Prayer for Growing Old

Dear God of Mystery, heavenly Father -- as so often we address you -- Holy Spirit here with us and within us, we know you see our needs and visit us each day and night with your compassionate Presence, we look to you in hope. Hope in you is sometimes all we have -- but that is everything. You are the Promise that all will be well, you are the Intelligence and Love that brought us into being, and you will welcome us home at our life's end. We surrender to your ways; they are best.

Let me accept growing old as possibly the greatest adventure in life so far: a time beyond all my previous busy-ness to reflect, time to reflect deeply on all that has happened.to me in life: family, friends, health and disappointments.

Allow me to let go of unhealthy pre-occupations, such as why this or that happened, or rehearsing some past hurt with another person. Today I release all my past hurts. No longer will I give any free rent in my mind or my heart to any hurt memory.

Lord, I know that the more I keep my body, my mind and my heart busy, the healthier I will be.
Let me be active and moving even when I don’t feel like it. Let my mind be open and still curious about many things. Give me daily a heart generous for friendship and caring and loving. I know that the more I use my body, my mind, and my heart, the younger I will remain.

Give me a heart of compassion, generosity and loving for all those who do not have the good things with which I have been blessed: home, shelter, food, and the enormous blessings and freedom of this country of ours. Let me always keep such a heart that until my last breath, I can be moved to pity and caring for others in pain and suffering.

Today, once more, Lord, I give you my heart. I want my every breath to be full of praise and gratitude for all I have received. I wish daily to pick up my own cross of my aches and pains, my diminishments, and offer those with all of suffering of the world.

With my eyesight dimmer, I can now see the world in a cathedral light. With my hearing duller, then the loud voices and noise of the world will be softer. Twilight and silence is also a time for me to listen more attentively to my inner voices. What is the particular wisdom or truth of my life? Write it down. What was the world like when I was small. Write it down. Write down your thoughts, your wishes, your dreams. Keep a small blank book for each person important to you, and regularly write a thought, a message, something.

There is no greater joy in growing old than in realizing that finally I am learning about the really important things. Perhaps God will reveal some of the further mysteries to us at the very end, before He receives us.

No matter how the world regards aging, I can begin to appreciate more fully the small blessings of life: the sunshine of each morning, the song of birds, the gentle breeze, a friend, a gesture of love, some small consideration given or received. Daily I choose to live with love and forgiveness, rather than regret and resentment. Daily I can find ways to love more graciously and generously.
Never let my heart forget all that You have done for me. Thank you, Gracious Mystery we call God and Father. If the only prayer I ever say is “Thank you,” someone said that will be enough.

–prayer by Paschal Baute, with the help of William Cleary, November 12, 2002

Aging as a Spiritual Journey

AGING AS A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
compiled by Paschal Baute, 1997

"We don’t grow old; when we cease to grow, we are old." by R. Howe

Spiritual Needs of Elders
Note: these can be seen as challenges
for a healthy and spiritual transition.

1. A Need for Meaning, Purpose and Hope
2. A Need to Transcend Circumstances
3. A Need for Support in Dealing with Loss
4. A Need for Continuity
5. A Need for Validation and Support of Religious Behavior
6. A Need to Engage in Religious Behavior
7. A Need for Personal Dignity and Sense of Worthiness
8. A Need for Unconditional Love
9. A Need to Express Anger and Doubt, to Question anything and everything, to have resentment and even hatred accepted but as a step, not a goal...
10. A Need to Feel God is AOn their Side@ - Inviting Acceptance & Surrender.
11. A Need to Love and Serve Others
!2. A Need to be Thankful
13. A Need to find New Stewardship for the World
14. A Need to Forgive and Be Forgiven
15. A Need to Bring All Relationships into Grace.
16. A Need to Prepare for Death and Dying
--Adapted from the book Aging and God by Harold G. Koenig, Haworth Pastoral Press.