(Photo Credit Eduardo Barrios – Unsplash)
By Holly Gustafson
My two grandmas couldn’t have been more different. One was small and soft and sweet and devoted to the Blessed Mother – she made hundreds of rosaries out of sculpting clay, which she had blessed, prayed on, and gifted to everyone she knew and met. She was well-known for her artistic Rice Krispie cakes, and seemed always to smell of vanilla icing.
My other grandma was energetic, boisterous, and always the loudest person cheering at the rink. She set me to work snapping beans and shelling peas outside in the shade, and taught me how to quilt while we watched daytime TV. She once took me to steal the apples off the neighbours’ tree when they weren’t home because “they’re just going to let them fall on the ground and rot anyways.”
The one thing that both my grandmothers had in common was their Catholic faith. Although they expressed their faith in entirely different ways, they both lived it out in a profound and concrete way every day. They were both devoted, both generous, both compassionate, and as I became a mother myself, I relied on them both for support, advice, and prayer. And although they’ve both passed away, I still ask them often for their intercession, particularly in my role as a mother.
The most famous grandmother saint, of course, was St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, but the communion of saints is full of grandparents who passed on the Catholic faith to their children and grandchildren.
St. Macrina the Elder is the grandmother of a stack of saints, including St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa (both bishops and theologians ), St. Peter of Sebaste (a bishop and monastic), St. Naucatius ( a hermit), and St. Macrina the Younger (who devoted her life to ascetism, prayer, and Scripture).
The elder St. Macrina was herself instructed by a saint – St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, or Gregory the Miracle-Worker – and it was she who passed on the teachings of the early Church to her grandchildren, particularly Basil and Gregory, who would become instrumental in our understanding of the Trinity and the establishment of the Nicene Creed. St. Macrina was a widow and, as a persecuted Christian, a refugee, and her feast day is on January 14th.
My own grandmothers didn’t speak much to me about the teachings of the Church, but they were certainly formative in my Catholic faith; they taught me the virtues of piety, devotion to the faith and to duty, generosity, and maternal love, not through their words, but through their actions, through a faith lived out in their daily lives. I know that they prayed for me continuously, and that they still do.
Here are some simple grandparent prayers to add to your family’s devotion:
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St. Macrina the Elder, pray for us.
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Holly Gustafson lives with her husband, James, and their five children, in Regina, where they attend Christ the King Parish. Holly received her Masters in Linguistics at the University of Manitoba, and now pursues her love of language through art, writing, public speaking, and unsolicited grammatical advice. The best advice she ever received was from her spiritual friend, St. Faustina, who told her that when in doubt, “Always ask Love. It advises best.” |
