The Healing Journey

October 22, 2026

Years ago, as a young boy, when I visited my maternal grandmother, she’d take me to church at St. Augustine Cathedral, where I made one of my first confessions, back in the day when three priests sat in the confessionals on Saturday afternoon.

Being a newcomer to this sort of thing, I got in the shortest line, wondering why no one else was there … until I heard the priest howling at some poor penitent, and I quietly sidled over to the long line. It was a valuable lesson I learned at 7: People wait in a long line for a reason.

Let me make another confession: My mother often took our daughters to church when my wife and I had “better things to do.” Because of their grandmother, all four of them marched in every single May crowning at St. Margaret Mary’s Church.

I lost count of the times I’ve seen grandparents taking their grandkids to Mass for many different reasons, one of them being they understand what’s really important. I’m also convinced grandparents are one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the universe.

Many of my students from Latin American countries were raised by their grandparents because their parents have to work. They often talk about their deep love for their grandparents, who raised them, who nurtured them, who loved them and who taught them about Jesus.

One young woman spoke lovingly about her grandfather, who always picked her up in his red truck to take her places. She was devastated when he died, and then one day, a red pickup truck drove by her house, and in that confused moment, she was ecstatic because she thought he was coming to see her … until she remembered he was gone.

Another girl shared stories about her grandmother, who cared for her as a child. When she died in Mexico, no one told her, and she was inconsolable when she found out. A few nights later, she had a dream and her abuelita came to comfort her and told her she’d graduate from college and grow up to be a beautiful woman … and that they would meet again someday.

She found enormous comfort in that thought and shared it with her classmates with tears and joy.

©J Pisani

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