First Reading - 1 John 2:12-17
Gospel - Luke 2:36-40
Growing in faith is not about escaping the world, but about learning how to live in it with clarity, freedom, and love. Many people feel pulled in different directions—by expectations, ambitions, fears, and desires—and wonder what it really means to belong to God. Today’s readings speak gently but firmly into that tension and offer a wisdom that helps us live with purpose.
The First Reading from 1 John speaks to believers at different stages of life: children, young people, and elders. Each is affirmed, not for achievements or status, but for relationship with God. Forgiveness, strength, and perseverance are named as signs of genuine faith. Then comes a clear warning: do not give your heart to what cannot last. The world John speaks of is not creation itself, but a way of living driven by self-gratification, pride, and possession. These things promise fulfillment, but they fade quickly. What endures is doing the will of God.
This message is deeply relevant. Much of our anxiety comes from investing ourselves too fully in what is temporary—approval, success, control, or comparison. John does not condemn desire itself; he redirects it. Our hearts are made for something lasting. When we attach them only to what passes away, we lose our sense of direction. Faith calls us to freedom, not by taking life away from us, but by teaching us what is truly worth holding onto.
The Gospel from Luke gives us a living example of this wisdom in the figure of Anna. She is elderly, widowed, and outwardly insignificant by the world’s standards. Yet she is deeply alive in faith. Her life is centered on prayer, worship, and hope. When the child Jesus is brought to the temple, Anna immediately recognizes what others might overlook. She sees fulfillment, not because her life has been easy, but because it has been focused.
Anna shows us that a life rooted in God does not shrink with age or limitation. It becomes clearer. She does not cling to what she has lost; she rejoices in what God is doing. Her joy overflows into praise and witness. She speaks to others about the child because hope, when real, is meant to be shared.
Dear friends, the readings offer a powerful invitation. Let go of what drains the heart, and make room for what gives life. Faith grows when our loves are ordered rightly. When God comes first, other things find their proper place.
This is not about withdrawing from the world, but about living in it without being owned by it. It is about choosing depth over distraction, faithfulness over accumulation, hope over restlessness. Like Anna, we are invited to remain attentive, to keep praying, to keep trusting, and to recognize God’s presence even when it arrives quietly.
When we stop clinging to what passes away, we become free to rejoice in what lasts. And in that freedom, our lives begin to speak hope to others, simply because we have learned where true life is found.
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