POPE FRANCIS’ 7 MOST TENDER MESSAGES TO GRANDPARENTS AND TO THE ELDERLY
Dear friends, let us thank God for giving us our grandparents. They have a very special role in the loving and joyful atmosphere of Christian homes and in the education and re-Christianization of Christian families with their selfless help, good example, wisdom and above all in their support for families which lack a parent for work motives. Nevertheless, let us be understanding towards them not to overburden them with more responsibilities for their physical strength is waning and they also need time to rest and recover. Let us never forget to show them constant details affection by calling them frequently, praying for them, visiting them etc., so that they would never feel abandoned, forgotten or isolated by their children and grandchildren.
St. Joachim and St. Anne, pray for our grandparents!
Below you will find the video courtesy of Rome Reports and its transcription. God bless you, your loved ones and all the grandparents!
-Fr. Rolly Arjonillo, priest of Opus Dei. CATHOLICS STRIVING FOR HOLINESS. We are also in Facebook: www.facebook.com/CatholicsstrivingforHoliness Hope you like our page and invite your friends as well to do so in order to help more people.
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(Rome Reports, July 26, 2015 with some few modifications on my part)
During this year’s feast of Jesus’s grandparents, Saints Joachim and Anne, the Pope asked for a round of applause for grandparents.
- GRATITUDE
“I want to greet all the grandmothers and grandfathers to thank them for their special place in families and for their importance to the new generations.” (July 26, 2015)
From the beginning, Pope Francis has been very mindful of the elderly. During the Mass at the start of his pontificate he asked for people to care for the elderly in particular since they are often pushed to the “margins of the heart.”
A few months afterward, at World Youth Day in Brazil, he spoke to young people about the importance of listening to their elders.
- NO TO THE CULTURE OF EUTHANASIA!
“This global civilization has gone too far, too far … because such is the cult that has been built around the god of money that we are witnessing the development of a philosophy and a practice of excluding the two extremes of life that are the hopes of every community. The elderly aren’t shown care because no one cares for them. But there is also a cultural euthanasia. No one lets them speak or act.” (July 25, 2013)
Pope Francis knows that grandparents play an essential role in the lives of children. And he knows this by experience thanks to the love of his grandmother Rosa. This is how he explained it in a catechesis dedicated to grandparents.
- THEIR GOOD EXAMPLE
“The words of grandparents contain something special for young people. And they know it. The words that my grandmother gave me in writing the day of my priestly ordination I still carry with me, always, in the breviary. And I read them often and they do me good.” (March 11, 2015)
This is why he never tires of denouncing the abuses committed against the elderly, who are marginalized in society. He even says that this is a sin.
- DON’T MARGINALIZE THEM
“It’s horrible to see the elderly tossed aside. It’s ugly and it’s a sin.”
(March 4, 2015)
The elderly are of particular importance in the Pope’s eyes as the collective memory of communities, and, above all, of families.
- TRANSMITTERS OF THE FAITH
“We pray for our grandfathers, our grandmothers, who so often play a heroic role in the transmission of the faith in times of persecution. When mom and dad weren’t home or when they had strange ideas, which the politics of the time taught them, it was the grandmothers who passed on the faith.”(November 11, 2013)
In fact, the Pope thinks that the elderly are so important that he was the first to organize an event in the Vatican dedicated to them. It was a very special day, and with a very rare appearance by Benedict XVI, whom Pope Francis tenderly called a ‘wise grandfather.’
- SOURCE OF WISDOM
“I have said many times that I enjoy living here, in the Vatican, because it’s like having a wise grandfather at home. Thank you.”(September 28, 2014)
The Pope lamented the forgetting of and the violence towards the elderly and he explained that the experience of grandparents is irreplaceable.
- TENDERNESS
“One of the most beautiful things in life, in the family, in our lives, is caressing a child and letting yourself be caressed by a grandfather or a grandmother.”(September 28, 2014)
The Pope backs up his words with deeds. In general audiences, meetings, and trips,Pope Francis never misses an opportunity to greet the elderly or to listen to them.
NEWS SOURCE: http://www.romereports.com/2015/07/27/the-pope-s-7-most-tender-messages-to-grandparents (TITLES AND FORMAT MODIFICATIONS MINE TO FACILITATE READING)
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