Pope Francis continued his series of catechesis on old age and reflected on Jesus’ farewell address in which he promised that he will prepare a place for us beyond death on 10 August, Wednesday.
“Our existence on earth is the moment of initiation into life, it is life, but it leads you forward to a fuller life, a life that only finds fulfillment in God. We are imperfect from the beginning and we remain imperfect to the end,” the Holy Father said.
Following is the catechesis pronounced by Pope Francis:
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
We are already in the last catechesis dedicated to old age. Today we enter into the moving intimacy of Jesus’ farewell to his own, widely recorded in the Gospel according to Saint John.
The farewell speech begins with words of consolation and promise: “Let not his heart be troubled” (14,1); “When I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come back again to take you with me, so that where I am, you may also be” (14,3). Nice words from the Lord.
Shortly before that, Jesus had told Peter: “You will follow me later” (13:36), reminding him of the passage due to the fragility of his faith. The time of life that remains for the disciples will inevitably be a passage through the fragility of witness and the challenges of fraternity. But it will also be a step through the exciting blessings of faith: “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and even greater ones” (14,12). Think what a great promise this is! I don’t know if we think about it deeply, if we believe it deeply. I don’t know, sometimes, I think not.
Old age is the propitious time to give a moving and joyful testimony of this expectation. The old man, the old woman, is waiting, waiting for a meeting. In old age, the works of faith, which bring us and others closer to the Kingdom of God, are already beyond the strength of the energies, words, and impulses of youth and maturity. But for that very reason, they make the promise of the true destiny of life even more transparent. And what is the true destiny of life? a place at the table with God, in God’s world.
It would be interesting to see if there is any specific reference in the local churches aimed at revitalizing this special ministry of waiting on the Lord. It is a ministry, the ministry of waiting on the Lord, fostering the individual charisms and the community qualities of the elderly person.
An old age consumed with despondency over missed opportunities brings with it despondency for oneself and for all. On the other hand, old age lived gently, lived with respect for real life, and definitively dissolves a mistaken understanding about a force that must be sufficient for itself and for its own success. It even dissolves the misunderstanding of a Church that adapts itself to the worldly condition, thus thinking of definitively governing its perfection and realization.
When we free ourselves from this presumption, the time of aging that God grants us is already in itself one of those “greater” works of which Jesus speaks. In fact, it is a work that Jesus was not given to accomplish: His death, Resurrection, and ascension to heaven made it possible for us! Remember that “time is greater than space”. It is the law of initiation. Our life is not destined to close in on itself, in an illusory earthly perfection, it is destined to go beyond, through the passage of death, because death is a passage. Indeed, our firm place, our point of arrival is not here, it is with the Lord, where He dwells forever.
Here, on earth, the process of our “novitiate” begins, we are apprentices of life, who – in the midst of a thousand difficulties – learn to appreciate the gift of God, honoring the responsibility of sharing it and making it bear fruit for all. The time of life on earth is the grace of this step.
The claim to stop time, to want eternal youth, unlimited well-being, and absolute power, is not only impossible but delusional.
Our existence on earth is the moment of initiation to life, it is life, but it leads you forward to a fuller life, a life that only finds fulfillment in God. We are imperfect from the beginning and we remain imperfect until the end.
In the fulfillment of God’s promise, the relationship is reversed: God’s space, which Jesus carefully prepares for us, is greater than the time of our mortal life. Behold, old age brings the hope of this realization closer. Old age definitely knows the meaning of time and the limitations of the place where we live our initiation. Old age is wise for this. The elders are wise for this.
That is why she is believable when she invites us to rejoice over time: it is not a threat, it is a promise. Old age is noble, you do not need makeup to show your own nobility, perhaps makeup comes when nobility is lacking. Old age is believable when it invites us to rejoice over time: but time passes, this is not a threat, it is a promise. Old age, which rediscovers the depth of the look of faith, is not conservative by nature, as they say. The world of God is an infinite space, on which the passage of time no longer has any weight.
And it was precisely at the Last Supper that Jesus projected himself towards this goal, when he said to his disciples: “From now on I will drink no more of this fruit of the vine, until the day I drink it again with you in the kingdom of my Father” (Mt 26, 29). In our preaching, Paradise is usually full of joy, of light, of love. Perhaps it lacks a little life. Jesus, in the parables, spoke of the Kingdom of God adding more life to it Are we not, perhaps, capable of this?The life that goes on.
Dear brothers and sisters, old age, lived in expectation of the Lord, can become the fulfillment of the “apology” of faith, which gives reason for our hope for all (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) because old age makes transparent the promise of Jesus, which is projected towards the Holy City of which the book of Revelation speaks (chapters 21-22).
Old age is the most appropriate phase of life to spread the joyous news that life is an initiation for a definitive realization. The elders are a promise, they are a testimony of promise. And the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come. It is the message of the old man, of the old believer: the best is yet to come. May God grant us an old age capable of this!
(Translated from ACI Prensa)