“She existed in the Divine Mind as an Eternal Thought before there were any mothers. She is the Mother of mothers—she is the world’s first love.”
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
It is by long-held tradition of the Church that we know the Blessed Mother was offered by St. Anne and St. Joachim to the Temple to be brought up and educated away from the world by men and women dedicated to serving God. In the Eastern Church, celebration of this feast goes back to the 6th century, in the Western Church, the 15th -- and we don't doubt it's true. St. Anne and St. Joachim, long barren, would have well realized that Mary's birth was a singular miracle. Angels foretold it to them! It stands to reason that being holy, themselves, they would give her to the trust of the Temple, but the sacrifice of sending away their one and only child at so tender an age is hard to comprehend. It tears at the heart, doesn't it?
But it was the right thing to do. Sentimentality has very little place in good parenting. The work of real love is hard. Witness the Supreme Act of Love, the Crucifixion and death of Our Lord, the grandson of Anne and Joachim. A million little sacrifices made up (make up) the one Great Sacrifice, and it started in a material way with the parents of the Mother of God releasing their only child back to God. There is no question Anne and Joachim missed their baby girl every minute of every day she wasn't with them, and even shed private tears over her absence, but I guarantee they didn't regret their decision.
Parents of Boarder Kids know about this. God bless all our Boarder Family friends for the sacrifices they make! St. Anne and St. Joachim are our patron saints, and this is our feast day.
Mother of Divine Grace, help us to learn from the example of your holy parents. Bless us, St. Anne and St. Joachim, on the Feast of the Presentation. Help us to carry on with fortitude when the sacrifices we make for our children's good is just plain hard. Amen.
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