Transmitters of the Faith

A Memorial on the Liturgical Calendar for the Universal Church but a major Feast for American Marist Brothers who took the Marist Habit, and the following year, pronounced their first vows on this day.  Happy anniversary to this dwindling number of brothers.
We know little about Saints Anne and Joachim, but they stand in the line of "transmitters of the faith" who faithfully passed on their love of prayer and the Holy Scriptures to their children.  Mary was the only child of Anne and Joachim,, but evidently she was an willing and ardent student.
 St. Macellin's devotion to Mary and his burning desire to pass on the faith to children has inspired Marists for the past 200 years to do the same.  The roles of parents and teachers in this delicate but essential duty becomes more and more apparent in our increasingly secular society.   How disheartening, challenging and demanding of patience is it when a fourth grader tells his parents he or she no long wants to attend Sunday Mass with them because his or her friends don't.  None of us can plot the course of our children's lives, or of our student's, but we can persist in our practice and love of the faith in front of them, pray for them and hope that in time they will respond to God's invitation to a more intimate life with him.  St. Anne and St. Joachim, pray for parents, grandparents, teachers and all involved in the transmitting of the faith.
Bro. Rene