The weekend of July 25th and 26th will be an opportunity to honor and pray for our senior parishioners, and in a special way for our grandparents and great-grandparents.  This celebration was instituted by Pope Francis in 2021, on the fourth Sunday in July.  It's meant to coincide, too, with the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne (which falls on Sunday, the 26th), the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and therefore maternal grandparents of Jesus.  The following prayer will be offered at all the Masses as we recognize the irreplaceable role our senior parishioners have in our faith community.  May the Lord always enfold them with his providential care!

 

God of age-old faithfulness and love,

from one generation to the next, you have been our refuge.

Before the mountains were born, or the stars were fixed in their places,

you held us in your heart and knew each of us by name.

We come before you today with gladness

asking that you bless all our sisters and brothers who are rich in years.

You have walked alongside them, Lord,

every moment of their long journey through life,

and you have been their shelter—in good times and in bad,

in sickness and in health.

We thank you for the countless ways you’ve blessed and cared for them,

and ask that today, you renew them in body and spirit,

ease any trace of sadness, loneliness, or regret they may feel,

and fill them with hope for all that is still to come.

 

Bless, too, all our grandparents and great-grandparents.

Through the intercession of Saints Joachim and Anne,

the parents of the Virgin Mary, and grandparents of the Lord Jesus,

may they find pure delight in their grandchildren

and continue to model for them what it means to live the Gospel.

May our grandparents realize how vital a part they play

in shaping the souls of their children’s children,

teaching them how to love and to forgive,

how to sacrifice and to serve,

how to pray.

 

God, ever ancient and ever new,

look with love upon all our elders in the faith,

and let their hearts be light this day

in the knowledge that you cherish them beyond measure in this life,

and will one day beckon them home to the halls of heavenly joy. 

We ask all this through Christ, our Lord.  Amen.