In his catechism on old age, Pope Francis pointed out that the mission of the elderly is to break the illusion of eternal youth and look forward to a new life in the arms of God and in the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said “” Born from above”.
(Vatican News Network)Seniors have a spiritual and cultural mission to shatter the illusion of eternal youth and open their hearts to the tender embrace of their Creator, God. Pope Francis continued his catechism on old age during his public reception on Wednesday, June 8, and emphasized this mission of the elderly. The Pope pointed out that the elderly move forward, towards the living God, ready to be “born from above”. The “begotten from above” that Jesus speaks of is a new life in the Holy Spirit that enables us to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The catechism of the day begins with the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus in the Gospel (cf. Jn 3:3-6): Jesus told Nicodemus, the leader of the Jews, that if one wants to “see the kingdom of God”, he must It must be “born from above”. “It is not about starting from scratch, being born into the world again, in order to live a better life,” the Pope explained. This would be a “meaningless rebirth,” and I’m afraid it would “erase all meaning from life experience, dismissing it as a failed experiment.” However, life with accumulated life experience “is precious in the sight of God”, because “we are his tender and loving creatures”.
Nicodemus did not understand this and asked in confusion: “How can a man be born again when he is old?” The Pope emphasized that Nicodemus’ question “is very educational for us”. “In fact, inspired by Jesus’ words, we can turn this question upside down and discover the mission implied in old age.” This is because, instead of preventing Jesus’ “born from above,” old age becomes an enabler. It’s the right time to shine and dispel misconceptions about life. According to the Pope, there is a worrying trend in our culture, which “sees the birth of a child as a mere matter of human reproduction and biological reproduction, and then creates a myth of eternal youth, an obsession with immortality. body”. Old age is despised because it “brings irrefutable evidence” that we have to “say goodbye to this myth.”
Under this myth of eternal youth, people expect to use technology to “defeat death” and try to “use drugs and cosmetics to maintain posture, delay, hide and remove the signs of aging”. Speaking of which, the Pope put down the manuscript in his hand and said earnestly: “I thought of what a wise Italian actress, Ms. Magnani said. At that time, someone told her that she should get rid of wrinkles, and she replied Say, “No, don’t touch my wrinkles! How many years have I waited for these wrinkles: don’t touch them!” That’s it: wrinkles are symbols of experience, symbols of life, symbols of maturity, those who have traveled Symbol. Don’t wrinkle to become young, it is to look young on the outside: the focus is on character, the focus is on the heart, and the heart is like the brewing of good wine, the older it gets, the more fragrant it gets.”
Moreover, life within a mortal body, like some works of art, takes on the beauty of “unfinished”. In fact, life on earth is a “beginning” rather than a completion. We are born into this world precisely like this: we are always real people, but “to protect the most precious part of our life, to keep it intact and full”, this life is “too small, too a short time”. Faith helps us comprehend the “Gospel Message of the Kingdom” and allows us to “see” the Kingdom. “We can really see the many signs of the impending fulfillment of our full hope, thus bearing in our lives the sign of destined for eternal life from God”. “The older man moves forward, toward the end, toward the kingdom of God. The older man moves forward with the wisdom of life he has accumulated”.
Old age not only helps us to shatter the illusion of eternal youth, but also opens our hearts to the tender embrace of our Creator God. Talking about the tenderness of the elderly, the Pope said: “Look at how grandparents stare at their grandchildren, how they caress their grandchildren: that tenderness does not have a trace of human suffering, because it has overcome human suffering, can you not ask for it? Loving, loving care in return. . . . It opens the door to understanding the tenderness of God. Let us not forget that the Holy Spirit is caring, compassion and tenderness.”
Finally, the Pope put down the script again and reminded the crowd: “When we think about old age in this way, we ask: How can this discarding culture feel that the elderly are useless and therefore discard them? The elderly are the messengers of the future, the elderly Be gentle messengers, and the elderly are the messengers of wisdom in life. Let us move forward and use the elderly as our benchmark.”
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