July 5.  Susan said, “in his messages for the grandparents and elderly this year Pope Francis is quite critical of society as a whole, who abandon, abuse and neglect their elderly even blaming them for robbing the young of resources they want and need, like the 140 old people who died of neglect in the Life Esidimeni case, because of the uncaring attitudes of those who should have cared for them and even by some of their own families at times.”  “That is truly heartless” the others agreed “We should raise awareness about that, as they did before in the demonstration against abuse “

Reflect, share, scripture: “Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end, behold the days are coming,” says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east, they shall run back and forth , to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.  From Amos 8:4-12  Pope Francis: An accusation that the elderly “rob the young of their future” is nowadays present everywhere. It appears under other guises even in the most advanced and modern societies. For example, there is now a widespread conviction that the elderly are burdening the young with the high cost of the social services that they require, and in this way are diverting resources from the development of the community and thus from the young. This is a distorted perception of reality. It assumes that the survival of the elderly puts that of the young at risk, that to favour the young, it is necessary to neglect or even suppress the elderly. Intergenerational conflict is a fallacy and the poisoned fruit of a culture of conflict. To set the young against the old is an unacceptable form of manipulation: “What is important is the unity of the different ages of life, which is the real point of reference for understanding and valuing human life in its entirety” (Catechesis, 23 February 2022).    ACTION AND PRAYER.   Do an examination of conscience on this matter.