I Will Never Forget You (Isaiah 49:15).
A dear friend of mine, Father Joseph Kane, died in 2017 at the age of 88. As a young priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, he spent many years serving the poor in Peru. He was also the author of several books, including
Your Light Shines in My Darkness, a book on spiritual warfare. The book drew the anger of a self-proclaimed warlock in Germany, who wrote to Father Kane to tell him he was actively cursing him. Whether or not there was any connection, Father eventually developed severe, debilitating back problems.
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By the time my husband and I came to know him, he spent most of his days confined to bed at the Oblates’ residence in Ottawa. He lived in constant pain. He could no longer join his community for Mass, prayer, or meals. His ministry seemed to have been reduced to celebrating Mass quietly in his room and hearing the occasional confession or offering a spiritual direction session. Yet one of his fellow missionaries from Peru told me something I have never forgotten.
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Father Kane is in the midst of his most powerful ministry as he lies in bed, in pain—more influential for the Church now than during all his years serving the poor in Peru.
At first, I found those words difficult to understand but over time, I came to see their truth. For my husband and me, Father Kane became a wise and gentle spiritual director. Though physically frail, he radiated peace, faith, and profound trust in God. He taught us that the fruitfulness of a Christian life is measured not by activity alone, but by our union with Christ. His witness came to mind as I read Pope Leo XIV’s message for the
Sixth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly..
The Holy Father reminds us that God’s love never fades. Just as God promises, “I will never forget you,” every person—especially older adults—is loved, valued, and remembered by God. Even when people feel lonely, weak, or forgotten by society, God remains close. Pope Leo also recalls Pope Francis’s description of older Christians as a “new people.”
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Never before in history have there been so many elderly people. Rather than seeing old age merely as a period of decline, the Church invites us to recognize it as a unique vocation. The Holy Father writes that we should not fear our fragility. Instead, weakness can become a place where God’s grace shines most brightly. When we acknowledge our dependence on God and on one another, our hearts become more open to love, reconciliation, and peace. He also notes that many people reach old age without ever having experienced a deep relationship with God.
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Yet it is never too late. Freed from many of the demands of work and raising families, older adults often discover they have time for prayer, daily Mass, spiritual reading, and works of charity. What may appear to be a season of loss can become a season of extraordinary spiritual growth.
This is how we can live out our old age as Christians: “fragile” yet at the same time “called.” A man and a woman can, in fact, be born anew in old age (cf. Jn 3:4-6) and exclaim, with the prophet: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Is 30:15). This strength can become an invitation not to resort to the ways of arrogance and power to ensure human coexistence, but to the ways of reconciliation and true peace. In this time, so harshly marked by the violence of war and social unrest, many wonder what the world in which their grandchildren will grow up will be like. I urge you, dear friends, to join me in praying earnestly that peace may soon come to the whole world.
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Grandparents and the elderly have a unique mission within the Church. Through their life experience, faith, wisdom, and love, they hand on values that cannot be learned from books alone. Their stories, prayers, and example teach younger generations perseverance, forgiveness, hope, and trust in God’s providence.
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Sadly, Pope Leo observes that many older people experience loneliness, illness, and the loss of loved ones. Too often they are overlooked or made to feel that they no longer have anything to contribute.
How often in Sacred Scripture, especially in the Psalms, does prayer spring from the despair of those who feel that their lives are of no interest to anyone and are being neglected! The painful feeling of being forgotten is, unfortunately, shared by many people, and among them are quite a few elderly people.
God’s love, which forgets no one, offers itself as an act of justice and a response to the anonymity in which human life all too often ends up lost. The lives of many elderly people, in particular, seem to be covered by a veil that blurs the features of their faces and shrouds them in oblivion. This is what happens in homes where loneliness reigns and also in those care facilities where each person’s uniqueness risks being reduced to a bed number or an illness.
Pope Leo challenges families, parishes, and communities to reject this way of thinking. The elderly are not a burden to be managed but a gift to be cherished. Together, let us thank the Lord for the gift that older people are to both the Church and society.
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Let us recommit ourselves to respecting them, listening to them, and ensuring they receive the care, companionship, and dignity they deserve. The Pope also invites younger people to seek out grandparents and elderly neighbours—not simply out of obligation, but out of love. A visit, a phone call, a shared meal, or simply taking time to listen can transform a person’s day. Such small acts of kindness strengthen families, build bridges between generations, and reveal God’s faithful love.
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At the same time, Pope Leo encourages older people not to lose heart. Even if they can no longer do what they once did, their vocation has not ended. Their prayers, patience, suffering offered to God, and quiet witness continue to bear immense fruit in the life of the Church.
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Father Kane helped me understand this truth long before I read Pope Leo’s message. Though confined to his bed, he continued to shape souls. His hidden life of prayer may well have accomplished more than anyone could measure.
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Perhaps we have forgotten a profound biblical truth: God often transforms the world through what appears weak and insignificant. He needs only one open window through which His grace can shine into a family, a parish, a community, or even a nation. Very often, the prayers of the elderly are that open window.
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May our parishes become places where older people are not merely cared for but genuinely valued—where their wisdom is sought, their stories are heard, and their vocation is celebrated. When young and old walk together, the whole Church grows in faith, hope, and love. Every stage of life has dignity, purpose, and an indispensable place in God’s plan.
