This morning’s Mass commemorated St. Joachim, Jesus’ grandfather. Joachim was the husband of St. Anne and therefore father of Our Lady, the mother of the Christ. God has a grandfather! We often overlook our grandfathers, who have a unique role to play in our human development. Often quietly in the background, grandfathers provide a super-paternal presence, a wise and understanding heart when we are confused about our own fathers. A wise grandfather helps us realize our own place in the world, our self-worth and our identity as a child of God. Grandfathers have seen social confusions come and go and have learned not to take them too seriously. They are often our only stable point of reference when cultures verge on the edge of collapse. We especially need grandfathers today, when our very sexual identities are in such trauma. A grandfather can say to a confused adolescent: “Son, someone is trying to sell you something you don’t want. Just say no.”
We Americans are quite good at selling things. We create new products and new markets, convincing large numbers of people that they can’t live without something that we are more than ready to sell them. Think of the smart phone and its deliverable, the world wide web. People cannot go a day without “the world’s largest ad agency” (Google) at their fingertips. We clever Americans, in fact, have become so good at selling things that we have learned how to shape entire populations’ thinking to fit our markets. Take “gender theory,” for example. The post-modernist concepts that make gender theory possible were dreamed up by European academics, but Americans lost no time capitalizing on them.
It costs a lot of money to “change” one’s biological sex. Scott Newgent reports that he and his insurance company spent $900,000 trying to make him the opposite sex, along with seven surgeries, 16 rounds of antibiotics, 17 months of recurring infection, and ten acute medical complications. Those who wish to change their sex must take lifetime doses of synthetic hormones and often pay for hundreds of visits to expensive therapists. There’s lots of money to be made in convincing boys that they should grow breasts and girls that they should cut them off. Gender theory was not invented by plastic surgeons and pharmacological companies, but these professionals quickly realized that there was money to be made from it. This booming “transgender industry” is aggressively marketed by social media companies and protected by big government.
The acute sexual insecurity that used to be suffered only by teens has been pushed on pre-teens and post-teens, largely through social media. And it has been monetized. People suffering from sexual insecurity do not need puberty blockers or mastectomies. They need something that costs very little: the love of their parents and friends, and the courage to accept their bodies as naturally good and beautiful. They need a grandfather and a grandmother that cares for them as whole persons, body and soul.
Full story at frilloblog.com.
As long as the grandfather is a Republican and not a Democrat. You really think Grandpa Joe Biden is helping his grandchildren?
If your grandfather is like St. Joachim, maybe..
Caitlyn Jenner is a grandfather.
So is Dr. Rachel Levine.
Jazz Jennings grandfather dressed in drag to support his grandchild.
You just can’t make blanket statements like that and be correct.
Father Illo should stick to the things he knows something about
And getting rid of Fr. James Martin
Fr. Illo had a great sermon. Yes, in Jewish culture, the venerable Patriarchs, thegGrandfathers– like St. Joachim, grandfather of Jesus– had a very important role. I know Fr. Illo was talking about good Catholic grandfathers sitting in his congregation, at Mass. Get rid of all the fruitcakes and freaks of the Haight-Ashbury/Castro districts– all the local perverts and potheads– many of whom are also (unfortunately) grandpas, involved in dope, rock bands, and pornography, severely harming innocent children in our country. It always made me sick, Bill Graham and his Grateful Dead rock music and dope garbage, as well as Harvey Milk, naming important city buildings after such good-for-nothings. They all should have been put in jail, and their works prohibited.
How many of the thugs who looted the 7-11 in Los Angeles (it’s all over the news today) have grandfathers in their lives? Probably none of them. How many of them even know who their fathers are? Probably few. Note too that there was a striking commonality among those criminals. Ah, diversity.
My MA is in psychology. A child is born with NO preconceived beliefs or bias. A child must be taught. Where the teaching goes off track is adults thinking all teaching is conscious, forgetting that the sub-conscious also learns. Subtle actions, behaviors and words are picked up by infants right after birth. Children are maluable, eager to please and learn through imitation. Sure, grandpa can help, but expecting his example to overcome bad parents, poor teachers, media and society is a bit of a stretch. EVERY person who comes into contact with a child deposits something in that child’s mind. Currently, race and gender dysporia are tools being used to destroy an entire generation of young people.
And Democrats are doing the destroying and poisoning of children’s minds
Every person is born with a fallen human nature. Even after baptism removes original sin, concupiscence of the eyes, concupiscence of the flesh and the pride of life remain.
You are speaking of the influence of the world, but the flesh has its own temptations. In addition there are both good spirits and deceiving spirits which influence thoughts, words and actions.
We grandfathers do have unique opportunities to influence our grandchildren. While I cannot undo some mistakes I made as a father, I can still influence another generation for the good. Of course, nothing beats spending, or I should say investing, time with our grandchildren. But, even if they’re far away, we can FaceTime. A couple of my grandchildren and I are reading the same books. Then, we call to talk about them. And, I try to send them handwritten notes occasionally. What kid doesn’t like mail? And, no matter how I communicate, it’s good for them to know they’re loved and prayed for daily. I’ve been in Catholic men’s groups for many years. Yet, I don’t know many that hold us accountable as Christian grandfathers. Bishop St. Timothy’s grandmother Lois made an impact. (2 Tim. 1:15). To my senior brothers and sisters who are grandparents, can we step up our game a bit?