Have you ever noticed that every mother once had a mother, and every father once had a father? Mary, the mother of Jesus, had them too. So Jesus, when he was a little boy, had a grandmother and a grandfather, the way nearly everyone does.

But there is something to say honestly before we begin. The Bible never tells us the names of Mary's parents. Not one page says what they were called. The names Anne and Joachim come from a very old book written more than a hundred years after Jesus, called the Protoevangelium of James, and that book is not part of the Bible. Even so, Christians grew so fond of those two that they kept their names for more than eighteen hundred years, and the Church keeps them still. So this is a story from very old tradition, not a page of the Gospel. Let us tell it the way it has always been told.

The Couple Who Waited

Anne and Joachim lived in a land of dry hills and olive trees. Joachim looked after sheep and brought a generous offering to the Temple. Anne kept the house, kneaded the bread, and prayed every morning by the window. They were good people who shared what they had with anyone in need.

But one thing they longed for never came: a child. The years went by, their hair turned white, and the cradle stayed empty. In those days people believed that a family without children was a family God had forgotten, and that hurt even more than the waiting itself.

One day Joachim carried his offering up to the Temple, and a man would not let him hand it over.

— You have no children — he said. — Your gift cannot go ahead of the others.

Joachim walked away with a heavy heart. He gathered his flock and went up into the high hills, and there he stayed many days, praying under the open sky.

Two Angels on the Same Day

At home, Anne was praying too. She went out to the garden, sat under a laurel tree, and looked up. High in the branches was a nest, with tiny birds cheeping for their mother. Anne cried very quietly and asked God for a child, promising to raise that child for him.

That was when an angel appeared to her, with a very gentle voice.

— Anne, Anne, the Lord has heard your prayer. You will have a daughter, and the whole world will speak of her.

On the very same day, up in the hills, another angel told Joachim the same thing. Joachim gathered his flock and hurried home. Anne saw him far off on the road and ran to meet him by the city gate. The two hugged right there, too moved to say a word, and walked home hand in hand.

The Girl Called Mary

When the baby was born, Anne took her in her arms and named her Mary. That house, which had waited so long, filled up with a tiny cry, washing on the line, and lullabies.

Joachim taught his daughter to know each sheep by name. Anne taught Mary to pray, to knead bread, and to welcome whoever knocked at the door. Years later, an angel named Gabriel visited that young woman in Nazareth, and Mary became the mother of Jesus.

That is how Anne and Joachim became grandparents. If you have ever sat on a grandfather's lap, or eaten a cake made by a grandmother's hands, you already know what kind of love fits inside that word.

The Day of Saint Anne

In Brazil, Saint Anne is dearly loved. Whole towns are named after her, and there are novenas, processions, and old churches with a statue of Anne teaching Mary to read. Their feast is on the twenty-sixth of July, and on that same day Brazil celebrates Grandparents' Day.

So when the twenty-sixth of July comes around and you have a grandmother or a grandfather nearby, give them a very tight hug. And if they are already in heaven, tell a story about them at the table. It is a lovely way to keep hold of the people who came before us.