AUGUST
16
SAINT JOACHIM
CONFESSOR,
FATHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Epistle and Gospel
Epistle
Ecclesiasticus 31: 8-11
Blessed is the man that is found without blemish, and
that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in
treasures. Who is he, and we will praise
him? for he hath done wonderful things
in his life. Who hath been tried
thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting: he that could have transgressed, and hath not
transgressed: and could do evil things,
and hath not done them: therefore are
his goods established in the Lord, and all the Church of the Saints shall
declare his alms.
Gospel
- Matthew 1: 1-16
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat
Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas
begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat
Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her
that had been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat
Abia; and Abia begat Asa; and Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and
Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz
begat Ezekias; and Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon
begat Josias; and Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they
were carried away to Babylon: and after
they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat
Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat
Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and
Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; and
Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called
Christ.
From time immemorial the Greeks have celebrated the
feast of St. Joachim the day following our Lady's birthday. The Maronites kept
it on the day after the Presentation in November, and the Armenians on the
Tuesday after the Octave of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The Latins at
first did not keep his feast. Later on it was admitted and celebrated sometimes
on the day after the Octave of the Nativity, September 1:6, sometimes on the
day following the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, December 9. Thus both East
and West agreed in associating St. Joachim with his illustrious daughter when
they wished to do him honour. About the year 1510, Julius II placed the feast of
the grandfather of the Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the rank of double
major; and remembering that family, in which the ties of nature and of grace
were in such perfect harmony, be fixed the solemnity on March 20, the day after
that of his son-in-law, St. Joseph. The life of the glorious patriarch
resembled those of the first fathers of the Hebrew people; and it seemed as
though he were destined to imitate their wanderings also, by continually
changing his place upon the sacred cycle. Hardly fifty years after the
Pontificate of Julius II the critical spirit of the day cast doubts upon the
history of St. Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman breviary.
Gregory XV, however, re-established his feast in 1622 as a double, and the
Church has since continued to celebrate it. Devotion to our Lady's father
continuing to increase very much, the Holy See was petitioned to make his feast
a holiday of obligation, as it had already made that of his spouse, St. Anne.
In order to satisfy the devotion of the people without increasing the number of
days of obligation, Clement XII in 1738 transferred the feast of St. Joachim to
the Sunday after the Assumption of his daughter, the Blessed Virgin, and
restored to it the rank of double major. On August 1, 1879, the Sovereign
Pontiff, Leo XIII, who received the name of Joachim in baptism, raised both the
feast of his glorious patron and that of St. Anne to the rank of doubles of the
second class. The following is an extract from the decree Urbi et Orbi,
announcing this decision with regard to the said feasts:
Ecclesiasticus teaches
us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honor
and veneration ought we then to render to St. Joachim and St. Anne, who begot
the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than
all others.' By your fruits are you known,' says St. John Damascene; you have
given birth to a daughter who is greater than the angels and has become their Queen.'
Now since, through the divine mercy, in our unhappy times the honor and
worship paid to the Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the
increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the new glory
which surrounds their blessed daughter should redound upon her happy parents.
May this increase of devotion towards them cause the Church to experience still
more their powerful protection.
Prayer
Father of Mary, we thank thee. All creation owes thee
a debt of gratitude, since the Creator was pleased that thou shouldst give Him
the Mother He had chosen for Himself. Husband of holy Anne, thou showest us
what would have been in paradise; thou seemest to have been reinstated in primeval
innocence, in order to give birth to the Immaculate Virgin; sanctify Christian
life, and elevate the standard of morals. Thou art the Grandfather of Jesus:
let thy paternal love embrace all Christians who are His brethren. Holy Church
honors thee more than ever in these days of trial; she knows how powerful thou
art with the Eternal and Almighty Father, who made thee instrumental, through
thy blessed daughter, in the temporal generation of his Eternal Son.
Dom Gueranger - The Liturgical Year
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