• July 26, 2024, Today’s Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET
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Friends of the Rosary,
Today, July 26th, is the Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus.
The couple’s faith and perseverance brought them from the sorrow of childlessness to the joy of conceiving and raising the immaculate and sinless woman who would give birth to Christ.
Joachim, a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and his wife Anne were deeply grieved by their childlessness. They regarded it as a surpassing misfortune and a sign of shame among the tribes of Israel.
Joachim and Anne began to devote themselves to rigorous prayer and fasting in isolation from one another and society.
An angel would later reveal this to Anne: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive and shall bring forth, and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”
Joachim and Anne decided Mary would be offered to God as a consecrated Virgin and enter a chaste marriage with the carpenter Joseph.
The Catholic Church invokes this saintly couple as the patron of grandparents and a model of Christian marriage.
Our devotion to Anne and Joachim reflects our affection toward the Blessed Mother.
Ave Maria!
Jesus, I Trust In You!
St. James, Pray for Us!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!
