Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • March 15, 2024 19 Vatican announces theme for World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly Pope Francis greets some elderly people as he arrives at the headquarters of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar, Mon- golia, Sept. 1, 2023. The pope will be staying at the prefecture during his four-day visit to the country. CNS photo/Vatican Media VATICAN CITY ( CNS ) -- Pope Francis has chosen a line from Psalm 71 -- “Do not cast me off in my old age” -- as the theme for the 2024 cel- ebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. In a note announcing the theme for the day, which will be celebrated July 28, the Vatican said the choice was “meant to call attention to the fact that, sadly, loneliness is the bitter lot in life of many elderly persons, so often the victims of the throwaway culture.” Pope Francis celebrated the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021 and decreed that it be observed each year on the Sunday clos- est to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents. As the Catholic Church prepares for the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to fo- cus on prayer, which is why he chose the prayer of an elderly person from the Psalms for the theme, the Vatican said in a statement released Feb. 15. “By cherishing the charisms of grandparents and the elderly, and the contribution they make to the life of the Church, the World Day seeks to sup- port the efforts of every ecclesial community to forge bonds between the generations and to com- bat loneliness,” the statement said. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicast- ery for Laity, the Family and Life, said the theme is a reminder “that, unfortunately, loneliness is a widespread reality, which afflicts many elderly people, often victims of the throwaway culture and considered a burden to society.” Families and parishes, he said, “are called to be at the forefront in promoting a culture of en- counter, to create spaces for sharing, listening, to offer support and affection: thus, the love of Gos- pel becomes concrete.” Our communities, with their tenderness and af- fectionate attention that does not forget its most fragile members, are called to manifest the love of God, who never abandons anyone,” the cardinal said. Relationship with God should be intimate, not transactional, pope says Pope Francis gives his blessing after praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 3. CNS Photo/Vatican Media BY JUSTIN MCLELLAN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY ( CNS ) -- Just as Jesus drove out merchants from the temple in Jerusalem, Christians should cleanse themselves from a trans- actional relationship with God by developing an intimacy with him like that of a family in their home, Pope Francis said. Speaking to some 20,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus March 3, the pope highlighted the spiritual significance of the temple and said people’s various conceptions of the temple represent “different ways of ap- proaching the Lord.” Although his voice occasionally sounded strained, he delivered the entirety of his prepared remarks. The day before he had told groups that he was suffering from bronchitis and during the previous week he had an aide read his speeches for him. Citing the day’s Gospel reading from St. John, in which Jesus tells those selling goods in the temple to “stop making my Father’s house a marketplace,” Pope Francis said the temple should be understood as a house where “we go to encounter the Lord, to be close to him, to be close to our brothers and sisters, to share joys and sorrows.” “In the market, one seeks one’s own interests,” he said, whereas “at home, one gives freely.” In the Gospel reading Jesus resorts to “harsh” words and actions -- driving merchants out of the temple with a whip and overturning the tables of the money-chang- ers -- because He does not accept that the temple be transformed into a market, Pope Francis said. “He does not accept that our relationship with God is distant and commercial instead of intimate and trusting, He does not accept that selling stalls take the place of the family table, that prices take the place of hugs, and coins replace caresses,” the pope said. By treating the temple as a market, he said, “a barrier is created between God and man and be- tween brother and brother, whereas Christ came to bring communion, to bring mercy, that is, forgive- ness, and to bring closeness.” Pope Francis encouraged Catholics during Lent to “build a greater sense of home and less of a sense of the market in ourselves and around us.” Building a sense of home is achieved by pray- ing “like children who knock confidently at the Father’s door without getting tired, and not like greedy and distrustful merchants,” he said, as well as by spreading a sense of a fraternity. Pope Francis urged Christians to consider the qual- ity of their prayer, to observe their relationships and to be generous and close to others, and he asked for Mary’s help to “build a home with God, among us, and around us.”