September 9, 2005
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I love these two saints! If our little baby was a boy we were going to call him Joachim.
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September 9
Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna
Holy Righteous Ancestors of God, Saints Joachim and Anna. St. Joachim, son of Barpathir, was a descendant of King David, to whom God had revealed that the Savior of the world would be born from his descendants. St. Anna was the daughter of Matthan. On her father’s side, she was of the tribe of Levi, and on her mother’s side, of the tribe of Judah.
The spouses lived at Nazareth in Galilee. They were childless into their old age and all their life they grieved over this. They had to endure derision and scorn, since at that time childlessness was considered a disgrace. They never grumbled, but fervently prayed to God, humbly trusting in Him.
Once, during a great feast, the gifts which Righteous Joachim took to Jerusalem for offering to God were not accepted by the priest Reuben, who considered that a childless man was not worthy to offer sacrifice to God. This pained the old man very much, and he, regarding himself the most sinful of people, decided not to return home, but to settle in solitude in a desolate place.
His righteous spouse Anna, having learned what sort of humiliation her husband had endured, with prayer and fasting, she sorrowfully entreated God to grant her a child. In his desolate solitude and with fasting Righteous Joachim also asked God for this. The prayer of the saintly couple was heard. An angel told them that a daughter would be born of them, Who would bless all the race of mankind. By order of this Heavenly Messenger, Sts. Joachim and Anna met at Jerusalem where, through the promise of God, a daughter was born to them, who would become the Mother of God.
St. Joachim died a few years later, at the age of 80, after the Entry of his daughter into the Temple. St. Anna died at age 70, two years after him, spending time in the Temple with her daughter.
Sts. Joachim and Anna are invoked by couples trying to have children.
Comments (8)
How is “Joachim” pronounced? :shysmile:
Joe a (short a) kim :sunny: Make sense?
Linda here is a thread from awhile back, Question for Protestant Christians about the name Joachim and St. Joachim .
Lisa thank you so much for your beautiful affirmation that you left on my recent blog entry! As always you bless my heart!!! :love:
I will email you the answer to your last question… :wink:
Hi, thanks for posting on my site. But I’m curious to know: What’s it like mothering 3 children and being a wife of a priest? Aren’t the challenges of family life and priesthood a bit difficult for your husband or is he good at balance?
I may consider the diaconate as a married man. Though I’m Catholic, I also do think about switching to a uniate church because I love the Divine Liturgy and become a deacon (or a priest) if it were somehow possible. I just wonder how difficult it must be for a clergyman to take on pastoral responsibilities along with family responsibilities. I thought it would be appropriate to ask you since you have a woman’s perspective on this
God bless!
Yes it is hard but I don’t I wouldn’t tell anyone not to do it. I think it is worthwhile despite the heartache at times. We give our whole life to Christ and His Church and it can be difficult to have parishioners that don’t share that passion. Other than that. We are very balanced people and are a tight family. Our sons are very close to their dad and he makes his schedule around our family life whenever possible. There is never a day off the church and her people are always on our mind and a part of our lives, it is a 24 hours 7 days a week position. Our children are young now and we are also expecting a little girl in just a few weeks. We live close to the church so that is a big help. Fr. comes and goes quite a bit so for young children that can be hard to understand, but we try to keep a routine for them. The year has more busy times then others. Yes it is a BIG cross but saying that I don’t know what better sacrifice there is. The most hurtful thing is that people don’t truly know how much you care and love them and we can get disappointed by people.
Also I think it helps to have married priest. We are a normal couple just like our parishioners and Fr. can very much relate to the problems people face in their everyday lives, it make Fr. much more approachable. Saying that I think there is definitely a place for monasticism in the Church and we ourselves appreciate having a monastic as a spiritual father. Although monasteries are not so plentiful in the US. I think if you are called to be married then God will send you a wife that is equally passionate about serving the church. I hope that answer was somewhat helpful.
Both Fr. and I grew up in the Greek Orthodox Church. Me in the US and Fr. in Greece so we have always had the love of the church and it wasn’t a hard decision to take about marriage to one another and ordination. We were madly in love and he was a theology student and God just brought us together so it all worked out. Neither one of us has regrets but it is NOT an easy life but it is the best one I can imagine for myself .
:heartbeat:
Awww, what a great couple
, and what a good explanation! I second that as I am also married to a priest. It is our path that God has chosen for us, and it is hard at times, but blessed.