December 30, 2025 Tuesday in the Octave of Christmas
Daily Readings: 1 John 2:12-17; Luke 2:36-40
Children of God: The Chinese bamboo is one of nature’s most remarkable teacher of patience. After the seed is planted, it takes up to five years before it breaks through the ground. For all that time, nothing seems to happen. Yet beneath the surface, the plant is forming strong roots: deep, steady, and ready to sustain future growth. Then, once it finally emerges, it grows about 90 feet tall in just six weeks. Those silent years underground were not wasted time; they were years of preparation. Like the bamboo, our faith grows strong when we learn to wait and trust in silence.
In the gospel of Luke, we meet Anna, a prophetess who spent her life in prayer and fasting at the temple. She was eighty-four years old and had been waiting faithfully for the coming of the Messiah. When the child Jesus was brought to the temple, Anna immediately recognized Him and gave thanks to God. Her long years of prayer were rewarded, for she had learned to wait not with frustration, but with faith. Her patience allowed her to see what many others missed, the Savior standing right before her.
Anna’s life reminds us that waiting is not weakness, but a sacred act of trust. In prayer, we may not always see results right away, but God is always at work beneath the surface of our lives, strengthening our roots in faith. The answers to our prayers may take time, but the waiting transforms us. Like the bamboo, what is hidden for years prepares us for the growth that is to come.
Many people today give up too easily: on prayer, on hope, or on others because they do not see instant results. But God’s timetable is not ours. What matters most is not how long we wait, but how faithfully we do so. Every moment of patience, every quiet prayer, every act of trust is like watering the seed of grace within us. When the right time comes, God makes all things bloom beautifully.
Children of God: Let us learn from the prophetess Anna and the lesson of the bamboo: to wait faithfully, to pray consistently, and to trust completely. In God’s perfect time, His promises will break through the ground of our waiting hearts and grow into blessings beyond measure.
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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