Journal

SAINTS JOACHIM AND ANNE

26 July 2010

SAINTS JOACHIM AND ANN

Before God make known the law to Moses, people had to live without a rule of life.  Those who loved God did what they thought was God’s will.  Those who rejected God’s love, and did not fear to do so, acted as they chose.  To dispel their ignorance, God in divine goodness made known the law, teaching first the love of God, then love for others,  then God’s will concerning marriage, its holiness and binding force, its purpose in God’s plan: the growth of God’s people.  The union of man and woman in a holy marriage was most pleasing to God, who willed to choose the child of such a union as the Mother of Christ.
The eagle, flying above the earth, looked down at the trees, and choosing with its sharp eyes the tallest tree, one firmly rooted to withstand the storms, one that cannot be climbed, one that nothing can fall on, builds there its nest.  God sees, with penetrating gaze, all things, both present and future.  God therefore looked among all men and women, form the beginning to the end of time, for a husband and wife fit for the bearing of the child of God’s choice.  God found none so worthy as Joachim and Anne, who lived together in holiness and a love for each other born of their love for God.  It was to them that God entrusted the one who was to be Mother of God’s Son.  She was to be, as it were, the eagle’ nest, in which he could find protection and shelter.  Joachim and Anne were the tall tree in which this nest would be built, firmly rooted in a union based on the love and honour of God; the branches of this tree were their lifelong thought for the will of God, and their desire for a child, not for their own sake, but to beget one who would grow to love and serve God as they themselves did.  The tallness of this tree, beyond the reach of the winds, and higher then all around, was the height of holiness to which Joachim and Ann had attained, beyond the reach of the attacks of Satan;  untroubled, except by the thought that God’s honour was many times assailed by the sin of many; with no thought on honour of worldly possessions, no pride or ambition to move them from their selfless love of God.  God knew that for the birth of the Mother of Christ, none holier could be found that Joachim and Anne.
What a treasure you held, blessed Anne, while she who was to be the Mother of God rested in your womb.  How precious to God that seed of Mary’s life in your womb, more precious than the offering of all people on earth.
Anne became God’s treasure-house, keeping safe this most precious thing, the seed of so precious a life.  God saw it and watched over it, for as God’s Son was to say: where one’s treasure is, there is one’s heart.  The angels looked on this treasure with joy, knowing how precious it was to God their Creator.

From the Wednesday lessons of the Brigittine Office

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