7/26/13 - Friday of 16 week in Ordinary Time - St Anne and St Joachim - Matthew 13:18-23

         So many of us in Mississippi have gardens.  I see the great care and pride people here take in tending their 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, but they have been passed down to us through Tradition.  One Tradition hold that after years of being childless, Anne and Joachim received a visit from an angel who told them that Anne would bear a child. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God in a special way.  No matter what the details are, we can imagine the care and the love in which Anne and Joachim nurtured their daughter 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 we continue to provide fertile soil for God’s Word in our lives. 

       

7/26/2012 – Thursday of 16th week in ordinary time – Psalm 36

        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 goes on to praise the faithfulness, the mercy, and the justice of the Lord.  Today, we celebrate St Anne and St Joachim, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Tradition has it that Anne and Joachim were childless for many year, that through their faithfulness and prayers and persistence, their prayers were answered 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 12^th century.  We know through the devotion and faithfulness of the Blessed Virgin, that her upbringing and 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 Annes and Joachims.

         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.