August 21, 2023
“Mourning is a bitter road, but it can be useful to open our eyes to the life and sacred and irreplaceable value of each person, and at that moment one realizes how short the time is.”
— Pope Francis
The older you get, the more friends you will see die. It’s a painful fact of life, especially in Connecticut, which is fourth in the nation for people 85 and older. Experts predict that population will double in the next 20 years in the United States.
What does that mean when you consider the grief they will endure as their number of friends dwindle? Does life become nothing more than waiting for the next loss?
For them, depression is common, and it is a challenge to stay hopeful, especially if they are patients in a nursing home or long-term facility. Pope Francis, 86, has suffered his share of infirmities but insists, “Old age is no time to give up and lower the sails, but rather a season of enduring fruitfulness. A new mission awaits us and bids us to look to the future.”
Old age, he says, is a time of grace, a period in our lives that offers opportunities to continue to trust in God, who has a plan for each person, regardless of their age.
“The elderly, by virtue of their weakness, can teach those who are living in other stages of life that we all need to abandon ourselves to the Lord, to invoke his help,” the pope said during a general audience last year. “In this sense, we must all learn from old age. Yes, there is a gift in being elderly, understood as abandoning oneself to the care of others, starting with God himself.” Quoting Psalm 71, he said, “Be my rock of refuge, my stronghold to give me safety; for you are my rock and fortress.”
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Old age is not easy as we approach the end of life, but there are always reasons to be hopeful.
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