By Leon Bent –
When we humans live in cooperation with God, miracles happen, even though the eyes of the world see nothing new under the sun. God speaks to His people every day!
Have you ever asked yourself how “The Greatest Story Ever Told” begins? Christians in the earliest centuries also knew of another starting-point for the Good News. And they were able to do so because they were aware of the unwritten family history. That unwritten story began with an ordinary family, a man and wife. His name was Joachim. Her name in Hebrew was Hannah, meaning “grace” or “favour”; she is known to us better by the name as it comes through the Greek: Anna or Anne.
To be certain, Joachim and Anna was not an extraordinary couple; unlike Joseph and Mary, he was not an aged widower, and she was not a consecrated temple virgin. In reality they appear to be ordinary people.
Joachim and Anna were well advanced in years when they became parents—in their late sixties at least. Their child was a miracle. But even in this regard, Joachim and Anna are akin to all of us. Whenever a child is born, which parents do not look upon their infant as an absolute miracle, a gift from God? Made as we are, in God’s own image and according to His likeness, we bear within us the latent powers of creation (Gen. 1:26). That is how the Church sees this marvellous gift of procreation.
By tradition, Joachim and Anne are considered to be the names of the parents of Mary, the Mother of God. We have no historical evidence, however, of any elements of their lives, including their names. Any stories about Mary’s father and mother come to us through legend and tradition.
We get the oldest story from a document called the Gospel of James, though in no way should this document be trusted to be factual, historical, or the Word of God. The legend narrated in this document says that after years of childlessness, an angel appeared to tell Anne and Joachim that they would have a child. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God (much the way that Samuel was dedicated by his mother Hannah – Anne – in 1 Kings).
For those who wonder what we can learn from people we know nothing about and how we can honour them, we must focus on why they are honoured by the church. Whatever their names or the facts of their lives, the truth is that, it was the parents of Mary who nurtured her, taught her, brought her up to be a worthy Mother of God. It was their teaching that led her to respond to God’s request with faith, “Let it be done to me as you will.” It was their example of parenting that Mary must have followed, as she brought up her own son, Jesus. It was their faith that laid the foundation of courage and strength that allowed her to stand by the Cross as her son was crucified, and still believe.
It was in the home of Joachim and Ann where the Virgin Mary received her training to be the Mother of God. Thus, devotion to Ann and Joachim is an extension of the affection Christians have always professed toward our Blessed Mother. We, too, owe a debt of gratitude to our parents for their help in our Christian formation.
According to this story, Joachim was a prominent and respected man who had no children, and he and his wife, Anne, looked upon this as a punishment from God. In answer to their prayers, Mary was born and was dedicated to God at a very early age.
Anne is often shown in paintings with Jesus and Mary, and is considered a subject that attracts attention, since Anne is the grandmother of Jesus. Her two great shrines — that of Ste. Anne d’Auray in Britanny, France, and that of Ste. Anne de Beaupre, near Quebec, in Canada — are very popular. We know little else about the lives of Mary’s parents, but considering the person of Mary, they must have been two very remarkable people, to have been given such a daughter, and to have played so important a part in the work of the Redemption.
There is a church of St. Anne in Jerusalem, and it is believed to be built on the site of the home of Saints Joachim and Anne, when they lived in this holy city.
This gold nugget to treasure! When we begin the Gospel with the story of Joachim and Anna, this is precisely the point: disciples are not mass-produced; saints are handmade, one at a time. So it was for the Blessed Theotokos (mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity) and Ever-Virgin Mary, through the parenting of Joachim and Anna. So it is for our children today!
Now, this final flourish! The saint-couple is a model of Christian marriage, and their meeting at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem, has been a favourite subject of Christian artists.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.
In honor of st Anne I would gladly accept the pains of the stigmata from GOD