You have saved the best wine until last

The founder of the Catholic TV station EWTN, Mother Angelica, often reminded the elderly members of her audience that ‘old age is the best wine’ when it comes to our prayer life and our dynamism as intercessors or prayer warriors. 

This is counter cultural as in our day, youth, strength and beauty are idolized by society at large and the elderly are often overlooked and forgotten. But for believers who have spent their lives walking with their Saviour, deepening their relationship with Him and have experienced His power and love in their lives – this is the time to sprint the last hundred yards into His Kingdom!

I saw a good illustration of this in Star Wars (Episode 3) where the contemplative Jedi Master ‘Yoda’ engages in battle with the Sith Lord (the devil character). Yoda has a face that has seen many winters, his back is bent over, he walks slowly with a cane but as the fight begins and he draws his light saber, he is animated by the force (the Holy Spirit character) and flies through the air, bouncing around the room as his inner life becomes visible in all its strength and energy for good. The sword ‘does not sleep in his hand’.

The elderly are the treasure of the church and every prayer, ache and pain are useful in building the kingdom; for some, walking upstairs to the bathroom is like a climb to Calvary, a mighty act of intercession it can be…

Perhaps Tennyson spotted this when he wrote:-

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' 

We are not now that strength which in old days 

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; 

One equal temper of heroic hearts, 

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

A Light in The Darkness

There are many good charities here in the Philippines (and all are needed) but mostly they serve the ‘easier poor’ where a scholarship or livelihood training program can yield a tangible and swift result. Below this are levels of more intense suffering, that of the scavengers and beggars who have no voice and very few to speak for them or reach out to them.

Drop-in Center 

During the pandemic however, when things were about to become catastrophic for them, a Catholic group stepped in. The Arnold Janssen Kalinga Foundation run by the Divine Word Missionaries were already running a drop-in center for street people where they could get a hot meal and take a bath and wash their clothes as well as receive instruction in the faith. So it has faith as its primary focus. 

Drop-in Center

They quickly formed partnerships with some Catholic universities whose facilities were opened up to house the homeless and missionaries and volunteers provided the food for several months. They also provided for many others who had lost jobs and fallen on hard times during the lockdown; a local park is still the venue where several hundred people a day queue in for lunch. 

 

in De La Salle University during Lockdown

Near Luneta Park ... daily meal distribution

Best of all is a new residential community they have opened to enable some to get off the streets and to finish their education and/or undertake skills training to lead them back into work and the mainstream of society. Its first intake are both young and old, each with their own story, from former gang members, or drug users and many others discarded by society. But here their often tragic past can be redeemed and the future infused with a new hope. Like in Luke 19:10 ‘for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.'

Bahay Kalinga Center

For more information or to help viait :-    AJ Kalinga Foundation