Joachim and Anna, by Willem van Herp, 17th Century

Prayer to Saints Joachim and Anne,
Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

O glorious Saints Joachim and Anne,
Grandparents of the Most High!
Great indeed is our Lord’s affection for you.
We honor your faithfulness in marriage,
and your openness to God’s hidden plan.
It was from your marital embrace that the Spirit
fashioned your fair daughter Mary to be sinless;
the dawning of a new creation
awakening from her Immaculate Conception.
It was in your family that she learned to love God
and grow in every virtue.
By a life of obedience to the Law of God
lived in your home,
Mary was prepared to receive the Eternal Word
into her heart and into her womb.
From your tender love Mary learned
a motherhood that knew no bounds,
and by the example of your married life,
Mary knew what it was to be a faithful wife to Joseph,
her most chaste spouse.
O Saints Anne and Joachim,
great indeed are you who gave life
to the Mother of our Savior!
It pleased God to create from your union
a woman freed from the stain of sin,
by the saving death of the son
she had not yet conceived.

Dearest Saints Joachim and Anne,
pray that our families may grow in holiness
and that our homes may become grace filled
sanctuaries of love.
By your powerful intercession,
protect and guide all grandparents
that they may be great examples of faith.
Amen.