St Anne

St Anne and her husband Joachim, advancing in years but strong in their love of God, were disappointed because they had not been blessed with children. 

They prayed to God asking Him for a child and they promised to have the child raised in God's Temple in Jerusalem.  Many years later, they had a baby girl and they  named her Mary. 

In fulfilment of this promise, the child was presented to be raised in the Temple when she was three years old. She remained in the house of God for twelve years, emerging at the age of fifteen with a purity and wholesomeness found in no other creature of God. Mary grew up to be a good and holy young woman who would become the Theotokos (in Greek, the bearer of God), the Mother of Jesus Christ.

Several hundred years before, the psalmist, in words breathed by the Holy Spirit, wrote in prophesy of Mary:

Hear, O daughter, consider, and incline your ear;
forget your people and your father's house;
and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;

Psalm 44 (45): 10,11

Lord Jesus,
you were born of the Virgin Mary,
the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne.
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them! They are a source of enrichment
for families, for the Church and for all of society.
Support them! As they grow older,
may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardian of noble domestic ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits
of their mature human and spiritual experience.

Lord Jesus,
help families and society
to value the presence and roles of grandparents.
May they never be ignored or excluded,
but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed
in all the years of life which you give them.
Mary, Mother of all the living,
keep grandparents constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity
for the great embrace of life without end. Amen!