D. Manuel González, the priest, offers this article about St. Joachim and St. Anne, parents of the Virgin Mary, grandparents of Jesus, and masters of dreams, memory, and prayer, whose feast is celebrated today, July 26.
***
Pope Francis called for the first World Day of Grandparents and Older Persons on July 25, 2022, the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne. The Pope wants to pay tribute to grandparents and older people for having been the social group most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
First, he wants to remember that these people are not alone, the whole Church accompanies them with love, affection, and prayers. The Pope himself includes himself among the elderly and remembers that older people have suffered greatly, many have died, others have seen the lives of their loved ones fade away and almost all have had to submit to the logical loneliness caused by isolation.
Very often, older people see their lives affected by retirement, the loss of physical and mental faculties, and the loneliness caused by the departure of their closest loved ones, together with the abandonment of other relatives and acquaintances who for various reasons cannot dedicate the time that would be just and necessary.
Visited by an angel
The Pope cites an episode from an apocryphal writing, the Protoevangelium of James, which tells how Jesus’ maternal grandfather and father of the Virgin Mary was removed from the community because he could not have children and was sterile. His life and that of his wife Anne were considered useless by his contemporaries. But the Lord sent him an angel to console him. While he remained sadly outside the city gates, a messenger of the Lord appeared to him and said: “Joachim, Joachim! The Lord has heard your insistent prayer.
An Italian painter from the Trecento painted the scene, which seems to be set at night, in one of those many sleepless nights, full of memories, worries and desires that many of the elderly are accustomed to. God never abandons us and always sends us his angels to protect us in those difficult moments. This celebration has to be an opportunity for no grandfather or grandmother or elderly person to be left without the visit of an angel in the form of grandchildren, relatives or friends and people we have met in these difficult and peculiar situations like those of today.
Joachim and Anna were not only visited by an angel, but that angel made them conceive a daughter, that pregnancy began with the miracle and privilege of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in the womb of her mother Anna, who conceived from her husband Joachim. What a blessing! And it did not end there, since they had as a grandson our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, made man in the most pure womb of Mary, by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Grandparents, fundamental for transmitting the faith
Speaking of blessings, Pope Francis wants to involve grandparents and the elderly in the redemptive work of evangelization and reminds them of the final mandate of Jesus Christ to his Apostles in the Gospel of St. Matthew: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (28:19-20). The Roman Pontiff calls for responsibility in faith with these strong and encouraging words: “These words are also addressed to us today and help us to better understand that our vocation is to guard the roots, to transmit the faith to the young and to care for the little ones. Listen carefully: what is our vocation today, at our age? To guard the roots, to transmit the faith to the young and to care for the little ones. Do not forget this.”
There is no age to stop announcing the Gospel. In the modern world, where many parents have lost or no longer practice their faith, grandparents have become fundamental pieces for the transmission of faith to the new generations of baptized people who do not know their faith, who do not practice it and who do not even know how to pray. It is necessary to get going and, above all, to go out of oneself to undertake something new: the new evangelization.
In his document, the Pope raises some very profound and accurate questions that are worth collecting here: How can I begin to behave differently when custom has become the norm of my existence? How can I dedicate myself to the poorest when I already have many worries about my family? How can I broaden my vision if I am not even allowed to leave the residence where I live? Isn’t my loneliness already too heavy a burden? How many of you ask yourselves this question: isn’t my loneliness too heavy a stone?
In the face of all these wounds and lessons that life gives us, we are recommended to build a society founded on solid pillars that help us live that maxim so necessary for all: make a personal effort to discover that we need each other and we must take care of each other, so that humanity can be reborn and learn from its mistakes: No one is saved alone, we are all in debt to each other. We are all brothers, since we share a common Father.
Dreams, memory and prayer
The Bishop of Rome, Francis, suggests to those who are grandparents or elderly, like Joachim and Anne, three pillars to build the foundations of a more humane society. These pillars are: dreams, memory and prayer. The Pope has repeatedly told young people about the need to get close to the elderly and to grandparents so that they can learn from their experience, since memory is a way of deepening their family roots of belonging. The youth carry the flag of hope for the future, but the elderly have the treasure of memory.
The document for the celebration of the feast of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne quotes the prophet Joel: “Your old men will have dreams, and your young men, visions” (3:1). This combination of the dreams of the elderly and that the young people carry them out is important. Dreams of justice, peace, solidarity, in short, God’s saving plan: to love God and our neighbor as ourselves
Memory is the lived experience, which becomes shared wisdom so as not to fall into the same mistakes again. How many stories can older people share with those who did not live through the horrors of the past and sow in the hearts of all a hunger for peace, harmony and respect, real manifestations of God’s love that are so necessary to fix and resolve so many human conflicts, today and always. This memory can help build a more human, more welcoming world. But without memory you cannot build; without foundations you will never build a house. Never. And the foundations of life are memory.
Finally, prayer, this document to celebrate the day of the elderly, quotes Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: “The prayer of the elderly can protect the world, helping it perhaps in a more incisive way than the request of many.” This was written by an elderly Pope who still continues to pray and work for the Church of the Lord. Pope Francis is quoted below as insisting on the capital importance of prayer: “Your prayer is a very precious resource: it is a lung that the Church and the world cannot be deprived of” (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 262). Above all, in this difficult moment for humanity, as we all cross, in the same boat, the stormy sea of the pandemic, your intercession for the world and for the Church is not in vain, but shows everyone the serene confidence of a place of arrival.
How timely this document is, how necessary this celebration of grandparents like Joachim and Anna together with the elderly and how important this memory is for those who love us so much and who have so much to contribute to this world that wants to emerge from this pandemic that has done harm and that has taken so many loved ones away!
Truly, dreams, memory and prayer can give us a new beginning and fill us with faith, hope and charity, which we so need.
D. Manuel González López de Lemus, priest.
YouTube: Fr. Manuel González / Facebook: Emmanuel J. González
Instagram: @mitogonzalez2013 / Blog: Spiritual Considerations
