Rejoicing in the Gift of Family

July 26th is a special day in the American Province of the Marist Brothers as the Church celebrates the memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus.  St. Anne was the patroness of the American Marists, even after the split of the province in 1958, when she remained the patroness of the Poughkeepsie Province until our new province of the United States of America came into being in 2003. The Feast of St. Anne was the day young postulants took the Marist habit and novices pronounced their first vows. 
We congratulate the many brothers who are celebrating their Marist anniversaries today.  We join our thoughts and prayers to the American youth who are in Brazil, having just had a huge dose of Marist Family Spirit and the Marist Youth Gathering prior to World Youth Day, which is in progress as you read this. The Church family, or at least part of it, is celebrating with the Pope and joining him in his mission to live the Gospel and pay special attention to the poor. Under his leadership a return to simplicity and humility, so much a part of Marist Ways, will make the presence of Jesus more visible and attract others to him.
Reflecting on the little that we know of Sts. Joachim and Anne, we think of the role parents and grandparents play in the raising of children.  The apocryphal Gospel of James tells us that they were a good, but childless couple, who like Hannah and Elizabeth and their spouses prayed for the miracle of a child.  Mary was the result of those prayers.  How they must have loved and treasured her, after the long wait for her arrival. And if they were alive for the birth of Jesus, how must they have relished him!  Family is such a great gift, we cannot let it be taken for granted.  Today is the day to renew family ties with a call, an e-mail, a text...however we communicate...and just say again.  I love and appreciate you."
Bro. Rene