Saint Joachim, Father of the Blessed Virgin, Confessor
by VP
Posted on Friday August 16, 2024 at 12:25AM in Saints
Saint Joachim at the Altar of the Holy Kinship (right side altar) of the parish church St. Cyriak in Pfarrwerfen, federal state of Salzburg, Austria. Anonymous master, around 1520.
"Saint Joachim, spouse of Anne, Father of the Blessed Virgin, aid thy clients here on the way to salvation." With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections By Father Francis Xavier Lasance, 1911
O Great Saint, who was chosen by God among all the Saints, to be the Father of the Mother of God, the most Holy Virgin, and by that singular privilege art become powerful with the Mother and Son, vouchsafe to employ your credit in favor of me your client, who, in this valley of tears, implore your protection. Vouchsafe, great model of the interior life, and of all virtues, to obtain for me interior recollection, humility, purity, charity, which made up your character; obtain for me a true disengagement from all created goods, and a christian patience in the adversities of this life; obtain for me an ardent and persevering love of Jesus and Mary, and final perseverance at my death. Amen. A manual of instructions and Prayers useful to a Christian, 1752
"ST. JOACHIM was father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A day for all parents to offer up their prayers to Almighty God, that they may be faithful in the discharge of their duties towards their children, in giving them good
instruction, good example, and due correction. God requires these at
their hands; and to be wanting in any one part is not consistent with a
good conscience, but may easily come to be the loss of their children's souls. Failing in these duties, is one of the great occasions of so general a corruption of youth; whilst parents, whose care ought to be to cultivate their yet tender souls, train them up in the corrupt maxims of the world, put them forward in those things which promote liberty, vanity, pride, and sensuality, and give them an early knowledge of what they must either unlearn, or else perish in practising, This unhappy method St. John Chrysostom long ago lamented; and after having considered the solicitude of parents
in procuring for their children what is superfluous and unprofitable,
and neglecting what is necessary, condemns such parents as the greatest enemies of their children, and contrivers, not only of their
temporal, but eternal misfortunes. If you have any part in this guilt,
seek timely remedies, if it be yet in your power. Let not weak nature be
now your rule, but solid reason and religion: and ever force
inclination to bend to these. Study not to gain your children's love by
what is likely to make them miserable, and be one day the punishment of your own indiscretion. Their inclinations and desires are naturally corrupt, and they apprehend not the mischievous effects of them. Therefore are parents put over them, prudently to moderate and overrule them. If you do not this, you pervert the order which God has established; instead of governing, permitting yourself to be governed by them; and in this depriving them of all the benefits designed them in their parent's care; and exposing them to the ill consequences of their
own weakness, follies, and passions. Pray for remedy against this
crying evil; and if you have no part in it, pray at least for those who
have; for it is a point that deserves universal charity." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
