Ss. Joachim and Anna

The icon in the middle of the church, which is

the wedding icon that my wife and I received

when we got married in 1983. I said last night

that it was painted by Father Patrick, who was

the best man at that wedding. It's there today

in the middle of the church. For the feast that

we celebrate, it's on the calendar of yesterday,

but we moved it to today, the feast of the conception

of the All Holy Theotokos by Saint Anna. Well,

and we won't leave Joachim out of that either.

I have a great devotion to this feast because

I look at this icon every single day. It's there

in our room by the prayer corner. And I think

about those two magnificent saints. Let me give

you a brief version of the events of this feast

day. The events are that Joachim and Anna, righteous

people in Jerusalem, had no children. They wanted

children very, very much. They were barren. You

heard the hymn about barrenness. And now the

barrenness is lifted. Like Sarah, like Elizabeth,

getting on in years, past the age of bearing

children, yet they stayed faithful. And one of

the hymns from last night tells us a story. It

says this, Anna, named for divine grace, does

cry out in her prayer, the word, the name Anna

means grace apparently, beseeching the creator

and God of all things. saying, open my womb to

make it fruitful that we may offer thee a child

as a gift and give glory and praise with hymns

and songs to thy love through which the world

receives great mercy. And being barren, they

were in that particular culture at that time,

stigmatized, shamed. The society around them

thought they must be cursed. They have no children.

God does not look at them with a kind eye. They're

being punished. And that kind of shame to bear

for 50 years, imagine, imagine. Well, in due

time, in the fullness of time, and you'll hear

that phrase on Christmas Day from Galatians,

God did answer their prayer, and this is what

a hymn says. Behold, the promises of the prophets

are fulfilled. The holy mountain is planted in

the womb. The virgin is called the holy mountain.

The divine ladder is set up. The virgin is called

the ladder. The great throne of the king is ready.

The place for the Lord's passage is prepared.

The dry bush. which the fire could not consume,

is blossoming. Isn't that wonderful? For a long

time they waited, and God fulfilled their promise,

and barrenness became fruitful. This is the story

that gets us into Christmas, because without

this there simply is no Christmas. And looking

at the icon today, we see Anna and her husband

Joachim standing before the gates of Jerusalem.

where they met after learning that Anna was with

child. And the child to be born would be Mary,

the mother of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This is why the hymn says, the great throne of

the king is ready. You look at the fresco of

the Virgin in the apse, she is the throne and

the Lord is sitting upon her. And the icon shows

them embracing tenderly. Lovingly. And we're

drawn into that love. We're drawn into that tenderness.

One hymn said, all the world celebrates. That's

true. We're invited into that celebration, but

we have to make the effort for that to happen.

We're invited into their joy. We're drawn into

their love and faithfulness. This feast is for

us, which is why we're celebrating it today.

It's not just a historical memory, as precious

as that is. So we're being led to prepare ourselves

for Christmas so that we too can make that barrenness

of our souls, which we find so dry and sometimes

so distant from God, something fruitful by God's

help. The icon of the hymns are telling us, without

being too explicit, that this miraculous conception

of Mary happened through natural means, like

any other man and woman and child coming from

them. Someone should tell movie and TV producers

it's probably too late, that explicit is not

needed. In any case, 50 years of prayerful waiting.

Desire. Faithfulness to God. That cleansed their

hearts. It cleansed their souls. It made them

ready to be what they needed to be. The parents

of the Virgin Mary. So despite all appearances

to the contrary, God was working in a loving

and wise way. He was managing everything so that

a joy could come. Beyond any comprehension or

comparison for the world, for us. So faithfulness

to God, trust in God, that's the first point

today. And that's not a new lesson, is it? I've

been talking about that for weeks. And in their

great joy, Joachim and Anna did what? They offered...

Back to God, the gift that he gave them. Isn't

that what we do every Sunday anyway? This gift

that they waited 50 years to receive? It's an

amazing thing to do, but we remember, I'll say

it again, our children belong to God. They belong

to God. They don't belong to us. We are their

caretakers, their caregivers. And we eventually

pass away. That's the second point. The righteous

couple understood that everything is a gift from

God, and they lived according to that gratitude.

Isn't it true, said the late Metropolitan Anthony

Bloom of London, that gratitude springs up in

the heart more powerfully, more gloriously, when

we receive what we did not deserve? When it is

a miracle of divine and human love. When we think

that we deserve something, he said, and we receive

it, we receive it as our due. Like those nine

lepers in the gospel that Christ healed that

didn't come back. They received it, they were

Jewish men. They received it as their due. But

the one leper that knew this was a gift undeserved

was the Samaritan, and he came back. St. Paul

says, it is a greater joy to give than to receive.

Is this our attitude in all things in our life?

That's point number two. Point number three.

Joachim and Anna are models for us. How? Here

today, in our culture, in our society, here today,

the church... is presenting to us. We're meditating

upon, we're celebrating a feast day in honor

of a conception, something so intimate, while

the world around us in our society strives in

so many ways, and it's a war of politics and

viewpoints, to do away with the conception and

what happens. And here we are celebrating this

thing, this intimate act. And we're called by

the church. We're invited into to celebrate and

learn from these righteous people, this man and

this woman. What a healthy human, not superhuman,

but human, godly, sacrificial, dignified, intimate,

and joyful sexuality between a husband and wife

looks like. Our marriage service Speaks of this

continually. We should pay attention. Listen

to this little reflection by Professor David

Ford. Marital relations are by nature inherently

good. I don't need to be explicit, right? And

they can be free from lust and sin. Chastity,

which... the church service mentions over and

over and over again, doesn't equal virginity.

Chastity in the context of marriage means faithfulness

to one's spouse and a disposition of graciousness,

dignity, decorum, moderation in all marital relations.

This is asceticism, isn't it? Hence the church

prays at the wedding. that the Lord our God will

grant them an honorable marriage and a bed undefiled

and cause their marriage to be honorable, preserve

their bed blameless, mercifully grant that they

may live together in purity. My goodness, brothers

and sisters, we're bombarded by other images.

This is the image we need to keep front and center

before us. Our life and our faith will conflict.

with all that out there. That's okay. We're nonconformists.

And of course, we admit, we should admit, have

to admit, that many of us do not embody the ideals

of what I read, the ideals of this feast, very

well. But still, it's our feast. It's our preparation

for Christmas. And it's a feast that speaks to

parents. For the reasons I said. It's a feast

that speaks to children. To love their parents,

to pray for their parents that they may have

a righteous marriage. It's a feast that speaks

to single people. To keep chastity and prayer

and desire for God first. And his providence

in your life first. It's a feast that speaks

to the care of infants. It's a feast that speaks

to those who care for infants. It's a feast that

speaks to those praying for children that are

having trouble. My goodness, don't we end every

single service asking for the intercessions of

the righteous Joachim and Anna, the ancestors

of God. The church puts them right in front of

us every single day if we do a service every

day because there are heavenly intercessors for

all of these things. And let me say, let me say,

this is a feast for married couples who have

problems, who would do well to deal with them

and be healed by God's grace. And mostly I speak

about to the husbands. I'll venture to say, we

will answer before God for our neglect of the

holiness, the dignity, the graciousness, the

gentleness, the love, tenderness of marriage.

Husbands, take heed. We will be judged. Let me

end with the words of Venerable Father Macarius.

You say, what did he know about marriage? He

knew a lot. Not only did he grow up with parents

and brothers and sisters, but he was a confessor

to very many people. He said this to a man that

was his spiritual son. A home is a Christian

one when all of the members of the household

bear each other's burdens and when each condemns

only himself. You have forgotten this, both of

you. Ponder the truth of Christian marriage.

Men and wife are one flesh. Humble yourself,

not her. Love her, not yourself. Through the

prayers of the righteous Joachim and Anna, Lord

Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us. Amen.