The 3rd World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly will be celebrated on Sunday 23 July 2023, with the theme: ‘His mercy is from age to age’ (Lk. 1:50)
The Holy Father, in his Message for the day, invited all dioceses, parishes, associations, communities – to celebrate it, “putting at the centre the overflowing joy of a renewed encounter between young and old.”
“To you, the young who are preparing to meet in Lisbon or to celebrate World Youth Day in your own countries, I would ask: before you set out on your journey, visit your grandparents or an elderly person who lives alone! Their prayers will protect you and you will carry in your heart the blessing of that encounter. I ask you, the elderly among us, to accompany by your prayers the young people about to celebrate World Youth Day. Those young people are God’s answer to your prayers, the fruits of all that you have sown, the sign that God does not abandon his people, but always rejuvenates them with the creativity of the Holy Spirit.”
Caring for grandparents and the elderly is not only a duty of gratitude and affection, but a necessity for building a more humane and fraternal society. The Holy Father invites us to recognise their value in transmitting faith and hope to the new generations and to do so in a way that is not a one-time event, rather a permanent one.
The World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly is an occasion to once again express with joy that the Church wants to celebrate together with those whom the Lord – as the Bible says – has given “a full life”.
Prayer for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly 2023
Virgin Mary, Mother of faith and hope,
an example for this humanity bent by indifference,
make me as willing as you to accept the will of God,
to magnify and praise His Mercy.
Mary, Mother of fortitude, you who knows my heart,
do not allow me to become discouraged.
I confidently surrender my life into your hands.
Heal my wounds.
May your tenderness accompany me on the way.
Your presence, Mother of love, brings us to experience the joy
of seeing our families united.
Help me to transmit the tenderness and Love of God to the grandchildren and youth so that,
in addition to praying for them, we can pray with them.
Mary, may the gift of the Holy Spirit intercede for me: sustain my weakness;
breathe into my heart the consolation, that I may leave traces of faith among the young,
bearing witness to the beauty of life, knowing that life has a limit
and that beyond it lies before us our Father’s embrace.
Amen.