Letter from the Pastor
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July 26, 2020It is said that you love your children, but you fall in love with your grandchildren. I certainly can see that in my sister and her husband with their two grandsons, and my brother and his wife and their granddaughters. (Funny how that works)! They tell me it is a different kind of love, a love without the same expectations or responsibilities of a parent. A grandparent simply and purely delights in the child. And those grandparents who are cynical say at the end of the day, they all go home to their own bed!
The average age of a grandparent today in the United States is 48; half of their adult life, the average American will be a grandparent. 66% of American grandparents live more than twenty-five miles from their grandchildren; 75% wish they could see their grandchildren more often. About 15% of grandparents care for grandchildren while the parents work. While one-tenth of American children live with a grandparent.
Grandparents live longer than ever before, are healthier and more active and so are more likely to play a significant part in the lives of their grandchildren. Researchers conclude it is not surprising that a majority of grandchildren report being emotionally close to their grandparents, as well as share similar views and values with them.
Recent research also cites grandparents have a most powerful influence on the faith of their grandchildren. I can’t tell you how many times, the mother of a newborn told me, My mother keeps asking me, “When are you going to baptize this baby? They shouldn’t be able to walk to their own baptism!” Not to mention about getting to Mass on Sundays, or their First Holy Communion or Confirmation. How many grandmothers pray the rosary for their grandchildren every day or how many grandpas light a candle in Church each week for their grandchildren?
Pope Francis said in Philadelphia in 2015: Grandparents are the living memory of the family. They pass on the faith; they transmitted the faith to us.
Today, July 26th is the Feast of SS. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Our Blessed Lady, the grandparents of Our Lord. There isn’t a whole lot written about their lives, before or after having Mary, aside from what is contained in the Gospel of James, a legendary account of the life of Jesus.
The story goes that Joachim was a well respected and “exceedingly rich man” of the tribe of Judah, while Anna was the daughter of a priest of the tribe of Levi. They were married for many years without children. In those days barrenness was seen as punishment from God and Anna was well past childbearing age. Joachim went into the desert to pray and fast for 40 days and nights.
Meanwhile, Anne also grieved her barrenness, as she sat in the garden praying to God in these words: “O God of our fathers, bless me and hear my prayer, as you blessed the womb of Sarah, and gave her a son, Isaac.” At that moment, an Angel of the Lord appeared to Anne and Joachim at the same time, telling them both to get up: the Lord had heard their prayer and Anne would conceive. There is a famous painting by Giotto when Joachim and Anne met at the city’s Golden Gate.
Grandparents know their grandchildren in a way no one else does, that’s why they call them grand.
Hallmark tells us Grandparents’ Day is the first Sunday after Labor Day, this year September 13th. Why wait, celebrate today by praying for your grandparents and thanking God for them.
Happy and Blessed Day to all our grandparents. Keep being the great example of family love, life and fidelity to God and His Church. We need you!
