The new year is a natural time for reflection, as the winter months bring quiet and time for thought.
As we grow older, especially if we're facing this change with anything less than enthusiasm, there’s a book we'll want to add to our 2026 reading plan.
In 2022, Pope Francis gave a series of audiences on aging. Called the Catechesis on Old Age, you can find these reflections collected in book form here as an ePub and a PDF.
Thanks to advances in medicine and longevity, many more people are living into old age than ever happened in the past. Pope Francis believed that this called for special attention:
For some decades now, this stage of life has concerned a veritable “new people”, who are the elderly. There have never been so many of us in human history… Old age is one of the most urgent issues facing the human family at this time.
It’s not uncommon to have mixed feelings about growing old. Yet this time of life is not something to fear.
Pope Francis wrote that our lives find their fulfillment “only in God.” As we grow older, he said, we can experience aging as a time of special blessings and spiritual growth:
Old age brings the hope of this fulfillment closer. Old age, by now, definitively knows the meaning of time and the limitations of the place in which we live our initiation.
This is why old age is wise: this is why the elderly are wise. This is why it is credible when it invites us to rejoice in the passing of time. It is not a threat; it is a promise.
Old age is noble; it does not need to beautify itself to show its nobility.
In these audiences, Pope Francis covers topics that include the following:
- The grace of time and the bond between age and life
- Longevity as a symbol and opportunity
- Old age as a resource for lighthearted youth
- Farewell and inheritance, and the roles of memory and testimony
- Fidelity to God’s visitation for the next generation
He also explores the stories of elderly people in the Bible and what they have to teach us. There’s Naomi, mother-in-law of Ruth, who shows the alliance between the generations that opens up the future. Eleazar reveals the consistency of the faith and an honourable inheritance. Judith shows a woman who is admirable in youth and generous in old age. Job responds to trials of faith and shows the blessing of waiting.
Along with other stories from Scripture and the lives of the saints, these reflections are a beautiful witness to the particular spiritual blessings that old age can bring.
Pope Francis’ reflections would make a wonderful read for a book club or discussion group, perhaps at your parish or in your senior living community.
As we grow older, we may want to add Catechesis on Old Age to the top of our reading lists in the new year.
