Official Prayer and Plenary Indulgence for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
The Vatican has released the Official Prayer for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly announced a Plenary Indulgence for the occasion which will be celebrated on Sunday 23 July.
You can read the prayer below and also share this beautiful prayer card prepared by the Dicastery for Laity Family and Life.
Prayer for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly 2023
Virgin Mary,
Mother of faith and hope,
an example for this humanity bent by indifference,
make me as willing as You
to accept the will of God,
to magnify and praise His Mercy.
Mary, Mother of fortitude,
you who knows my heart,
do not allow me to become discouraged.
I confidently surrender my life into your hands.
Heal my wounds.
May your tenderness accompany me on the way.
Your presence, Mother of love,
brings us to experience the joy
of seeing our families united.
Help me to transmit the tenderness and Love of God
to the grandchildren and youth
so that, in addition to praying for them,
we can pray with them.
Mary, may the gift of the Holy Spirit intercede for me:
sustain my weakness;
breathe into my heart the consolation
that I may leave traces of faith among the young,
bearing witness to the beauty of life,
knowing that life has a limit
and that beyond it lies before us our Father’s embrace.
Amen.
Plenary Indulgence for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
Just as with other editions, on the occasion of the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will be celebrated on July 23 and whose theme is “His mercy is from age to age” ( Lk 1:50), Pope Francis has granted a Plenary Indulgence for the faithful.
This announcement was made through a Decree issued today by the Apostolic Penitentiary, stating that the Plenary Indulgence is granted “under the usual conditions (Sacramental Confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff) to grandparents, the elderly and all the faithful who, motivated by a true spirit of penance and charity, will participate in the solemn celebration that the Holy Father Francis will preside over in the Vatican Papal Basilica, or in the various functions that will be held throughout the world”.
In the same manner, the Plenary Indulgence will be granted to the faithful who visit their elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty, “such as the sick, the abandoned, the disabled” and to “all those who, unable to leave their homes for serious reasons, will unite spiritually with the sacred services of World Youth Day, offering to the Merciful God their prayers, and the pains and sufferings of their lives, especially while the words of the Supreme Pontiff and the various celebrations are broadcast through the media”.
ENDS