The following is Fr. Dennis’ Sunday homily for the Memorial of Sts. Anne & Joachim, given at the closing novena Mass at St. Anne Shrine in Fiskdale, MA, this past Sunday. The Assumptionists have ministered at the shrine and parish since 1955.

In my encounters with students over the years at Assumption University in Worcester, I’ve had occasion to observe the relationships they had with their grandparents. It’s a time in their life, as they look for more independence, when the relationship with their parents can be complicated, a pitched battle sometimes. It was different with grandparents: it was less complicated, more peaceful. You sensed that there was real appreciation and gratitude. Sometimes they would lose a grandparent during their four years, and as it was often their first loss of this kind, they felt it acutely. I think it also served to ground them in the importance of their family.

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