1. PRAYER
Prayer for the Grace to Age Well
When the signs of age begin to mark my body
(and still more when they touch my mind);
when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off
strikes from without or is born within me;
when the painful moment comes
in which I suddenly awaken
to the fact that I am ill or growing old;
and above all at that last moment
when I feel I am losing hold of myself
and am absolutely passive within the hands
of the great unknown forces that have formed me;
in all those dark moments, O God,
grant that I may understand that it is you
(provided only my faith is strong enough)
who are painfully parting the fibers of my being
in order to penetrate to the very marrow
of my substance and bear me away within yourself.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
2. MEDITATION
https://youtu.be/jG04iKv3Aks?si=27hfX1_5tS8BqVcA
3. SONG
https://youtu.be/IeaDNylMvuo?si=LbRppdbBCWWBpRm6
4. NARRATIVE
POPE FRANCIS ON AGING
A week before being admitted to a Rome hospital in February for bronchitis that developed into double pneumonia, Pope Francis wrote a preface for a book by Cardinal Angelo Scola, the former archbishop of Milan, titled “Awaiting a New Beginning: Reflections on Old Age.”
Drawing on his own experiences, Francis wrote: “We must not be afraid of old age, we must not fear embracing becoming old, because life is life, and sugarcoating reality means betraying the truth of things.”
Francis continued: “To say ‘old’ does not mean ‘to be discarded,’ as a degraded culture of waste sometimes leads us to think. Saying ‘old’ instead means saying experience, wisdom, knowledge, discernment, thoughtfulness, listening, slowness … Values of which we are in great need!”
The book will be published in Italian on Thursday. Vatican News, the official Vatican website, published an English version of the preface on Tuesday.
Francis had made the dignity of the aged in a world increasingly populated by them a central concern of his papacy.
He regularly denounced the way older people are treated — like garbage in a “throwaway culture,” he said — and, as pope, he appeared in a Netflix documentary on aging.
In a 2014 pre-Easter ritual meant to express humility, he washed and kissed the feet of older and disabled people in wheelchairs. In 2021, he established an annual World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly to honor the “forgotten.” In 2022, his weekly Wednesday audience included teachings on aging.
Growing old may be inevitable, he wrote in the preface to Cardinal Scola’s book, but “the problem is how one becomes old.” He added: “If we live this time of life as a grace, and not with resentment; if we accept the time (even a long one) in which we experience diminished strength, the increasing fatigue of the body, the reflexes no longer what they were in our youth — with a sense of gratitude and thankfulness — well then, old age too becomes an age of life,” and that age can be “truly fruitful and capable of radiating goodness.”
Francis also mused on “the human and social value of grandparents” and their experience and wisdom.
And he cited Cardinal Scola’s conclusion: “a heartfelt confession of how he is preparing himself for the final encounter with Jesus, that gives us a consoling certainty: death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something.”
The pope added: “It is a new beginning, as the title wisely highlights, because eternal life, which those who love already begin to experience on Earth within the daily tasks of life — is beginning something that will never end.”
5. MEDITATION
https://youtu.be/tck7E11SdR8?si=_ym-beRK0XPJl5BK
6. Sharing
7. Prayer and intentions
Ageing Prayer – Terisa Of Avila
Lord, You know better than I know myself,
that I am growing older and will someday be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking
I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to
straighten out everybody’s affairs.
Make me thoughtful but not moody;
helpful but not bossy.
With my vast store of wisdom,
it seems a pity not to use it all;
but You know, Lord,
that I want a few friends at the end.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;
give me wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains;
they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them
is becoming sweeter as the years go by.
I dare not ask for improved memory,
but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness
when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person
is one of the crowning works of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places
and talents in unexpected people;
and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.
Amen.
– Attributed to Terisa Of Avila (1515-1582)
– Source Unknown
8. SONG
https://youtu.be/owogdFg62iw?si=-F0jBgkXvQu-tqz9
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