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“God Sends His Angels To Console Your Loneliness”

Pope Francis reassures the elderly that God is always with them in his message for the First World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly celebrated on 25 July

BY Fr Benedict Mayaki SJ | Vatican

THE THEME chosen by the Pope for the inaugural commemoration is “I am with you always” (Mt 28: 30). The Holy Father addressed the grandparents and the elderly reminding them that “the whole Church is close to you—to us—and cares about you, loves you and does not want to leave you alone!”

The Pope’s message comes amid the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected everyone, especially elderly people. Many “fell ill, others died or experienced the death of spouses or loved ones, others found themselves isolated and alone for long periods. The Lord is close to them and aware of all that we have been through in this time.”

Angels through His words

“Even at the darkest moments, the Lord continues to send angels to console our loneliness and to show us that He is with us”. “These angels, will at times have the face of our grandchildren, of family members, lifelong friends or those we have come to know during these trying times, when we have learned how important hugs and visits are for each of us.”

The Lord also “sends us messengers through his words, which are always at hand”, inviting the elderly to “try to read a page of the Gospel every day, to pray with the psalms, to read the prophets. The Scriptures will also help us to understand what the Lord is asking of our lives today. For at every hour of the day, and in every season of life, he continues to send labourers into his vineyard.”

“We will not emerge from the present crises as we were before, but either better or worse”, Pope Francis stressed. “The great pain for those who died because of lack of ventilators must not remain useless, but provoke in us a change of our lifestyle, and make us discover that we need one another. In doing so, humanity may be reborn; because nobody saves oneself alone. We are all indebted to one another, because we are all brothers and sisters”.

“The elderly are needed in order to help build, in fraternity and social friendship, the world of tomorrow” where, together with their children and grandchildren, “will live once the storm has subsided.”

“All of us must take an active part in renewing and supporting our troubled societies” and the elderly, better than anyone else, can help to set up three of the pillars that support “this new edifice,” dreams, memory and prayer.

Dreams, memory and prayer

Recalling the words of Prophet Joel, “Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men will have visions” (Joel 3: 1), Pope Francis said that the future of the world depends on the covenant between young and old because “who, if not the young, can take the dreams of the elderly and make them come true?”

For this to happen, “it is necessary that we continue to dream,” said the Pope. “Our dreams of justice, of peace, of solidarity, can make it possible for our young people to have new visions; in this way, together, we can build the future.”

“Dreams are intertwined with memory.” Recalling the painful memory of war, the Pope emphasized the importance of helping the young to learn the value of peace. Those among the elderly that experienced the suffering of war must pass on the message because keeping memory alive and sharing it with others is a true mission for every elderly person.

“Without memory, however, we will never be able to build, and the foundation of life is memory.”

Finally, Pope Francis spoke on prayer: “Your prayer is a very precious resource; a deep breath that the Church and the world urgently need” that “inspires in everyone the serene trust that we will soon come to shore” especially in these times “as we continue to sail in the same boat across the stormy sea of the pandemic.”

The future of the world depends on the covenant between young and old.

Concluding, the Holy Father held up the example of Blessed Charles de Foucauld to the elderly, explaining that the story of his life “shows how it is possible, even in the solitude of one’ s own desert, to intercede for the poor of the whole world and to become, in truth, a universal brother or sister.” He, therefore, asked the Lord that through his example, “all of us may open our hearts in sensitivity to the sufferings of the poor and intercede for their needs.”

(www.vaticannews.va)