July 7th.  It was quite unusual in the prayer group of elderly to have a few men, some of them grandfathers.  Andrew was in an unusual position too.   His wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident some years ago.  “I chose to become father and mother to the little boy who survived.  There were some aunts but I had considered it my task to nurture the boy.“  Then he shared how angry and disappointed he was at times that the boy, who had been so committed as a teenager, had stopped going to church.  “I don’t know what he has got into it, but I keep asking myself, what has happened to his faith?”  

Scripture:   When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son.   My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender.  I will not execute my fierce anger. Hosea 11:1-9. Pope Francis:  Old age is no time to give up and lower the sails, but a season of enduring fruitfulness: a new mission awaits us and bids us look to the future.  “The special sensibility that those of us who are elderly have for the concern, thoughts and the affections that make us human should once again become the vocation of many.   It would be a sign of our love for the young generations and a contribution to the revolution of tenderness.  Message to Grandparents and the Elderly 2022.