Call me skeptical, but I couldn’t imagine what all the hype was about having grandchildren. I love my daughter and I assumed I’d also love my grandchildren, but there had to be more to it than that. Why else would normal, rational, level-headed adult turn into absolute fool at the mere mention of their grandchildren? Author Lois Wyse once said, “If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I’d have had them first.”
Now that I have two grandsons of my own, I get it. I’ve never been so thoroughly loved by any human beings than I have by my grandchildren. They fight over who gets to sit on my lap, share a popsicle, or read the next story. They ask to Facetime when they can’t visit, fling themselves into my arms with joyous abandon, and cry when they have to leave me. Who else in my world adores me like this?[1] Grandparents, and grandparent figures, do matter.
Today’s Gospel highlights two grandparent figures—Simeon and Anna—they are two wisdom figures, almost like Temple lights, yet seemingly out of place and forgotten in the midst of the Temple. These two elders, whose lives are spent in waiting and wondering, remind us that life does not always unfold in the way we may want. But, enter Jesus into the mix, and we experience a new way to develop, age, and love.
It is Simeon and Anna who, in their grandparent wisdom, as they welcome, speak of, and prophesy to the Holy Family, tell us to look beyond great empires and find God among the lowliest and downtrodden. How similar is the message of Pope Francis, who challenges powerful nations and wants our great Church to be poor for the poor and to look to the fringes for the poor and forgotten children and families. Simeon’s song that Jesus is a “light to reveal God to the nations” reminds us that the revelation of God in Jesus is the source of true light for our world.[2]
As disciples of Jesus, we are challenged to speak and act in ways that place others on the path to salvation. However, while many will say they are in the light, yet their words and behaviors suggest a hate for their brother/sister, thus are, in reality, still in the darkness. (1 Jn 2:9)
John emphasizes to his readers, and us, that as long as we love one another as the Lord loves us, then we can be assured we are walking in this light, instead of stumbling about in the darkness of pride and self-interest. This light opens our eyes to see beyond the realm of this world with all its limitations. With this light we walk as Jesus walked. We then become the wise grandparent figures, the Temple light, spending our days in waiting, loving, and shining our grandparent wisdom on the grandchildren of our time. Grandparents do matter.
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