December 30, Saturday The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas
Daily Readings: First reading: 1 John 2: 12 – 17; Gospel: Luke 2: 36 – 40
Among all four evangelists, Luke is considered to be a skilled writer. One of the characteristics of a skilled writer is being impartial and balanced. He or she should not lean on one side, leaving the other. Such a fine balance is seen in the gospel of Luke.
Let us reflect on one such fine balance that we see in the gospel of Luke. It is to give importance to both men and women. In a time in which men were everything and women were considered to be nothing, Luke, in his gospel, accorded equal status to women. Let us see a few examples: The annunciation of a childbirth through an angel is first given to a man (Zachariah), and immediately Luke balances it with the annunciation to a woman (Mary).
On the forty-first day after his birth, Simeon received Jesus and was blessed in the Jerusalem temple. Immediately Luke mentions the presence of an insignificant old woman (Anna) who did exactly the same thing Simeon did: 'She praised God and spoke about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.’ (the gospel today) In general, Luke balances the Joseph-centered infancy narrative of Matthew with his Mary-centered infancy narrative. Throughout the Lukan gospel, we find such a fine balance—along with men, women were also healed, women disciples along with men disciples (Lk 8:1–3), the man who lost his sheep, and the woman who lost her coin (Lk 15:1–10).
The reason for mentioning the above is to help us become aware of how, in our lives, we need to balance different aspects of our lives. It is the overemphasis on one aspect over the other that creates a lot of trouble. There are quite a few of us who find it difficult to strike a balance between the animus (male aspect) and the anima (female aspect) in us. There are also people who over-emphasize materialism over spirituality and social relationships at the cost of personal development, and so on. The maturity of a person involves balancing and integrating different, even opposite, aspects of life in a healthy way.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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