Sunday, July 25, 2021
Bible Reflections I 26.07.2021 - Monday I Indraya Manna I
Readings:
I - Sir. 44: 1,8,10-15
II - Mt. 13: 16-17
St. Joachim and St. Anne (Memoria)
Grandparents’ Day
CELEBRATE YOUR GRANDPARENTS
According to the first reading of the day, some ancestors are hailed and honoured because they were godly men and women filled with wisdom and surpassed in their righteous deeds. They leave behind their faithfulness to God and righteousness as their inheritance to their descendants. Today the Church gratefully remembers and celebrates St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of our Blessed Mother Mary and the grandparents of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also celebrated as Grandparents’ Day. St. Joachim and St. Anne in their faithfulness to God and through their righteous deeds were chosen to be the parents of the Mother of God. If Mother Mary is blessed among all women, blessed too should have been the parents who brought her up to the extent of finding favour in the eyes of the Lord befitting to bring forth the long awaited Messiah into the world.
We are living in a painful reality of children discarding their own parents in old age homes or abandoning them to the caretakers confining them within the four walls of a room in the house or still to the worse, some are so cruel that they chase them out of their homes without giving a second thought of their sustenance or maintenance at that age. If the plight of the parents themselves are such, then it becomes even unthinkable of the grandparents who are old and dependents. The wealth, honour, glory and pride that are beheld are the inheritance from their ancestors; and this can neither be denied nor argued against.
There are still others in the world who are grateful to their parents, treat them with dignity and respect; and revere their grandparents in kindness and love. Honouring the parents begets the blessings of the Lord (Ex. 20:12) for the Scripture exhorts and promises, “Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Deu 5:16). Respecting parents therefore is the command of the Lord (Lev. 19:3) that ultimately results in respecting the grandparents as well.
No one is going to remain young forever. Aging is the natural norm of existence. So we sow so we reap. So we treat our parents and grandparents so we’ll also be treated by our children and children’s children. “Grandparents have the crowning glory of life: grandchildren. And it’s only proper for children to take pride in their parents” (Pro. 17:6). May this Grandparents’ Day help us to examine: Am the crowning glory of my grandparents? Let us in a special way today, express our love and affection towards our grandparents through our acts of kindness and gestures of love.
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