St. Joachim & Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today the Church recalls the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne.

Not much is known about Joachim and Anne other than from folklore and apocryphal writings. What we do know is that God’s plan of salvation history and the ability for all of us to become saints one day is shaped and molded in our hearts by those who surround us. The parents of Mary and her ability to say yes to God’s will must have had a profound impact in her upbringing. Oftentimes, we as a culture take for granted the role of the family unit and how our domestic church at home calls us to something greater – to be open to God’s will and to be Saints! Mary’s parents taught her the ways of the Lord in which she had the courage to say yes to God and bring forth Christ Jesus into our life as the Virgin Mother, undefiled, & Queen of Heaven that she is.

Saint John Damascene offers this reflection on the parents of Mary, the theotokos (God-bearer) of our Lord Jesus:

Joachim and Anne, how chaste a couple! While safeguarding the chastity prescribed by the law of nature, you achieved with God’s help something which transcends nature in giving the world the Virgin Mother of God as your daughter. While leading a devout and holy life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the angels, whose queen she now is. Girl of utter beauty and delight, daughter of Adam and mother of God, blessed the loins and blessed the womb from which you come! Blessed the arms that carried you, and blessed your parents’ lips, which you were allowed to cover with chaste kisses, ever maintaining your virginity. Rejoice in God, all the earth. Sing, exult and sing hymns. Raise your voice, raise it and not be afraid. (Retrieved from the Office of Readings in the Roman Breviary and Orat. 6 in Nativitatem B. Mariae V. 2, 4, 5, 6: PG 96, 663, 667, 670).

St. Anne and Joachim, pray for us and enable us the same chaste and fervent example you bestowed upon your daughter, Mary.