English
EspañolI am a grandfather: a father of a father. I am not a withered old man. I am an elder. I know how, here and now, I can improve this world.
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“Most families have great respect for the elderly, surrounding them with affection and considering them a blessing… In highly industrialized societies, where the number of elderly persons is growing even as the birth rate declines, they (the elderly) can be regarded as a burden. On the other hand, the care that they require often puts a strain on their loved ones”. (The Joy of Love, n.48)
Commentary
The first occasion in which Pope Francis, in The Joy of Love, refers to the “elderly,” he is in the chapter on trials and storms that families navigate nowadays – the second chapter – and poses the great dilemma: are the “elderly,” the “grandparents,” a blessing, a curse, a relief or a burden for their families.
To answer this question, one must ask the elderly themselves, not just look at their environment. When you accumulate years, you are in the position to experience an inner miracle. Your body declines, you accumulate losses and limitations. Yes, but at the same time, you discover that you can grow more and more in your personal spirit if you are willing. You can become more affable, understanding, caring, tender, warm, patient, generous, and so forth with all the inner values of the spirit. You can grow as a person while your declining body is diminishing.
At this point, you face a top choice, you either let your worn-out and sick body, with all its trouble and blackness, be the horseman that steers your person…; or, on the other hand, your personal spirit takes advantage of the weakness of the body, that old runaway colt, to be its mater and rider. It is a formidable experience that radiates throughout your whole family. The limitation of your body may burden them. But the loving growth of your spirit will do them enormous good as well as bring them joy. That is the distinction between growing old and becoming a bitter, withered old man. The difference resides in your inner choice.
An acquaintance of mine –Leopold Abadía– a famous professor at a renowned Business School and a popular writer, said the other day: “The question I ask myself, as a father of parents and grandfather of grandchildren, is not what type of world I am leaving them. What interests and maintains me busy is what type of children and grandchildren I am leaving the world. If they are good people, nice, honest, noble, of good manners, who know how to distinguish right from wrong, who help others, who are well prepared professionally… the world will be wonderful”.
This is the spirit of an elder. More than ever, despite the state of your body, when you are a parent of parents and a grandparent, you can discover how to improve society concretely and not just imagine an abstract utopia. How is this done? By growing, in your intimacy, the quality of your love and your own self, so that you can leave the best children and grandchildren possible to this world. Take advantage of every trifle moment in your ordinary life. This is the revolution of the “elderly.” What makes them a blessing to their families.
