From the Desk of Father Nathan

A Message from Father Nathan

My dearest people who are all close to my heart

Lots of love, blessings, and prayers to you all.

Feast of Joachim and Anne | the parents of Jesus’ mother, Mary

This week we are going to celebrate the Feast of Joachim and Anne, who were the parents of Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Who were they? What do we know about them?

We don’t know how many details about their lives because they are never mentioned in the New Testament. Everything we know about them comes down from tradition—the stories people told about them.

We believe that they were respected members of the Jewish community and that they wanted to become parents so much that Joachim went into the desert to fast and pray that God would hear their prayer.

An angel Appears

It is said that an angel told them that they would soon have a daughter who would become famous throughout the world. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd century Protoevangelium of James (First Gospel of James) and the 3rd century Evangelium de nativities Maria (Gospel of the Nativity of Mary).

According to these noncanonical sources, Anne (Hebrew: Hannah) was born in Bethlehem in Judaea. She married Joachim and, although they shared a wealthy and devout life in Nazareth, they eventually lamented their childlessness. Joachim reproached at the Temple for his sterility, then retreated into the countryside to pray, while Anne, grieved by his disappearance and by her barrenness, solemnly promised God that if given a child, she would dedicate it to the Lord’s service.

Both received the vision of an angel, who announced that Anne would conceive and bear a most wondrous child. The couple rejoiced at the birth of their daughter, who Anne named Mary. When the child was three years old, Joachim and Anne, in fulfillment of her divine promise, brought Mary to the Temple of Jerusalem, where they left her to be brought up.

This is the Feast of Grandparents.

It reminds grandparents of their responsibility to establish a tone for generations to come: They must make the traditions live and offer them as a promise to little children.

But the Feast has a message for the younger generation as well. It reminds the young that older people’s greater perspective, depth of experience, and appreciation of life’s profound rhythms are all part of a wisdom not to be taken lightly or ignored.

In Good St. Anne, find the tale of the holy matriarch, and learn how to call upon her intercession. Among her titles, she is especially invoked as the Patroness of Mothers, Comfort of the Sorrowing Mother of the Poor, Health of the Sick, Patroness of the Childless, Help of the Pregnant, Model of Married Women and Mothers, Protectress of Widows, and Patroness of Laborers.

God bless you all.

With lots of love and blessings,

Ever wanting to be faithful to your service,

— Fr. Sahayanathan Nathan