Justly does Anne, filled with the divine Spirit, with joyful and jubilant spirit sing aloud: “Rejoice with me, who of my barren womb I have borne the bud of promise, and, as I had longed, nourish at my breasts the fruit of blessing. I have laid aside the mournfulness of barrenness, and put on the joyful raiment of fruitfulness. Let that other Anna, the adversary of Peninnah, (1 Kings 1) rejoice with me, and with me celebrate this new and unhoped-for wonder that is wrought in me.
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| The Madonna and Child with St Anne, by Masaccio (Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone), ca 1424. Galleria degli Uffizi. Florence |
Let Sarah be glad that was joyfully pregnant in her old age, and prefigured my own conception in barrenness. Let all the barren and fruitless sing together of my wondrous visitation from heaven.” Let all mothers likewise, that like Anne are gifted with fruitfulness, say, “Blessed be He That bestowed on those who prayed Him what they asked, and gave fruitfulness unto her that was barren, and granted to her that most happy blossom, the Virgin, who was the Mother of God according to the flesh; whose womb was a heaven wherein He dwelt Whom no place can contain. -
St John Damascene, Second Oration on the Birth of the Virgin; from the Roman Breviary.
