World Grandparents and Elderly Day is celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday of July - this year on July 24. For the second occasion of the new World Day introduced by Pope Francis in 2021, the Holy Father wrote a message, from which we publish an excerpt.
Dear Grandparents, dear Seniors!
The verse of Psalm 92 - "they bear fruit even in their old age" (Psalm 92:15) - is good news, a real "gospel", which we can proclaim to the world on the occasion of the second World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. It goes against what the world thinks about this age, and the bitter attitude that some of us old people have as we move forward with little hope and nothing for the future.
Old age scares many people. They consider it a kind of disease with which it is better to avoid all contact: the elderly do not affect us, they think, it is better if they are as far away as possible, perhaps together, in places where they are taken care of and which protect us from having to worry about their problems. This is the "throwaway culture": the mentality that makes us feel that we are different from the weakest, that we have nothing to do with their fragility, and that gives us the right to imagine that "us" and "them" are on separate paths.
In fact, however, long life is a blessing, as the Scriptures teach, and the elderly are not outcasts to be shunned, but living signs of the goodness of God who gives abundant life.
Blessed is the home in which the elderly are cared for! Blessed is the family that honors the grandparents!
Pope Francis' message can be read in its entirety in the Magyar Kurír .
Photo: Vatican News
