Spouses Angelica, 82, and Miguel, 90, point out that, despite the fact that today the desire “is to keep the elderly away from their homes,” this “is an error” given that “young people learn from the elderly and we from them — we need one another,” they said.
On the occasion of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will be observed next Sunday, July 25, 2021, entitled “I am with you always” (cf. Matthew 28:20), Exaudi talked with Miguel and Angelica, husband and wife, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of a large family.
The couple is delighted that this special Day exists, dedicated to the elderly. “We are being given a place, a reason for grandparents to remember the history the Holy Father has made with them. We are very happy that this comes from the Pope; the elderly must be defended.”
These grandparents address young people and ask them to “pay attention to their parents,” pointing out to them that “Jesus Christ is the one who can guide their life better than anyone, that the best thing they can experience in this life is that God loves them as they are, without having to do anything in exchange, to meet a standard before anyone.” They also encourage youth to stop “looking for happiness in the many things put before them today: limitless amusement, to be someone, technology, sex, alcohol and drugs, money” and to learn “to live this day, because tomorrow doesn’t exist,” taking advantage of what we say to them, because life passes as a sigh.”
Sixty-one Years of Marriage: Four Children, 19 Grandchildren, and 13 Great-grandchildren
In regard to their life together, Miguel says: “We met in 1958 in Alcala del Rio (Seville, Spain), Angelica’s town, where I was posted for reasons of work, as a functionary in the Ministry of Agriculture, in the Agrarian Extension Service. We met in the month of September, and our engagement lasted a year and a half; we finally married in 1960. In our 61 years of marriage, to date, we have four children, 19 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.”
As regards their encounter with the Lord, Angelica explains that they both received a Christian education from their parents, but as a married couple we came across the Neo-Catechumenal Way (NCW) in 1969 in Seville’s parish of the Holy Family, when we already had three children.” For Angelica, “the NCW has meant a liberation, to remove a very great burden because I was very conscientious and very religious; I did all with much effort and my encounter with Jesus Christ was to encounter the gratuitous love of Christ. He discovered me as I was, with my sins, and I realized what He has done for me. Thanks to the NCW, our fourth daughter was born, and we have been able to transmit to our children what the faith gave us for free.”
Responsible for Evangelization
Almost from the beginning — continues Angelica — we became part of the team of catechists responsible for the evangelization of adults of the parish as well as catechizing in other parishes of Seville. We were there because God willed it, until three years ago when we could no longer continue due to health problems.”
In this connection, Miguel points out that God “has formed with us a family of 50 members, and that wasn’t my plan. My plan was to go to a chat in the parish on Saturday-Sunday but see how up to today we have not separated ourselves from the NCW. In it, I found that God’s mercy is always greater than all the trials we meet on the way. We haven’t imposed the NCW on anyone in the family, but today they are ALL part of it, and it’s not thanks to us. The Lord has always been there to help us.”
Here is the full interview in which Angelica and Miguel talk about the Day for Grandparents, the way they lived the lockdown, their witness of faith within the Church, their relationship with the young people, and their old age.
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Exaudi: How did you learn about the establishment of this Day by Pope Francis? What did you think of this gesture with this group of often forgotten people?
Miguel and Angelica: To tell the truth, we learned it from our parish priest, when he called us to do this interview. Then we saw something in the media. We think it’s very good; he’s giving us a place, a reason for grandparents to remember the history the Holy Father has made with them. We are very happy that this came from the Pope; the elderly must be defended.
Exaudi: In his Video-Message Pope Francis explains that the celebration of this Day makes special sense in this year of the pandemic, “after a long isolation and a still slow resumption of social life. May every grandfather, every elderly man, every grandmother, every older person, especially those that are most alone, receive the visit of an angel!” How did you live the lockdown and the different waves of COVID-19? What was your contact with the family? How have you lived the faith in these very exceptional times?
Miguel: We lived the lockdown calmly, patiently, and praying — with a physical problem because I fractured my hip –, but well. Our children and grandchildren helped us; we even lived for a time in our children’s homes. We lived the faith praying daily as always Lauds, Vespers and Compline, the Rosary . . . But with little contact with the community at the time of total lockdown, yet united in prayer. We followed the Mass on television and Communion was brought to us at home, when possible.
Angelica: We lived it without fear, even when Miguel was in hospital and I couldn’t go to see him and had to spend some time alone. Our community connected with us sometimes with the new technologies, something that for us is practically impossible. However, we noticed the prayer of all our brothers, of our children and grandchildren, and they all came home when they had a free moment.
Exaudi: The Holy Father addresses you elderly and says to you: “Listen carefully: What is our vocation today, at our age? Our vocation is to protect the roots; to transmit the faith to young people, and to take care of the little ones. Don’t forget this.” How do you try to live this call in your family and community?
Miguel: Asking God every day that His Will may be done in the family; simply being as we have always been, praying with them, going to Masses with them, and being with them.
Angelica: Accepting our old age’s precariousness with joy, being grateful for having reached this age (I 82 and Miguel 90), surrounded by the family and our community. Our grandchildren want to be with us and they are very happy to see us — and we to see them!
Exaudi: Pope Francis also reminds us that the “future of the world lies in this alliance between young people and the elderly.” What do you think of this alliance? What is your relationship with the new generations and what concrete message would you like to give them?
Miguel and Angelica: Today they want to keep the elderly away from their homes; it’s an error; young people learn from the elderly and we from them, we need one another.
Our relationship with young people is through our grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and also our many catechumens, whom we have catechized for many years, including their children.
We say to young people to pay attention to their parents and that Jesus Christ is the one who can guide their life better than anyone; that the best thing they can experience in this life is that God loves them as they are, without having to do anything in exchange, to meet a standard before anyone. We would tell them to stop looking for happiness in the many things put before them today: limitless amusement, to be someone, technology, sex, alcohol, and drugs . . . if they want fun, they can find it in the Church. We would tell them to learn to live this day, because tomorrow doesn’t exist and to take advantage of what we say to them because life passes as a sigh.
Exaudi: For the Pope, “there is no age in which you can withdraw from the task of proclaiming the Gospel, the task of transmitting the traditions,” and it’s necessary to get started, to come out of oneself to undertake something new.” How do you think you can encourage other grandparents to undertake this task?
Miguel and Angelica: By answering with the truth; to come and see us and see how we live. Not to be afraid of life, of old age, of sickness, and of death, because there is a better world waiting for us, and the guarantee of this is that here we can love and forgive one another.
Exaudi: What is your message for elderly persons that are alone?
Miguel and Angelica: To say to a person who is alone that he/she isn’t alone is difficult. The message is one of encouragement, that they approach the Church because God covers the loneliness of all people. We have brothers in the community that are in this situation and they’re not alone . . . They have Christ and they have their community.
Exaudi: “The prayer of the elderly can protect the world more incisively than the solicitude of many,” says the Pope. Why do you pray?
Miguel and Angelica: We pray because the Church has given us prayer as a treasure, and we live it so. We pray for the family to be given faith, for our brothers of the community, for the universal Church, for all those that do not know the Lord, for all those that don’t have anything, for the needy, for our enemies . . .
Exaudi: Are you going to celebrate this first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in a special way?
Miguel and Angelica: Well, almost all our children are also grandparents . . . It’s also a special day for them; we’ll have to do something — a Eucharist, an agape. It’s a day of thanksgiving for all that the Lord and the Church have given us. And we enjoy ourselves very much when we celebrate something with them; it’s something the Lord has granted us, to be able to enjoy the family.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
