Today is the Feast day of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary. This reminds me of something Fr. Frank was telling Chris and I on Sunday morning.
After Mass on Sunday we went wondering around the Church grounds to see where some nice picture spots would be. I wanted to find a little side garden that one of my co-workers had mentioned to me. We found it and there was a statue there of what I thought was the Virgin Mary. Only it didn't look like her ... well, it didn't look like a typical portrayal of her. But there were no markings on it either. As we left the garden we ran into Fr. Frank.
We talked with him a bit and then I asked if he knew anything about the statue. He had also assumed it was Mary but had never really taken a good look at it. Chris said she was holding a lily, so we wondered what saints were typically pictured with a lily.
He mentioned St. Therese since she is usually pictured with a flower, but not a lily. Then he said that the lily does figure into the story of Saint Joseph and Mary.
The story is (and it is just a story, there is no way to verify it) that Saint Anne was trying to pick out a husband for her daughter Mary and there were several men there. Saint Joseph was among them and suddenly a lily grew out of the top of his staff. Taking that as a sign from God (honestly, who wouldn't!) she chose Joseph to be Mary's husband.
Even if it is just a story, it's a nice one.
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