bruce0293's Journal

The feast of Candlemas (2 February) remembers two wise elders, Simeon and Anna. Aristotle wrote of the old, "We are bound to give heed to the undemonstrated sayings and opinions of the experienced and aged, not less than to demonstrations; because, from their having the eye of experience, they behold the principles of things."
‘Having the eye of experience' - what does that mean but faith in a reality which does not change, and enjoyment of a reality which does. For the old, realism takes on a new meaning. What is real is the experience that things pass. The elderly are disengaged from the daily business of life, and from ambition, and this detachment can bring wisdom, a wider perspective in which that final thing, the real thing, should become luminous. When elderly, you may be tempted to capitulate to transitoriness, to having no more future. You may be tempted to the cynicism of hopelessness in which mutability has conquered.
The true faith of old age is in direct contrast to this cynicism. It has cast aside the dreamy aloofness of childhood, renounced the endless demands of youth, seen how fleeting and transitory human achievements are. In this perspective the providence and love of God, the communion of the dead and the living in Christ, the surpassing meaning of the Last Supper, can become more real than anything in this world - but not easily. It is not that we have all the answers, but we have enough to sustain our faith and love. "Love is the fruit of faith, that is, of darkness," said St John of the Cross. That faith is based on God's faithfulness.

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