Let us praise Joachim and Anne, to whom, in their generation, the Lord gave him
who was a blessing for all the nations. (entr. ant.)
Since the sixth century the Eastern Church has venerated the memory of Saints Joachim and Anne; it was in the tenth century that the Western Church entered Anne's name into the martyrology and only recently have both been acknowledged together as the grandparents of Jesus.
Let's pray for grandparents, living and deceased through the intercession of Saints Joachim and Anne.
On grandparents, the Pope has said in 2008,
As regards the family, grandparents continue to be witnesses of unity, of solid values of faithfulness and that singular love from which faith and the joy of living flow.... In the face of the crisis of the family could it not be time to draw even more upon the presence and testimony of those -- grandparents -- who have a greater richness of values and experience? We couldn't, in fact, plan the future without recalling a past characterized by significant experiences and spiritual and moral points of reference. Thinking of grandparents, of their witness of love and faith to live, there come to mind the biblical figures of Abraham and Sara, Elizabeth and Zechariah, of Joachim and Anne, just like the elderly Simeon and Anna, or even Nicodemus: in every age, all of these recall for us how the Lord asks each to bring their own talents.
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