St. Joachim

 

 Today, The 16th of August, is the day in which we honor the grandfather of Jesus, the father of Mary, Joachim. He is to be revered by us, just as his wife, Anne, is. This feast day has pretty much always been observed, in one way or another. However, in 1879, Pope Leo XIII, who had received the name of Joachim in baptism, raised both the feast of his glorious patron and that of St. Anne to the rank of doubles of the second class. The following is an extract from the decree 'Urbi et Orbi', announcing this decision with regard to the said feast: "Ecclesiasticus teaches us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honor and veneration ought we then to render to St. Joachim and St. Anne, who begot the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than all others."


St. John Damascene says: "By your fruits are you known; you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the angels and has become their Queen." The Abbot Gueranger adds: 'Now since, through the divine mercy, in our unhappy times the honor and worship paid to the Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the new glory which surrounds their blessed daughter should redound upon her happy parents. May this increase of devotion towards them cause the Church to experience still more their powerful protection.'
Tradition says that Joachim divided his income into three parts: the first for the temple, the second for the poor, and the third for his family.

MOTHER OF GOD: Such is the title which exalts Mary above all creatures; but Joachim, too, is ennobled by it; he alone can be called, for all eternity, Grandfather of Jesus. In heaven, even more than on earth, nobility and power go hand in hand. Let us, then, with the Church, become humble clients of one so great.

Joachim's wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God's blessing upon it. But the greatest of all his desires heaven seemed to refuse him. His holy spouse Anne was barren (a curse among Jews). Amongst all the daughters of Israel expecting the Messias, there was no hope for her. One day the victims Joachim presented in the Temple were contemptuously rejected. Those were not the gifts the Lord of the Temple desired of him; later on, instead of lambs from his pastures, he was to present the mother of the Lamb of God, and His offering would not be rejected.

This day, however, he was filled with sorrow and fled away without returning to his wife. He hastened to the mountains where his flocks were at pasture; and living in a tent, he fasted continually, for he said: "I will take no food till the Lord my God look mercifully upon me; prayer shall be my nourishment."
Meanwhile Anne was mourning her widowhood and barrenness. She prayed in her garden as Joachim was praying on the mountain. Their prayers ascended at the same to the Most High, and He granted them their request. An angel of the Lord appeared to each of them and bade them meet at the Golden Gate; and soon Anne could say: "Now I now that the Lord hath greatly blessed me. for I was a widow and I am one no longer, and I was barren, and lo! I have conceived!"
The descendents of Joachim shall be mighty and blessed in heaven and upon earth. May he deign to exert his influence with his all-holy daughter, and with his grandson Jesus, for our salvation.

St. Epiphanius shall have the last word: "Joachim, Anne, and Mary; what a sacrifice of praise was offered to the Blessed Trinity by this earthly trinity!" May their united intercession obtain for us the full effect of the sacrifice which is being prepared upon the altar in honour of the head of this noble family.