Richard A. Sokerka
Not to be confused with a moment created by Hallmark to sell more cards was the announcement by Pope Francis Sunday of the establishment of a day to honor grandparents and the elderly to take place each year in July.
World Day for the Grandparents and the Elderly will be celebrated annually on the fourth Sunday of July, most fittingly, close to the feast of the grandparents of Jesus, Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This year it will take place on Sunday, July 25, and Pope Francis will offer a special Mass to mark the occasion.
“The Holy Spirit … arouses thoughts and words of wisdom in the elderly today: their voice is precious because it sings the praises of God and guards the roots of peoples. They remind us that old age is a gift and that grandparents are the link between generations, to transmit to young people an experience of life and faith,” Pope Francis said Jan. 31.
Blessed to be the grandfather, or should I say, “Pop-Pop” of Grace Elizabeth, Mitchell Allen, Jacob Andrew, Ryan William, Julia Rose, and Luke Andrew — it is important to me to be as big a part of their lives as possible and in passing on the faith that was passed on to me to all six of them.
The Pope alluded to that when he said, “Grandparents can play a pivotal role in ensuring that the faith is passed on to their grandchildren in secularized societies. God has a large population of grandparents throughout the world … They are the indispensable link in educating children and young people in the faith,” he said.
In today’s secular society where the role of religion in our lives is being constantly compromised in many ways, it’s very important, as the Pope said, for grandparents to take part in the Christian formation of their grandchildren and to show them how we live our faith daily and how important it has been to us all during our lives.
According to the Holy Father, grandparents’ voices “are precious because they sing the praises of God and preserve the roots of peoples and are the ring linking generations, to transmit to young people the experience of life and faith.’’
“It’s important that grandparents encounter grandchildren and grandchildren encounter grandparents,” Pope Francis said. “Grandparents will dream, will have great desires, in regard to their grandchildren, and the young, in taking strength from grandparents, will go forward” with love and faith in their lives.
This is the most critical role all grandparents play in the lives of their grandchildren. It is one that I am so blessed that God has given to me.