The World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly is celebrated every year throughout the Church on the fourth Sunday of July, around the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the “grandparents” of Jesus. Pope Francis acknowledged the difficulties that old age entails in the lives of individuals and in society. However, he invited the elderly to “persevere in hope” and pointed out that a long life is also a gift for the whole of society.
The Holy Father invited grandparents and the elderly to continue to bear fruit and proposed to them to live in a particular way the dimension of prayer. This, Pope Francis points out, is “the most valuable instrument at our disposal and, indeed, the one best suited to our age”. A “trustful prayer can do a great deal: it can accompany the cry of pain of those who suffer, and it can help change hearts.” All elderly who participate in World Day liturgies, and all those who visit an elderly person who is alone during the days before and after the liturgies, will receive a Plenary Indulgence.
0910 World Day for GrandparentsPrayer for World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
I thank You, Lord,
for the comfort of Your presence:
even in times of loneliness,
You are my hope and my confidence,
You have been my rock and my fortress since my youth!
I thank You for having given me a family
and for having blessed me with a long life.
I thank You for moments of joy and difficulty,
for the dreams that have already come true in my life and for
those that are still ahead of me.
I thank You for this time of renewed fruitfulness to which You
call me.
Increase, O Lord, my faith,
make me a channel of your peace,
teach me to embrace those who suffer more than me,
to never stop dreaming
and to tell of your wonders to new generations.
Protect and guide Pope Francis and the Church,
that the light of the Gospel might reach the ends of the earth.
Send Your Spirit, O Lord, to renew the world,
that the storm of the pandemic might be calmed,
the poor consoled and wars ended.
Sustain me in weakness
and help me to live life to the full
in each moment that You give me,
in the certainty that you are with me every day,
even until the end of the age.
Amen.
Prayer for the First World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
I thank you, Lord, for the comfort of your presence: even in times of loneliness, you are my hope and my confidence, you have been my rock and my fortress since my youth! I thank you for having given me a family and for having blessed me with a long life. I thank you for moments of joy and difficulty, for the dreams that have already come true in my life and for those that are still ahead of me. I thank you for this time of renewed fruitfulness to which you call me. Increase, O Lord, my faith, make me a channel of your peace, teach me to embrace those who suffer more than me, to never stop dreaming and to tell of your wonders to new generations. Protect and guide Pope Francis and the Church, that the light of the Gospel might reach the ends of the earth. Send your Spirit, O Lord, to renew the world, that the storm of the pandemic might be calmed, the poor consoled and wars ended. Sustain me in weakness and help me to live life to the full in each moment that you give me, in the certainty that you are with me every day, even until the end of the age.
Amen.
Prayer for Blessing of Grandparents
Lord God almighty, bless our grandparents with long life, happiness, and health. May they remain constant in your love and be living signs of your presence to their children and grandchildren. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
A Child’s Prayer for Grandparents
Dear God, please bless my grandparents.
Thank you for the life they gave my parents
and for the life, they give to me.
For the ways they helped me and made me strong, I give thanks.
For the ways, they love me no matter what, I rejoice.
For the ways, they have paved the road
that leads me here, I am grateful.
Let them grow in wisdom and joy in life.
Let them find peace and rest from their work.
Let them be healed of every sickness and pain.
And let them see with their own eyes your glory
and the love of their children and grandchildren.
Bless them always until they come to rest in you.
Our Grandparents
We thank you for our grandparents who have played such an important role in our lives.
We remember with joy all of the time spent together doing simple things like fishing, doing a puzzle, baking cookies, taking a walk, reading a story and learning about the wonder of nature.
Thank you for the privilege of hearing their stories of life in another time and place that inspired us to work hard, be patient, courageously endure hard times and to dare to follow our dreams.
We are forever grateful for the wisdom and stability they provided when we felt our world was falling apart.
What a great gift to us that they loved us just because we were their grandchild.
Thank you that they counted it joy to spend time listening as we told them about the big and little things going on in our lives.
May we continuously feel their hugs and feel the warmth of their smiles so that we can better comprehend your constant and unchanging love for us.
We ask your kind forgiveness for the times we failed to appreciate our grandparents, for the times we were too wrapped up in ourselves and our own activities to spend more time with them.
Help us to become more like them as we age, learning how to accept with grace the limitations of aging bodies. Give us their strong and supernatural grace to face the loss of our own aging friends and family the same way our grandparents have. May we learn from them how to face the prospects of our own limited time on earth and our own deaths with the dignity, peace, and assurance of eternal life.
And when our time comes to be grandparents ourselves, help us to follow in their loving footsteps.
Look with Love
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them!
They are a source of enrichment
for families and for all of society.
Support them!
As they grow older,
may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardian of noble domestic ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits
of their mature human and spiritual experience.
Help families and society
to value the presence and roles of grandparents.
May they never be ignored or excluded,
but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed
in all the years of life which you give them.
Keep them constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity
for the great embrace of life without end.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s Prayer for Grandparents
Lord Jesus,
you were born of the Virgin Mary,
the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne.
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them! They are a source of enrichment
for families, for the Church and for all of society.
Support them! As they grow older,
may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardians of noble domestic ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits
of their mature human and spiritual experience.
Lord Jesus,
help families and society
to value the presence and role of grandparents.
May they never be ignored or excluded,
but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed
in all the years of life which you give them.
Mary, Mother of all the living,
keep grandparents constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity
for the great embrace of life without end.
Amen!
Prayer for the second World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
I give thanks to you, Lord,
For the blessing of a long life
For, to those who take refuge in You, Grant always to bear fruit.
Forgive, O Lord,
Resignation and disillusionment, But forsake me not
When my strength declines.
Teach me to look with hope
To the future you give me,
To the mission you entrust to me And to sing your praises without end.
Make me a tender craftsman
Of Your revolution,
To guard with love my grandchildren
And all the little ones who seek shelter in You.
Protect, O Lord, Pope Francis
And grant Thy Church
To deliver the world from loneliness. Direct our steps in the way of peace.
Amen.
