Many people here in Mississippi have wonderful gardens. Great care and pride are taken in tending our gardens and growing wonderful fruits, vegetables, and flowers. We know that if we grow our plants on rocky soil or without the proper amount of water and nutrients, then they won’t develop properly and won’t produce their flowers or their vegetables or fruits.
God needs to proper ground to sow his Word. His Word needs to be nourished and cared for once it is planted in someone’s life. Today we celebrate the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary – St Anne and St Joachim. Their names are not in the Bible and we are not told any details of Mary’s childhood or youth with her family, but Tradition has passed down information about Mary’s parents. One Tradition hold that after years of being childless, Anne and Joachim received a visit from an angel who told them that they receive a child from God. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God in a special way. No matter what the details are, we can imagine the care and love in which Anne and Joachim nurtured their daughter. We can imagine the care in which they raised her in the ways of the faith. They provided fertile soil for Mary to become the Mother of our Lord – the Theotokos. We can imagine how the teachings and example of Joachim and Anne led Mary to respond to God’s request with faith and trust - "Let it be done to me as you will." We can imagine how Mary used what she learned from her parents to bring up her own son in the faith.
We give thanks to the faith that has been passed down to us. We give thanks for the fertile soil that has nurtured our own faith. May all of us provide fertile soil for God’s Word in our lives.
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