed and grown deeper and deeper as time went on—that would have kept her there.
So why Anna specifically? Why would God call her to a life of intense penance and prayer, when she could have also grown in holiness as a married woman, living with her husband until they both reached the ripe old age of eighty-four? Did not Elizabeth and Zechariah manage great holiness together as an older couple? Why was Anna’s chosen path of holiness so different, so hard?
Well, there are a few other details that Scripture reveals to us about Anna, and they tell us a lot. Let’s imagine the scene. God has given Anna the gift of prophecy, that is, the ability to interpret what God is doing—or will do—in the mystifying events that befall us. Everyone in town knows Anna as the “Prophetess;” whatever she has interpreted and revealed to the people in the past to merit such a title, we do not know. But what we do know is that she is recognized by the community for her unceasing abiding in the temple. It would have been highly unusual behavior—enough so that the general consensus would have been that she was called there by God Himself; there could have been no other explanation. So on the day she finally emerges from the temple, everyone would have noticed—and everyone would have been paying attention, waiting with bated breath, to hear what Anna would have had to say after sixty plus years in ceaseless communication with the Lord.
What message did the Lord have for the people through His holy messenger Anna?
She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
First, Anna “gave thanks to God.” This woman who had been hiding in the cloistered life for so long would have come bursting through the doors with elation and gratitude! If the simple act of emerging were not enough, her exuberance would have caught the attention and curiosity of everyone witnessing this event. So what is the news she has to share? After all, Scripture has no recording whatsoever of any words that have left Anna’s mouth. But even though we do not know her precise words, we do know to whom she is speaking—and that tells us everything we need to know:
[Anna] spoke . . . to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
What else would one speak of to those who were awaiting a particular piece of information than the information itself? The only information the people are waiting to hear from the one who had spent over sixty years in the temple is information about their redemption. So what information does Anna tell them?
[She] spoke about the child . . .
The message Anna that had to reveal to the people of Jerusalem regarding their redemption after spending all those decades in prayer and penance . . . is that their redemption would come through this child about whom Simeon has just prophesied and now held in his arms! It is this newborn baby who would be their Messiah.
What the varied reactions of the bystanders must have been we can only imagine: awe, amazement, joy, confusion, doubt, fear . . . the possibilities are endless. But one thing is certain: for Anna, on this glorious day, the tragic loss of her husband those many decades ago now would have all made sense in God’s plan of salvation. Her suffering was “as nothing compared to the glory” that was to come (Rom. 8:18); and indeed, was already here.
Author’s Note: Excerpt from The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home, Ordinary Time (Weeks 1-7). To purchase, visit Amazon or The Catholic Company, where all other volumes currently in print are also available.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
