Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (13: 36-43) in which Jesus explains the parable of the weeds in the field to his disciples. Afterwards, he shares a little about the lives of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of our Blessed Virgin Mary, whose memorial we celebrate today.Fr Paul says, an ancient tradition, already known in the 2nd century, gives the name ‘Joachim’ and ‘Anne’ to the parents of the Virgin Mary. Even though this information about Mary’s parents is found in an early apocryphal writing rather than the Gospels, there is no need to suppose that a straightforward fact as the name of Mary’s parents should be wrong. Their names do not occur in the Gospels, simply because the Evangelists felt they had more important things to talk about.Fr Paul notes that we must, however, acknowledge it was Joachim and Anne who brought up the Virgin Mary to be the woman she was. At the moment of saying ‘Yes’ to the Incarnation, Mary took one of the most important decision taken by a human being. The fact that she took it is, to a great extent, the work her parents. The Holy Spirit gave her the strength to make the decision, but her parents training gave her the wisdom to choose.So today, Fr Paul invites us to pray St Joachim and Anne pray for us!