Word to the Wise
Friday, May 29, 2009 - Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter
[Acts 25:13B-21 and John 21:15-19]Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dres you and lead you where you do not want to go.
Jesus speaks these words in response to Peter's three-fold protest of love, and the Gospel interprets these words as referring to how Peter would die. For myself, I found the phrase occurring frequently in my ministry over the past few years to the elderly sisters in Kentucky. I also found it haunting me when I had to apply for social security! Our Dominican province is part of a group of religious orders who own a nursing care facility on the West Bank in New Orleans - Our Lady of Wisdom. Our brothers know that the ride across the river has considerable significance even though the care they will receive will be very fine. It will mean considerable restriction in their freedom, which their health has already restricted. I saw the same situation in Kentucky where the move from the Motherhouse to the Sansbury Care Center next door had similar significance. I have also experienced this in the lives of friends who have elderly parents or grandparents to care for! The decision to "put them in a nursing facility" is an agonizing one for many. All of this highlights for me, as I'm sure it does for others, the importance of "growing old gracefully" and how difficult that can be. Each month I get the AARP magazine and am reminded of my own increasing age and what I can do to "grow old gracefully." One thing I know for sure, it will take all my faith and trust in God and put it to the test! AMEN
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