• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis greets Chris Trott, the British ambassador to the Holy See, after his general audience at the Vatican May 11, 2022. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope tells grandparents to leave grandkids their legacy of wisdom

May 11, 2022
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Seniors, Vatican, World News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis told older people to use retirement as a time to serve others and to sow the seeds of their wisdom.

When people retire, starting the new chapter in life requires “a creative attention, a new attention, a generous availability,” the pope said during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square May 11.

“The previous skills of active life lose their constraint and become resources to be given away: teaching, advising, building, caring, listening … preferably in favor of the most disadvantaged who cannot afford any learning or who are abandoned in their loneliness,” he said.

Communities, he said, must understand “how to benefit from the talents and charisms of so many elderly people who are already retired, but who are a wealth to be treasured.”

The pope continued his series of talks dedicated to the meaning and value of “old age” and reflected on the biblical figure of Judith, a pious widow, who, as a young woman, “had won the esteem of the community with her courage” in killing the commander-in-chief of the threatening armies of Nebuchadnezzar.

With her heroism, she lived “to the fullest the mission the Lord had entrusted to her,” the pope said, and then, as an older widow with no children, she saw “it was time for her to leave the good legacy of wisdom, tenderness and gifts for her family and her community.”

When people reach retirement age, they usually can expect to have many years ahead of them, he said. They may wonder what they should do and ask, “how can I grow in authority, in holiness, in wisdom?”

If there are grandchildren, there will be “the task, joyful and tiring,” of looking after them, he said.

“The little ones learn the power of tenderness and respect for frailty” from their grandparents, and grandparents learn that “tenderness and frailty are not solely signs of decline: for young people, they are conditions that humanize the future,” he said.

But sometimes family members live far apart, there are fewer children, and employment and housing conditions may be “unfavorable” to an intergenerational family, or families may not want grandparents to have an educational role or to do more than just help out when needed, he added.

With so many new demands on today’s families, he said, they must learn to “reshape the traditional connection between the generations” and make their “conditions more human, more loving, more just.”

“When we think of a legacy,” he said, “at times we think of goods, and not of the goodness that is done in old age, and that has been sown, that goodness that is the best legacy we can leave,” not just goods or assets.

The pope encouraged people read the Book of Judith to be inspired by her example. “Judith is not a pensioner who lives the emptiness it brings melancholically: she is a passionate mature woman who fills the time God gives her with gifts.”

“This is how I would like all our grandmothers to be: courageous, wise and who bequeath to us not money, but the legacy of wisdom, sown in their grandchildren,” he said.

Read More Vatican News

Synod is called to understand authority, recognize truth, preacher says

Participants in Synod on Synodality say they seek ‘new vision’ for church from assembly

Be tender, close to the poor, pope asks religious

Pope responds to cardinals on blessings for homosexuals, female priests

Be sincere with God even when saying ‘no,’ pope says

Pope writes to children about mission, invites them to Vatican in November

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Baltimore’s beloved Brooks Robinson, Catholic convert, dies at 86
  • Archbishop Lori will ordain 14 permanent deacons Sept. 30
  • ‘The most equitable path for all victim-survivors’ – Archdiocese of Baltimore files for Chapter 11 reorganization
  • Fire in packed hall turns wedding joy into tragedy in northern Iraq, killing more than 100
  • Chance encounter showed Brooks Robinson’s Catholic spirit

| Latest Local News |

For love of Grace: Mother of daughter lost to suicide battles online bullying

Baltimore showers love on Capuchin Franciscans

Radio Interview: The amazing life of Sister Mary Wilhelmina

| Latest World News |

Lawmakers seek FACE Act repeal, say law weaponizes federal power against pro-lifers

‘Hard work’ of standup comedy a labor of love, faith for Jen Fulwiler

U.S. bishop commends refugee allocations, urges bipartisan support for resettlement

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Lawmakers seek FACE Act repeal, say law weaponizes federal power against pro-lifers
  • ‘Hard work’ of standup comedy a labor of love, faith for Jen Fulwiler
  • For love of Grace: Mother of daughter lost to suicide battles online bullying
  • U.S. bishop commends refugee allocations, urges bipartisan support for resettlement
  • Synod is called to understand authority, recognize truth, preacher says
  • Be tender, close to the poor, pope asks religious
  • Participants in Synod on Synodality say they seek ‘new vision’ for church from assembly
  • Congress averts government shutdown just hours before its deadline
  • ‘Radical solidarity’ with women in need means being the ‘hands and feet of Jesus,’ pro-life leaders say

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED