Asked by His disciples why He spoke to people in parables, Jesus quoted a prophecy of Isaiah about people listening but not understanding, looking without really seeing. What did He mean? Surely He wanted people to listen to Him and understand: wasn't His story-telling aimed at catching attention and getting people to look for deeper meanings below the surface? A certain familiarity with Jesus' parables (as well as with the story of His life and death and rising) can perhaps allow us to think that we have really heard and seen and understood. But the word is a living word, so there is always more to learn, new insights to be discovered, appreciated and understood. Not simply by study and reading, but by being in the company of Jesus, in touch with Him in prayer, walking with Him, trusting Him, like His disciples were doing. Wasn't that why He said their eyes and their ears were blessed, because they saw and heard? When Jesus said that many prophets and righteous people had longed to see and hear what they saw and heard, He wasn't talking only about a difference of time. But was He, maybe, also referring to His own grandparents (known in popular piety as Joachim and Anne), who may not have lived to see His public ministry? Today's their festival day.