Ever since the 1970s, the first Sunday after Labor Day every year is designated National Grandparents’ Day. But we Catholics have been celebrating Grandparents’ day since at least the 6th century, with our observance of the feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne (July 26), the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Our Lord Jesus.
Knowing that Christ the Lord has grandparents broadens our sense of His humanity and deepens our wonder at the mystery of the Incarnation. God has grandparents, whom He loved and who surely delighted in Him. Pope Francis, during his visit to Philadelphia in 2015, gave an evening audience to a large gathering of families, at which he said: “Some things we really need to take care of: children and grandparents. Children are the future, the strength that moves us forward. We place our hope in them. Grandparents are the living memory of the family. They passed on the faith to us…. A people that doesn’t know how to look after its children or grandparents is a people that has no future. Because it doesn’t have strength or the memory to go forward…. Let us protect the family. Because it’s in the family that our future is at play.”
I remember once speaking with a young couple preparing for marriage, and the young man spoke of his love for the tradition of Sunday meals at his grandparents’ house with his large, extended, Italian-American family. But as he and his cousins got older and they started having families of their own, fewer were attending Sunday dinner. The demands of work and weekend activities had made getting together inconvenient. Moreover, the idea of dealing with certain family dynamics at the end of a busy weekend felt burdensome at times. But the young man recognized that there’s actually great value in accepting the inconvenience and burden of such a tradition. The Sunday family dinner is humanizing. It protects the family against the excesses of our culture, which overvalues efficiency and convenience and leaves us spiritually exhausted. It brings people of different generations together, giving them a forum to learn how to love each other and express gratitude. It gives children a sense of belonging to a story that is older and bigger than themselves. It shows the elderly that they are worth the precious sacrifice of our time. St. John Paul II once said: “By their very presence, older people remind everyone, especially the young, that life on earth is a ‘parable’ with its own beginning and end: to find its fulfilment, life must be based on values that are not transient and superficial, but solid and profound.” Grandparents are a gift to us. Their presence in our lives should give us a deeper sense of our humanity and help us to evaluate the priorities we set for ourselves and our families.
posted 7/22/23
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 
And caring for grandchildren is the best job
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As Peter said it is the best job. We already educated our kids, now we can spoil the grandkids but we need to be sure they are going to be a good caring person and bring them to church. They need to know and love GOD, it needs to be a very important part of their life. They are the future of our church. It is sad not to see so many young kids in our masses.We need to bring God, family and values to our families. It is the only way.
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