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Image: Old Woman Dozing by Nicolaes Maes (1656). Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels
Pope Francis Catechesis on Old Age 12
St Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 1st June 2022
Catechesis on Old Age: 12. “Forsake me not when my strength is spent” (Ps 71:9)
Psalm 71
In you, Yahweh, I take refuge, I shall never be put to shame. In your saving justice rescue me, deliver me, listen to me and save me. Be a sheltering rock for me, always accessible; you have determined to save me, for you are my rock, my fortress. My God, rescue me from the clutches of the wicked, from the grasp of the rogue and the ruthless. For you are my hope, Lord, my trust, Yahweh, since boyhood. On you I have relied since my birth, since my mother’s womb you have been my portion, the constant theme of my praise. Many were bewildered at me, but you are my sure refuge. My mouth is full of your praises, filled with your splendour all day long. Do not reject me in my old age, nor desert me when my strength is failing, for my enemies are discussing me, those with designs on my life are plotting together. ‘Hound him down, for God has deserted him! Seize him, there is no one to rescue him.’ God, do not stand aloof, my God, come quickly to help me. Shame and ruin on those who slander me, may those intent on harming me be covered with insult and infamy. As for me, my hope will never fade, I will praise you more and more. My lips shall proclaim your saving justice, your saving power all day long. I will come in the power of Yahweh to tell of your justice, yours alone. God, you have taught me from boyhood, and I am still proclaiming your marvels. Now that I am old and grey-haired, God, do not desert me, till I have proclaimed your strength to generations still to come, your power and justice to the skies. You have done great things, God, who is like you? You have shown me much misery and hardship, but you will give me life again, You will raise me up again from the depths of the earth, prolong my old age, and comfort me again. For my part, I will thank you on the lyre for your constancy, my God. I will play the harp in your honour, Holy One of Israel. My lips sing for joy as I play to you, because you have redeemed me, and all day long my tongue muses on your saving justice. Shame and disgrace on those intent to harm me!
Dear brothers and sisters,
The beautiful prayer of the elderly man that we find in Psalm 71, which we have listened to, encourages us to meditate on the strong tension that inhabits the condition of old age, when the memory of labors overcome and blessings received tested by faith and hope.
The test itself comes with the weakness that accompanies the passage through the frailty and vulnerability of old age. And the Psalmist – an elderly man who addresses the Lord – explicitly mentions the fact that this process becomes an occasion for abandonment, deception and prevarication and bullying, which at times prey upon the elderly. In this throwaway society, this throwaway culture, elderly people are cast aside and suffer these things. It is a form of cowardice in which we are specializing in this society of ours. It is true! Indeed, there is no shortage of those who take advantage of the elderly, to cheat them and to intimidate them in myriad ways. Often, we read in the newspapers or hear news of elderly people who are unscrupulously tricked out of their savings, or are left unprotected or abandoned without care; or are being offended by forms of contempt and are being intimidated into renouncing their rights. Such cruelty also occurs within families – and this is serious, but it happens in families too. The elderly who are rejected are abandoned in nursing homes, without their children coming to visit them, if they visit, they go a few times a year. The elderly person is placed in the corner of existence. And this happens: it happens today, it happens in families, it happens all the time. We must reflect on this.
The whole of society must hasten to take care of its elderly – they are its treasure! – who are increasingly numerous and often also even more abandoned. When we hear of elderly people who are dispossessed of their autonomy, of their security, even their home, we understand that the ambivalence of today’s society with regard to old age is not a problem of occasional emergencies, but a feature of that throwaway culture that poisons the world we live in. The elder of the Psalm confides his discouragement to God: “My enemies speak concerning me”, he says. “those who spy on me conspire together / and say, ‘God has forsaken him; / pursue and seize him / for there is no one to free him’” (vv. 10-11).
The consequences are fatal. Old age not only loses its dignity, but it even doubts that it deserves to continue. In this way, we are all tempted to hide our vulnerability, to hide our illness, our age and our seniority, because we fear that they are the precursor to our loss of dignity. Let us ask ourselves: is it human to induce this feeling? How is it that modern civilization, so advanced and efficient, is so uncomfortable with sickness and old age? How is it that it hides illness, it hides old age? And how is it that politics, which is so committed to defining the limits of a dignified survival, is at the same time insensitive to the dignity of a loving coexistence with the old and the sick?
The elder of the Psalm we have heard, this elderly man who sees his old age as a defeat, rediscovers trust in the Lord. He feels the need to be helped. And he turns to God. Saint Augustine, commenting on this Psalm, exhorts the elderly: “Do not fear being forsaken in your old age. … Why do you fear that [the Lord] will abandon you, that he will reject you in the time of old age when your strength will fail? Indeed, just then will his strength be in you, when yours will fail” (Expositions on the Psalms 36, 881-882), this is what Augustine says. And the elderly Psalmist invokes: “Deliver me and rescue me, /incline thy ear to me, and save me. / Be thou to me a rock of refuge, / a strong fortress, to save me, / for thou art my rock and my fortress” (vv. 2-3). The invocation testifies to God’s faithfulness and summons his ability to shake consciences that have been diverted by insensibility to the span of mortal life, which must be protected in its entirety. He again prays thus: “O God, be not far from me; / O my God, make haste to help me! / May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; / with scorn and disgrace may they be covered / who seek my hurt” (vv. 12-13).
Indeed, shame should fall on those who take advantage of the weakness of illness and old age. Prayer renews in the heart of the elder the promise of God’s faithfulness and His blessing. The elderly man rediscovers prayer and bears witness to its strength. Jesus, in the Gospels, never rejects the prayer of those who are in need of help. The elderly, by virtue of their weakness, can teach those who are living in other ages of life that we all need to abandon ourselves to the Lord, to invoke his help. In this sense, we must all learn from old age: yes, there is a gift in being elderly, understood as abandoning oneself to the care of others, starting with God himself.
There is then a “teaching of frailty”, not hiding frailties, no. They are real, there is a reality and there is a magisterium of frailty, which old age is able to remind us of in a credible way for the whole span of human life. Do not hide old age, do not hide the fragility of old age. This is a teaching for all of us. This teaching opens up a decisive horizon for the reform of our own civilization. A reform that is now indispensable for the benefit of the coexistence of all. The marginalization of the elderly – both conceptual and practical – corrupts all seasons of life, not just that of old age. Every one of us can think today of the elderly people in the family: how do I relate to them, do I remember them, do I go to visit them? Do I try to make sure they lack nothing? Do I respect them? The elderly who are in my family: think of your mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, aunts and uncles, friends … Have I cancelled them from my life? Or do I go to them to obtain wisdom, the wisdom of life? Remember that you too will become elderly. Old age comes for everyone. And treat the elderly today as you would wish to be treated in your old age. They are the memory of the family, the memory of humanity, the memory of the country. Protect the elderly, who are wisdom. May the Lord grant the elderly who are part of the Church the generosity of this invocation and of this provocation. May this trust in the Lord spread to us. And this, for the good of all, for them.
Summary of the Holy Father’s words:
Dear brothers and sisters: In our continuing catechesis on the meaning and value of old age in the light of God’s word, we now consider the heartfelt prayer found in the first verses of Psalm 71: “You, O Lord, are my hope; my trust, O Lord, from my youth” (v. 5). Sensing the growing frailty and vulnerability that come with the passing of the years, the Psalmist implores God’s continued protection and care. In our own day, his anxious concern is shared by many of the elderly, who see their dignity and even their rights threatened by the spread of a “throwaway culture” that views them as useless and indeed a burden to society. In the face of this sense of frailty and uncertainty, the Psalmist reaffirms his trust in God’s covenant fidelity and his provident care. In every generation, the elderly can offer us a much-needed example of such perseverance in prayer and hope-filled surrender to the Lord. By their presence and example, they can open minds and hearts, and inspire the building of a more just and humane society – one that respects all the stages of life and values the contribution of each of its members to the common good.
