Filled with wonder at the mystery of the
Incarnation, the Church continually imagines and reimagines the ramifications of God’s enfleshment
in all its ordinariness. And so today we celebrate the maternal grandparents of
Jesus, named by ancient tradition as Joachim and Ann. Jesus had grandparents.
Did they babysit? Did they spoil him? Perhaps. Probably.
Christ Jesus is always more
ordinary and available to us than we know, longing to be hidden with us day
by day, moment by moment. It is God’s ordinariness in Jesus our Lord that reveals the immeasurable beauty of his
humble love for us.
Giotto di Bondone, The Meeting at the Golden Gate, 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. This is thought to be one of the earliest depictions of a couple kissing.
