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For many people, grandparents and other elderly adults have had an important role in their faith. Personally, my grandmother was the one who taught me most of the Church’s prayers and devotions. It is thanks to her that I have known the Litany of the Holy Rosary by heart since I was a little girl! She used to kneel down next to me after Communion and whisper the Anima Christi in my ear. It is still the first prayer I say after I receive the Eucharist at Mass. She truly was a model of faith and trust in the Lord until the day she died at ninety-four years of age.
Sometimes, life gets so busy that we forget about those who have taught us so much and still have so much to share with us. In his homily for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly on June 1, Pope Leo said, “In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always.”
The Church celebrates the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on July 27, the Sunday closest to the feast day of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus (July 26). The theme for the 2025 celebration is “Blessed are those who have not lost hope.” These words from the Book of Sirach (14:2) express the blessedness of the elderly and highlight their hope in the Lord. Read Pope Leo’s message here.
Let us flood with love the hearts of the elderly people around us, so they may experience the tenderness of God’s love in their lives. Amen.
Image credit: provided by Erika De Urquidi
