CIESIELSKI: A spirituality of aging for the Lenten journey

Photo by OSV News

If you were to die today, what is one parting message or gift you would give to those you love? In my younger years, at the end of my weekly long-distance phone conversation with my parents, my father would always pose the question: “Is there anything that you need?”

My response would kiddingly be: “I could use $10,000.”

Over the years, as I developed a growing clarity of what really matters and what does not, my spiritual eyes opened to recognize that my parents had already given me the gifts of life that truly mattered. Their Catholic faith provided for me their legacy, which was the formation of character grounded in a loving personal relationship with Jesus Christ, faithfulness to commitments, integrity of word and deeds, and a hospitable presence to all people, especially the poor.

In this Lenten season, it offers pause for reflection on the last words and deeds of Jesus that He gifted His disciples, those whom He loved. Beginning in chapter 13 of St. John’s Gospel, observe Jesus washing His disciples’ feet and His accompanying words to be loving servants to each other.

Hear His words of encouragement to help guide them through this time of trial and His promise of sending an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to console them and remind them of everything He has said and done. And then view Jesus’s greatest act of love — the willing sacrifice of His life to open the gateway to an eternal union in the life of the Trinity.

There is a maxim that I have heard repeated from my most memorable mentors in life: Each person gives his or her heart and life for someone or something. One of the blessings of aging is the unveiling of the illusion that something material is what makes us happy. So many of the seniors whom I have the privilege of encountering daily in this ministry give witness to this.

Through their generosity, deeply rooted in their Catholic faith and personal relationship with Christ, they reach out to those home alone. They provide caregiving or respite care for loved ones or community members. They make thousands of Rosaries to dispense through the Office of Aging.

They volunteer to put labels on the hundreds of bottles that will be filled and blessed with the holy oils at the Holy Week Chrism Mass. They offer their talents in fundraising efforts for their parishes. They provide sponsorship for youth retreats and conferences. And when their physical abilities are diminished, they pray. They pray in thanksgiving that God has blessed them with another day of life.

They pray for their children’s and grandchildren’s physical and spiritual well-being. And they pray for peace in the world! That is their legacy of sacrificial love — one deeply rooted in and united with Christ’s redemptive grace.

So today, I invite you to take a few minutes to pause and reflect on Jesus’s final words and actions in St. John’s Gospel. And ponder how you might more deeply share Christ’s love with others. 

Mark Ciesielski is the director of the Office of Aging.