Editorial

Celebrating the wisdom and blessings of our grandparents and the elderly

We had a chance to celebrate them last month, and we will have another opportunity to show our love and affection for them in September.

They are our grandparents and the elderly, who provide us wisdom, gifts and blessings that at times go unnoticed or unappreciated. And most importantly, they are among those who often show us unwavering love.

While the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly was celebrated this year on the Church calendar on July 26 (the fourth Sunday of July near the July 26 feast day of Jesus’ grandparents, SS. Joachim and Anne), in the United States it was transferred to the first weekend after Labor Day (on Sept. 12-13), coinciding with a pre-existing national holiday here that celebrates grandparents.

The theme this year, as reported by OSV News, draws on a powerful promise from Scripture: “I will never forget you” (Is 49:15).

Sadly, some in society have forgotten about the elderly, and in his message for the sixth celebration of the day, Pope Leo XIV reminded Catholics that this promise should shape how all treat older adults.

“The painful feeling of being forgotten is, unfortunately, shared by many people, and among them are quite a few elderly people,” Pope Leo wrote, echoing Pope Francis’ reasons for establishing the day in 2021.

As Pope Francis reminded us in 2022, we have a responsibility to care for the elderly and cherish their wisdom rather than regard them as a burden on society.

They are not part of a throwaway culture, where some in the world seek to “erase the elderly,” he said.

“This is a betrayal of one’s humanity, this is the ugliest thing, this is selecting life according to one’s usefulness, according to one’s youth and not with life as it is, with the wisdom of the elderly, with the limitations of the elderly,” Pope Fancis said.

“Elderly people have so much to give us because there is the wisdom of life,” he added. “They have so much to teach us. That is why we must also teach children to look after their grandparents and to go to their grandparents” for guidance.

Pope Leo offered some suggestions to celebrate the day:

—Take time to see the unique person, and remember your worth as a child of God.

The pope warned that the elderly can become invisible as they age, becoming isolated in their homes or becoming just a bed number or an illness in a care home. Observing this day is “an opportunity to rediscover that the Church is called to be a mother to all and that at any age it is always possible to recognize ourselves as sons and daughters of God.”

—Make a real human connection, not just a digital one.

“The digital culture multiplies connections and offers new opportunities for interaction; yet, the human heart retains an irrevocable need for genuine closeness” (#239), Pope Leo wrote, quoting from his encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.”

The Holy Father encouraged young people to “revive the beautiful custom of visiting their grandparents,” elderly family members and “even those who have no one to visit them.”

Nursing homes, assisted living facilities and independent living homes have senior residents who have no nearby or living relatives. Why not as a family adopt a senior at one of these homes, develop a friendship and show them they are not forgotten and are still loved?

—It’s never too late to turn to God.

“For many, the discovery of God’s tenderness takes place over the course of their lives, sometimes even in its final stages,” Pope Leo wrote. “Old age—beginning with the questions that arise with greater urgency during this season of life—can become the right time to begin or resume a spiritual life.”

—Don’t be afraid of human frailty.

“It is precisely this weakness that holds within itself a new potential that also illuminates the other stages of life,” wrote Pope Leo.

All people are in need of one another, the pope said, and embracing this need is a strength that can “become an invitation not to resort to the ways of arrogance and power to ensure human coexistence, but to the ways of reconciliation and true peace.”

—Pray and work for peace across generations.

“In this time, so harshly marked by the violence of war and social unrest, many wonder what the world in which their grandchildren will grow up will be like” the pope wrote. “I urge you, dear friends, to join me in praying earnestly that peace may soon come to the whole world.”

—Mike Krokos