Growing Old - A Gift From God

We live in a time when getting older is considered a great evil to be avoided. Aesthetic procedures of all kinds promise eternal youth. The clothes, way of speaking, and attitude of youth are adopted by people of all ages. Nobody wants to look old anymore. Even the terms "sir" and "ma'am" are seen in a negative light.  

The problem with this way of living is that people do not want to see reality, the circumstances of life that are part of their existence. Thus, they live in the world of imagination and miss the opportunity to effectively leave their mark on history, especially on the history of those who live with them.  

Each phase of life has its beauty, its challenges, its importance for maturation. Young people have a lot of intention and physical vigor, but their immaturity and impulsiveness can get in the way of making coherent decisions. The older person, because of the experience of years lived, should be the point of reference, the lighthouse for the young person to be better oriented in the decisions of his life. In a world where there are only young people, where older people always want to be young, everyone ends up being lost and not knowing where to go.  

Another disadvantage of this "eternal youth" is that one loses the reason why God allowed us to become old: to learn to let go. In the process of spiritual maturation, we must learn to gradually detach ourselves from material things, which are fleeting, in order to fix ourselves on what really matters: eternal life.  

Those who are too attached to things and people find it very difficult to surrender to God, to understand the transience of this earthly life, to know that one day they will leave behind this mortal body and all material things. Whoever has this materialistic view of life, thinking that complete happiness is to be achieved here in this world, misses the opportunity to really prepare for the fullness of life, which begins with our death. 

And to help us through this difficult process, God created aging. With aging, our body gradually deteriorates, becoming weaker, uglier and all this happens to remind us that the most important thing is not matter, but the immortal soul. It would be extremely difficult for human beings to understand this dynamic of detachment if we never grew old.  

A young person, in full physical vigor, does not see death as a passage to a better life. Death is a tragedy, after all the young person is living the moment in an exuberant way. However, the elderly person better perceives life going away and has the ability (or at least should have) to embrace death as a friend who will take him into the arms of the Creator.  

Let's face growing old as it really is: a great grace! An opportunity to deepen our love for God and the people around us. Of course, it is not easy; it is not pleasant to see life and vigor going away, but we must embrace growing old as a pedagogical process that the Father uses to prepare us for our encounter with Him and eternal life.