«Hope is the advent of the kingdom. Of which we are sure, because it is the promise of Jesus to his disciples and from them to us. We are sure and at the same time we must commit ourselves to preparing the kingdom starting from today’s reality »comments like this Monsignor Vincenzo PagliaPresident of the Pontifical Academy for Life The theme chosen by Pope Francis for the fifth day of the grandparents and the elderly who will be celebrated on 27 July. “The Christian faith is rooted in the history of humanity, God has become a person who walked on the streets of Palestine and, always through the disciples, has come to all people. In the first centuries, Christians were persecuted, for their faith in a God who lived and defeated death. And we know that this small movement, just over a sect of Judaism, has become a world earthquake, which has changed the whole path of humanity. That’s why we have to look to our past, where we come from, to inspire us in the future. Have the same faith and audacity itself. Hope is not an inert wait. On the contrary, it is the convinced industriousness of the disciples who continue to change the world even when it seems impossible to hope. The apostle was not surprisingly remembered the example of Abraham who was “firm in hope against all hope” (RM 4,18) ».
What is the profound meaning of a word “hope” that this year will we feel so much on the occasion of the Jubilee?
«Of course, hope must always be declined with faith and charity, the three great virtues that the Church teaches to live and testify. The prayer of the Jubilee, in fact, recites: “Your grace transforms us – into industrious growers of the evangelical seeds – who leaven the humanity and the cosmos, – in the confident waiting – of the new skies and of the new earth, – when they won the Powers of Evil, – your glory will manifest forever “. The passage is in that “industrious growers of evangelical seeds”. We must be tireless in announcing the kingdom and “the life of the world that will come”. The announcement will be successful, it will find unfavorable ground but also a lot of favorable ground. Today in the face of crises – environmental, social, terrible wars – hope is to be cultivated but together with faith and charity, to indicate to everyone a different and possible path. Let’s not resign ourselves. Do you think if the disciples had resigned and dispersed after death on the cross. They did not do it. And today we are here. It is a great lesson, to be learned and re -proposed. It must also be said that every age must experience hope in a way. I say it in relation to the elderly, or rather, grandparents and therefore to the dimension of hope to be transmitted to grandchildren, children. It is a hope that must help emerging generations to look at their future not resigned but ready to carry out their part, as the grandparents have in turn done ».
Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, 79 years old, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life
What does it mean to hope when you live the great age?
«Today we live twenty – thirty years more than in the past. It is the time of a real generation. And it’s the last season of life. For the elderly, hope means above all to welcome this time not as a misfortune, a shipwreck, as De Gaulle said, but as an opportunity. We must not be afraid of old age. Fear makes us old people of the resigned parsons, defeated by life. Each age of life has its own dignity. Of course, a civil nation must take care of elderly people. And we are doing it with law 33/2023 which reforms all socio-health assistance. But then every elder must find the motivation within himself in order not to give in to a sense of despair or solitude. In short, even from the elderly we must rediscover our vocation to help the world to be better. Let’s not forget that in Italy we are 14 million ultra 65 year olds! And we represent a huge heritage of good. Be careful not to sin of omission. It would be terrible for us elderly people and for the company itself ».
What are the challenges of today’s elderly?
«We elderly people have a cultural, social and spiritual challenge in front of it. Cultural, because we must understand more and better that time made free from work is a resource for ourselves, for families, for society. How many things we can still do! It is also a social challenge, because the elderly themselves must become protagonists firsthand. Don’t give up, don’t resign yourself. Instead, live the time in front of us with renewed energy, at the service of families – for those who help grandchildren and grandchildren – and society, with the tools that law 33, once in full speed, will give to the territories. In this sense, the law draws a project of alliance between young and old, creating jobs for socio-health assistants; And also leaving the elderly at home, the depopulation of small towns is prevented, creating a virtuous circuit of exchange of experiences and dialogue between young and old. We are developing the tools. We elderly should not be afraid of old age and we must not consider ourselves in an antechamber age of the end of life! “.
And the spiritual challenge?
«Yes, it is also a great spiritual challenge. Unfortunately we elderly are still little helped, in this. The Church also has to do its examination of consciousness. For example, in every diocese there is a priest for young people. In none, except for some exceptions, there is a priest for the elderly. Where it is in the health commission. As if old age was a disease. On the contrary, we must find a spirituality for old age, for the thirty years of living as Christians. And I do only one example. We elderly – precisely because we are in the last part of life – are called to testify our destination towards the Eternal. It is to say that we do not live at the mercy of the case: before us there is the encounter with God, the life that does not end. And therefore that death is not the last word. Indeed, we elderly should hear that, despite the very hard passage of death, “the best still has to come”! We say it in the creed every Sunday: “I wait for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world that will come”. The Church is slowly becoming aware that the elderly can become not only the recipients of a specific catechesis, but in turn they can become great announcers of a wisdom that sees further, which looks beyond. It is a theme that I have very closely. I wrote a book (Destined for lifeSt. Paul) precisely to resume the profound meaning of the Christian eschatological announcement. It’s not a fairy tale, we recite the creed every Sunday. And the final destination begins here, indeed it started with the first vagite of each of us. It is the love of God who put us in the world through a father and a mother. For God it is an eternal love, which does not abandon. Faith, hope and charity therefore. Close to others, close to ourselves ».
