Blessed by God!

Today we commemorate The Conception by the Righteous Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos.

"According to the ancient tradition of the Church, since St. Anna, the Ancestor of God, was barren, she and her husband Joachim remained without children until old age. Therefore, sorrowing over their childlessness, they besought God with a promise that, if He were to grant them the fruit of the womb, they would offer their offspring to Him as a gift.

And God, hearkening to their supplication, informed them through an Angel concerning the birth of the Virgin. And thus, through God's promise, Anna conceived according to the laws of nature, after nine months bore a daughter blessed by God and by all generations of men: the Most-holy Virgin Mary, the Theotokos."

The Lectionary Readings for today are:

1 Timothy 5:22-6:11; Luke 21:5-8, 10-11, 20-24

For the Commemoration: Galatians 4:22-27; Luke 8:16-21