Today we celebrate a very special day for grandparents. It is the Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I wonder if they realized what a special child they had, since Mary was born without the stain of original sin?
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide a detailed genealogy of Jesus, but all of them trace back through Joseph’s blood line. Nothing is mentioned of Mary’s family! Even their names, “Joaquim” and “Anne” have been passed down to us through tradition.
We can, however, infer that Mary was nurtured in a loving home. She was brought up in the faith and taught to be a righteous and obedient girl. The strong character of Mary in making decisions, her continuous practice of prayer, her devotion to the laws of her faith, her steadiness at moments of crisis. And her devotion to her relatives—all indicate a close-knit, loving family.
Example of Christian Family
Through the example of Mary’s family, we too are called to reflect on our own lives, especially in our Christian families, in our roles as mothers, fathers, children or siblings.
The Christian family is a very important part of society and the Church. Without good and faithful Christian families, the foundations of the Church will crumble and collapse. And countless souls will be lost to sin. I think most of us are aware that the devil hates families. He is doing everything in his power to break up families.
Attack on Family
We see this in the rise in divorce rates, abortions, same sex marriage, transgenderism, and the list continues. Families are being attacked on all fronts. And children are being manipulated with deviant ideological messages even in cartoons and storybooks.
Let us remember that our families must stay together in faith. Look upon the good examples set by St. Joachim and St. Anne. Their faith and dedication and in how they raised Mary up well in the faith. Let us follow their example and do what we can to live up to the same kind of faith they had. We should model our own Christian families after the example of Mary’s loving family from now on, praying together and striving to be united together in faith.
Saints Joaquim and Anne – pray for us.
Thank You Arlene. Very nice reflection.
Tradition can be enduring even continuing in the United States.
If you are from California you might appreciate that I live in Visalia, located in San Joaquin Valley, named after Saint Joachim the grandfather of Jesus. Also we had one of the original 13 colonies, founded by Catholic immigrants. They called it Mary Land (Maryland). Of course one cannot ignore its capital Anna-polis (polis means city in Greek). So the capital of Mary land is nothing other than the city of her mother Ana.