Taking Holy Eucharist to my dear friend Sheila today, highlight of my week. Alzheimers may have ambushed much from her life but it will never succeed in dampening her awe and appreciation for Holy Eucharist. As always Sheila receives beautiful Jesus like nothing on earth could possibly matter more - and in that exquisite moment nothing on earth DOES!! We pray Holy Rosary too, she remembers every word and it brings us both comfort and delight. We both cherish our Rosary beads.😄📿
Afterwards, tea and biscuits while trawling through photographs from days long past. ‘You are beautiful Sheila and I suppose you never knew it’, I tell her truthfully to which she replies in fits of laughter: ‘Indeed I did not and no one told me either’.
‘Pope Francis has recently offered a very different and more positive perspective. In his ‘Catechesis on Old Age’, he writes; “The alliance between generations, which restore all ages of life to the human, is our lost gift and we have to get it back. It must be found, in this throwaway culture and in the culture of productivity “. He invites us to listen to the dreams of older women and men and to learn from their wisdom (Joel 2:28).
Older persons have a different rhythm to life from which we can learn. He continues, “The arrogance of the time on the clock must be converted into the beauty of the rhythms of life”. (Bishop Kevin Doran/Intercom magazine)
I most certainly can vouch for the above. One time when I told my friend Johnny (rip) how I hoped to become a ‘Home help’, (‘Carer’ is so much nicer), he replied in shock: ‘No, you cannot. You will keep folk awake all night listening to their stories’. 😂
You got that one right, dear Johnny. May the Lord have mercy on your gentle soul. Amen
‘The best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person’. (Andy Rooney)
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