Without hope, the future is dark and unsure. With hope, even trials, persecutions, and martyrdom do not cause the Christian to despair. Hope springs from faith and is intimately entwined with it. The couple who hope to attain eternal life, knowing that their true home is Heaven, strive to live lives that will bring them closer to God.
We learn about the lives of St. Joachim and St. Anne in The Protoevangelium of James. According to this apocryphal account, Joachim and Anne were sad because of their childlessness, and both of them mournfully fasted and prayed for a child, Joachim going away to the desert for forty days. God heard their prayers and an angel appeared to each of them to tell them that they would have a child. They responded with praise for God and a promise that they would dedicate their child to God. Their perseverance in faith and hope was rewarded with the great blessing of being the parents of the Virgin Mary.
Dear Holy Spirit, through the intercession of St. Joachim and St. Anne, please grant to (names) an increase in the virtue of hope. Help them to follow the example of St. Joachim and St. Anne in their daily lives, trusting in God for everything. Help them to grow in virtue until their love is as close as humanly possible to Your love for them. Let this love for each other expand to include all those around them, especially those in their care. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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