Each stage of life is a gift with different graces that we receive from you.  Each stage has its own challenges, its own pains and blessings too. And today we thank you for the gift of wisdom  we have accumulated from our life experiences.  We are grateful for this time that we can pause from our busy schedules long enough to learn that our hearts still beat with compassion and love, our hands can still reach out to serve others, and our minds still wide open to receive your Word.

We trust you completely and because of our close relationship with you over the years we open our hearts to you and honestly offer to you our thoughts, frustrations, hopes and dreams as well. You know us well that even before we speak you already know what we are going to say (even if often we tend to forget the words we are about to say). You are familiar with all our ways (yes, even if sometimes we tend to deny our aging).

We are offended by those who would talk to us as if we are children.  Our hearing maybe bad, our vision may be fading, our knees may give way and we stumble too often, but O God, we have wisdom to share, we have dignity, we have a lot of love to give away.

We are grateful for the years of retirement when we have time to enjoy our grandchildren, start with the project we started many years ago only to put it aside because we were so busy with many things, we are overjoyed by the opportunity to travel and see the many different cultures and diverse people of the world, learn a new skill, prepare sandwiches for the homeless, join the parish faith sharing group. We thank you for this time you have allotted to us to savor the slowed-down pace of life so that we can cultivate our own spirituality. We will wait for our strength to be renewed; for weariness

and comfort to be replaced by joy, peace and hope.

We thank you dear God and we place our lives in your hands because we know that at the end your final word is life.  Amen.

May the peace of Christ remain in your hearts,