{"id":307970,"date":"2021-07-23T01:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T23:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/the-first-world-day-for-grandparents-and-the-elderly\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:42:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:42:31","slug":"the-first-world-day-for-grandparents-and-the-elderly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/the-first-world-day-for-grandparents-and-the-elderly\/","title":{"rendered":"The first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis instituted this day on July 25 to highlight the vocation of the elderly, which is \u2018keeping the roots, transmitting faith to the young and taking care of the little ones\u2019. For the occasion, we collected some experiences of grandparents and grandchildren that bear witness to the love between generations.<\/em> \u2018When everything seems dark, like during these months of the pandemic, the Lord continues to send angels to console our loneliness and to repeat to us, \u201cI am with you every day.\u201d\u2019 In his message for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, to be celebrated on July 25, Pope Francis aimed to give a message of hope and closeness to grandparents and the elderly around the world. I would like \u2018every grandparent, every elderly person, every grandmother \u2013 especially those among us who are most alone \u2013 to receive a visit from an angel\u2019 through a grandchild, a family member, a friend. During these times of pandemic, we have realised how important hugs, visits, gestures of love are. These signs are experienced daily between grandparents and grandchildren or with elderly neighbours. Martin, for example, is 8 years old and is a Gen 4 \u2013 the youngest children of the Focolare \u2013 who lives in Uruguay. He lives near an elderly grandmother who grows flowers in her garden. Some children sometimes throw a ball in her garden, making her angry, then laugh at her. Martin thought that this was not good, so he decided to help the lady. He got a wheelbarrow and took the weeds and trash out of the garden. The lady thanked him, and every time he helps her, she gives him some money, which he donates to the poor in the community. Nicola, on the other hand, is a grandfather of eight grandchildren. One day he was invited by a Gen 4 to speak at catechism class about the family. On his way to the meeting, he asked himself how he could interest the children in this topic. While walking, his gaze was drawn to a nest that had fallen from a branch and was now abandoned. He picked it up and brought it to the class. What a nice idea; he was able to explain how a nest is made, as well as how a family is. Everyone had something to add, and the hour of catechism passed quickly. Rosaria is 70 years old and a grandmother, who is so dedicated to both her grandchildren and the Gen 4 of her local community. \u2018I always feel like I’m doing very little,\u2019 she says, \u2018but I notice that something is happening \u2013 they’re having experiences I didn’t expect. \u2018For example, Tommaso received a scratch on the cheek from a little girl at school. When the teacher noticed it, she asked why he hadn’t told her. He answered by apologising for his classmate because she hadn’t done it on purpose. When the teacher told his parents, they were positively amazed because such behaviour had never happened before.\u2019 Grandma Rosaria has a secret: she prays every day for all Gen 4 and all the children of the world. \u2018I think this is the most important thing.\u2019 Grandma Mary from New York tells Living City,<\/em> \u2018A few years ago before Christmas our granddaughter Cecilia, then 11, came home from school with a bag full of gifts she bought with money her mom had given her. She was so happy as she showed us what she had gotten for a couple of friends and some family members. I marvelled at how lovingly she had chosen those gifts! \u2018I started to tell her what my Christmas was like when I was a little girl living in the Philippines. We were quite poor. After midnight mass, we went to our neighbours\u2019 house to have dinner together. We each received a delicious red apple as a Christmas present. It was something really special! \u2018Hearing this, Cecilia said: \u201cReally? A delicious red apple?\u201d \u2018\u201cYes,\u201d I said, \u201ca delicious red apple!\u201d \u2018And as soon as her dad came home, she told him: \u201cYou know what Grandma got for Christmas? A delicious red apple!\u201d \u2018On Christmas Day, we were celebrating in our New York home with some of our children and their families. My daughter-in-law brought a basket marked \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d with a dozen apples in it, saying, \u201cCecilia called me and asked, ‘Would you buy 12 apples for Grandma so she doesn’t just have one but 12 for Christmas?\u201d \u2018What a Christmas gift! We have found over and over again that we don’t need many gifts to love God and others at Christmas. Sometimes all it takes is one red, delicious apple.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Lorenzo Russo<\/em><\/p>\n

  You can see the pope’s video message for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly at youtu.be\/1qhzDGFl-6w.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis instituted this day on July 25 to highlight the vocation of the elderly, which is \u2018keeping the roots, transmitting faith to the young and taking care of the little ones\u2019. For the occasion, we collected some experiences of grandparents and grandchildren that bear witness to the love between generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}