Pope Francis has designated today’s feastday of Sts. Joachim and Anne as “World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly.” The Holy Father has asked us to be mindful of “those who have passed on history, traditions, customs, and so many other riches to us.” He urges young people, especially, to stay in contact with their grandparents, comparing this practice to a “tree that takes strength from the roots and carries it forward in flowers and fruits. Each of us has grandfathers and grandmothers, some are gone, some are alive; let us remember them today in a special way.”
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The Bible does not say anything about the parents of St. Mary. The traditional belief that they were Joachim, a shepherd from the tribe of Judah, and Ann from the tribe of Levi, is taken from the legendary source written more than a century after Jesus died. According to that source, St. Mary was born to her parents in their old age as a gift from God for their fervent and persistent prayer for a child. Her parents offered her to the Temple and, as it was the custom, she was entrusted to the custody of pious widows who assisted the priests in the Temple worship. They taught Mary the prayers, hymns, psalms, and services in the Temple until she became a teenager. Her parents then gave her in marriage to St. Joseph, the carpenter.
Sts. Joachim and Anne are said to have continued their lives of prayer until God called them home. They transmitted the faith to St. Mary and helped her develop all her good qualities, like trust in God’s providence, humility, love of the Word of God, and a spirit of committed and loving service. They loyally performed their duties, practiced their faith, and established an atmosphere for the coming of the Messiah, but all the while they remained obscure and out of the limelight.
Let us pray. “Lord, God of our ancestors in the faith, you bestowed on Sts. Joachim and Anne your abundant grace. Of them was born the Mother of your Son. Grant, through their prayers, that we may come to embrace the salvation you have promised to your people from the beginning of time. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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For news from the Holy Father’s Visit to the Indigenous People of Canada:
