12 . 18 . 20
St. Anne came to my wife in a dream once. The grandmother of Jesus gently touched my wife’s abdomen, and told her that she was having a girl weeks before our doctor could tell us the same.
Seven years later my daughter’s middle name, “Anna-Maria,” has great significance for me as a theologian. The hyphen, which unites Anne and Mary, recalls to mind the intimate union of the Old and New Testaments, the prophecies of Israel and the proclamations of the Church. Through these two Jewish women in the line of David one whose Hebrew name means “grace,” and one who is “full of grace” comes grace upon grace.