Dear friends,
On the 31 May 2021, the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis announced the creation of the First World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly to be celebrated on the 25th July 2021 this year. It is to mark the feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary and the grandparents of Jesus which falls on the 26th July. Pope Francis opens this message this way:
“Dear Grandfathers and Grandmothers,
Dear Elderly Friends,
“I am with you always” (Mt 28:20): this is the promise the Lord made to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. They are the words that he repeats to you today, dear grandfathers and grandmothers, dear elderly friends. “I am with you always” are also the words that I, as Bishop of Rome and an elderly person like yourselves, would like to address to you on this first World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. The whole Church is close to you – to us – and cares about you, loves you and does not want to leave you alone!”
Just before concluding his message he writes thus: “Finally, prayer. As my predecessor, Pope Benedict, himself a saintly elderly person who continues to pray and work for the Church, once said: “the prayer of the elderly can protect the world, helping it perhaps more effectively than the frenetic activity of many others.” [Visit to the Group Home “Viva gli Anziani”, 2 November 2012.] He spoke those words in 2012, towards the end of his pontificate. There is something beautiful here. Your prayer is a very precious resource: a deep breath that the Church and the world urgently need (cf. EvangeliiGaudium, 262). Especially in these difficult times for our human family, as we continue to sail in the same boat across the stormy sea of the pandemic, your intercession for the world and for the Church has great value: it inspires in everyone the serene trust that we will soon come to shore.”
On the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Gospel of John invites us to reflect of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves by Jesus. Jesus in his compassion for the crowd, looks up to his father in gratitude and intercedes on our behalf. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians calls us to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received. The calling our Grandparents and the Elderly have received at this time in their life is very special. I take this occasion to give thanks to God for each of our elderly brothers and sisters in our parish and for the formidable power of their prayers. We love you!
As we continue the summer months of leisure and relaxation, I ask that you read a few paragraphs each weekend from Section Two, Article 3 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Sacrament of the Eucharist, as we reflect together and begin to more fully appreciate this precious and invaluable gift.
ARTICLE 3: THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
III. THE EUCHARIST IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
The institution of the Eucharist
1337 The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love (Cf. Jn 13:1-17; 34-35). In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; "thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament" (Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740).
1338 The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account of the institution of the Eucharist; St. John, for his part, reports the words of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that prepare for the institution of the Eucharist: Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven (Cf. Jn 6.)
1339 Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum: giving his disciples his Body and his Blood: Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the passover meal for us, that we may eat it. . . ." They went . . . and prepared the passover. And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."... And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood" (Lk 22:7-20; Cf. Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14:12-25; 1 Cor 11:23-26).
1340 By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom.
Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John