REVERENCE FOR OLD AGE

 

Are you afraid of old age? Are you adult children afraid of your years of diminishment?

 

Pope Francis has given us some rich reflections in his message for “Second world day for grandparents and the elderly (July 24, 2022).” He calls us to recognize how we are to be blest by  old age. This is a message which is so necessary in a “throw away culture.”

 

“The Scriptures teach differently. A long-life – so the Bible teaches – is a blessing and the elderly are not outcasts to be shunned but living signs of the goodness of God who bestows life in abundance. Blessed is the house where an older person lives! Blessed is the family that honour the elderly.” 

 

Every person will have difficulty to find meaning, purpose and joy in their diminishment. We must not be destroyed by the feelings of uselessness. God is present at every stage of life. “along with old age and white hairs, God continues to give us the gift of life and keep us from being overcome by evil.”

 

When people might be tempted to marginalize themselves into uselessness, they are challenged. “Old age is no time to give up and lower the sails, but a season of enduring fruitfulness: a new mission awaits us and bids us look toward the future.”

 

At the moment when a new war has emerged in Europe Pope Francis calls to our awareness: “All this points to the need for a profound change, a conversion, that disarms hearts and leads us to see others as our brothers and sisters. We grandparents and elderly people have a great responsibility: to teach the women and men of our time to regard others with the same understanding and loving gaze with which we regard our own grandchildren. We ourselves have grown in our humanity by caring for others, and now we can be teachers of a way of life that is peaceful and attentive to those in greatest need.”

 

Rather than fading to the sidelines he keeps the challenge up: “One fruit that we are called to bring forth is protecting the world.”

 

We are challenged to make better use of the most valuable instrument at our disposal: prayer. 

“Our trustful prayer can do a great deal: it can accompany the cry of pain of those who suffer, and it can help change hearts.”

 

We need this time to reflect the reality of old age, which everyone will reach as the years move on. Here we need to hear the challenges and possibilities that our old age can offer: meaning, hope , purpose and joy. 

 

Engage the message!