What Is the Mission of the Older Person?

"It is important that elderly people make the effort to look to the future with confidence, supported by Christian hope and faith and growing in the face of Christ which spreads throughout the world."

"They can offer a witness of faith enriched by a long experience of life, a judgment full of wisdom about the things and situations of the world, a clearer vision of the demands of mutual love between men, a serener conviction of divine love which directs every life and all the world’s history."

"A serene view of contemporary society can make us recognize that it favors a new development of the mission of older people in the Church."

"Age does not prevent them from devoting themselves to the needs of the community, for example, in worship, in visiting the sick, in helping the poor."

"We should remember, as old people, that with health problems and the decline of our physical strength, we are particularly associated with Christ in his Passion and on the Cross."

"Everything in the life of the elderly person may serve to fulfill his earthly mission. Nothing is in vain. On the contrary, his cooperation, precisely because it is hidden, is yet more valuable for the Church."

"Old age is also a gift for which we are called to give thanks: a gift for the person on in years, for society and for the Church. Life is always a great gift."

"Nothing prevents us in our prayers and personal aspirations from continuing, even as elderly people, to invoke and to praise God who brings joy to our youth!"