Sometimes, a word or a phrase really sticks out in our readings for the day. “With you is the fountain of life, O Lord,” states our psalm refrain this afternoon. The psalmist praises the Lord’s faithfulness, mercy, and justice. The psalmist sees those admirable attributes in God, and in the psalm verses, he implies that we should reflect those attributes in way we lives out our lives as well. Today, we celebrate St Anne and St Joachim, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on their feast day. Tradition has it that Anne and Joachim were childless for many year, that through their faithfulness and prayers and persistence, their prayers were answered in their old age and the Virgin Mary was born to them. The Bible does not mention Anne and Joachim by name, it does not detail any facts about them, but stories were passed down through tradition, and a devotion to them as saints became strong in the medieval period of Church history. We know through the faithfulness of the Blessed Virgin that her upbringing and the faith of her parents probably had a key role in shaping who she was. I look at our parish, I look at the prayers and faithfulness of so many grandparents and great-grandparents, who are modern day examples of Anne and Joachim.
Lord, you are the foundation of life. We thank you for your faithfulness, for your mercy, for your steadfast love. To you, we give honor and praise.
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