At this moment the growing number of older people in different countries worldwide and the expected retirement of persons from various professions and the workplace provides older people with a new opportunity in the apostolate. They must always have a clear knowledge that one's role in the Church and society does not stop at a certain age at all, but at such times knows only new ways of application. We should remember, as old people, that with health problems and the decline of our physical strength, we are particularly associated with Christ in His Passion and on the Cross. It is therefore possible to penetrate evermore deeply into this mystery of the redeeming sacrifice and to give the witness of faith in this mystery, of the courage and hope that derive from it in the various difficulties and trials of old age. Everything in the life of the elderly person may serve to fulfill his earthly mission.
Nothing is in vain.
On the contrary, his cooperation, precisely because it is hidden, is yet more valuable for the Church. As the dawn of the third millennium approaches, throughout the world the aspirations of many women once silenced are at last being heard - hopes for justice, for peace, and for an affirmation of the dignity of womanhood. In reflecting on God's love for humanity, we hear His own desire for these aspirations to be realized. Week of August 22, 1999. The Church gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine genius which have appeared in the course of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations.