Category: Reflection

Stations of the Cross for carers – video

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The special Stations of the Cross for carers is now available to watch online our our YouTube Channel.

These special Stations of the Cross have been written by Fr Eamonn Hegarty and Michelle Anderson specifically with carers in mind. Fr Eamonn is Parish Priest of St. Mary of the Angels, Batley and St. Patrick’s, Birstall and Michelle is Co-ordinator of the Growing Old Grace-fully Carers Project. Through the Stations of the Cross, we discover that Jesus walks this road with us. These Stations invite carers to see their own lives reflected in Christ’s journey – not as something to be explained away, spiritualised too quickly, or endured in silence, but as a place where God is already present and at work.

You can watch the Stations of the Cross for carers by clicking the button below.

Watch the Stations of the Cross

Prayers for Lent 2026

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Lent comes to us each year as a sacred invitation

Forty days to return to the Lord with all our heart. It is a season marked by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, but also by honesty — honesty about our frailty, our need for mercy, and our hope in the promise of resurrection. In later life, this invitation carries a particular depth. As the years gather behind us and the horizon ahead feels nearer, Lent can become not only a time of repentance, but a season of profound wisdom, surrender, and trust.

Ageing brings its own kind of desert experience. There may be physical weakness, loss of independence, bereavement, or the quiet ache of loneliness. We may carry regrets alongside cherished memories. Yet the desert is not empty — it is the place where God speaks tenderly to the heart. In later life, prayer often becomes simpler and deeper: fewer words, more silence; fewer plans, more presence. Lent reminds us that growing older is not a diminishment of vocation, but a refining of it. We are called to witness through patience, to intercede through faithful prayer, and to hope steadfastly in Christ’s victory over suffering and death.

At the same time, we live in a world marked by uncertainty and turmoil. War, displacement, economic hardship, environmental crisis, and social division weigh heavily upon our spirits. Many older people look upon today’s world with concern for children and grandchildren, wondering what future awaits them. Lent does not ignore these realities. Instead, it draws them into the heart of Christ, who carries the suffering of the world upon the Cross. Our prayers in this season unite our personal vulnerabilities with the wounds of humanity. In doing so, they become powerful acts of love and solidarity.

These Lenten prayers are offered especially for those in the later seasons of life. They acknowledge the challenges of ageing while affirming the enduring dignity and spiritual fruitfulness of every year lived in Christ. They hold before God the anxieties of our time and ask for peace, justice, and renewal. Above all, they trust that even as our outer selves grow frail, our inner selves are being renewed day by day.

May this holy season be for you a time of gentle grace — a journey through the desert that leads not to desolation, but to Easter joy.

Growing Old Grace-fully

The Grace of Forty Days

The grace of forty days
Time to make the desert journey
and renew our way to life.

Time for testing and for changing.
Time to trust the word of God.

Time to recognise holy presence
and share Cyrene’s work.

Time for forgiveness and for healing
and to repent our broken lives.

Time to build God’s dwelling with us
and proclaim full life for all.

Time to watch and wait with Jesus
and to prepare the upper room.

Time to turn our lives again to God
and to transform our world with love.

Amen

Pat Pierce/CAFOD

Forgive Us

For closing ourselves to the driving of your Holy Spirit;
for choosing to live in places of comfort rather than being led into the wilderness;
for letting fear of the person who is different rule our lives, rather than letting your love for all people fill our hearts;
for our separation from one another in the Body of Christ;
for not trusting that you hold the future in your hands.

Amen

Elizabeth Welch

In the Thicket

God’s Truth as God knows it
as it can be held in the human tongue as it can survive translation from one tongue to another
as it can survive interpretation by scholars
as it can survive the teachers of teachers
as it can survive the experience and understanding,
and Language of every human
as it is -visible to those who see – still in the made
World beautiful
as it partly may be restored by good sense, loving kindness and Good will,
by inspiration by beautiful work

Amen

Wendell Berry

A prayer for times of anxiety

Dear Lord,

In moments of anxiety grant me peace.
Calm my restless heart and fill my mind with your reassuring presence.
In You may I find refuge and comfort in Jesus name.

Amen

A busy and productive year – Annual Review 2025

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To access the Annual Review, click on the above or on the button below.
Annual Review 2025

The Growing Old Grace-fully Annual Review 2025 gives an account of our activities in 2025.

Carol Burns, Growing Old Grace-fully Chair of Trustees gives an overview in her Chair’s Report.

There is also a first report from the Dr. Frances Norton, Pastoral Worker for Older People at Mary Mother of God Parish, Bradford, which is very exciting – and gives a good sense of the amazing work she is doing there in this role. This is a project proposed and commissioned by Growing Old Grace-fully and funded by The Ladies of the Grail. Frances has also done the first of her own reports here, which is well worth a read and shows the difference she and this project is making in the parish and area.

On page 2, there are details of Growing Old Grace-fully’s two main overall activities – dementia awareness and training (online and in-parish); and our programme of spiritual events, online and in-person, which in 2025 were centred around the theme of being Pilgrims of Hope, as part of the 2025 Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church.

As ever, we thank our funders who enable our work to happen – and who support and engage with us.

Pilgrims of Hope: Journeying as Older People

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On Wednesday 8th October 2025, Growing Old Grace-fully welcomed people to Cathedral Hall, formerly Wheeler Hall, a beautiful, accessible space behind Leeds Cathedral, for a morning of reflection as part of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year 2025: Pilgrims of Hope.

After registration and welcome refreshments, Carol Burns, Growing Old Grace-fully’s Chair of Trustees, introduced the event, led by Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey.

Paula introduced the theme of the morning by briefly reviewing the themes of the ‘Doorways of Hope’ series of reflections that have taken place on Zoom throughout this year of Pilgrimage: First of all, seeing Glimpses of Hope, then Living in the Flow of Hope and then Holding Hope throughout life.  She explained that the invitation for people was for a deeper sense of themselves as pilgrims of hope in their daily lives at this stage of life.

The morning of reflection then began with a stilling – a time of guided prayer. A candle was lit within a centrepiece, which had been placed in the centre of the circle. 

Paula gently guided the group in a time of prayer to settle their bodies and minds and become still and centred. She based this on a quote by Fr Richard Rohr, ‘God’s love is the still point and centre of this turning world.’

The group were asked to notice their hopes and desires for the morning and to spend some time speaking with God about this. The stilling ended with the group listening to, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’ and a time of silence.

The first session was led by Mgr Donal who spoke about our history of being pilgrims. He explored the theme of the journey of our lives and acknowledged the importance of each different stage.

He quoted from the poem Somewhere by RS Thomas, “The point of travelling is not to arrive, but to return homeladen with pollen you shall work up into the honey the mind feeds on“.

Paula then explored aspects of the themes ‘Glimpses of Hope’ and ‘Living in the Flow of Hope’. She used images, music, poetry and time for silent reflection to help the group to go deeper and open their awareness more fully the presence of Hope in their lives. To notice the glimpses of Hope offer within each day and the places where there is a sense of ‘flow’ within their lives and within themselves. To see these all as places of invitation to a deeper sense of God’s presence and love that is already with them. A time of prayer then followed using Lectio Davina on Psalm 23 and the group were given some questions for personal reflection.

Mgr Donal then spoke to the group on the final theme, ‘Holding Hope in a Fragile World.’ He explored the fragility of the world and how the wisdom, faith and strength of older people are all gifts that the world needs.

He also stressed the gifts of encouragement and time that we have to offer, particularly to the younger people in our lives.

The morning concluded with a closing liturgy based on the theme of being pilgrims. Isaiah 40: 28-31, bidding prayers and a blessing were read by different members of the GOG team.

Paula has prepared a summary sheet from the event, which can be downloaded here.

At the end of the event, everyone was invited to leave a thought from the day, a comment or a reflection, and stick it on a feedback board.

The comments people left were as follows:

“Wonderful, powerful presentation with deeply meaningful slides. A lot of preparation and prayer must have gone into it before.”

“A thought provoking morning. I feel uplifted. The interaction was beneficial.”

“Very affirming and encouraging. A good balance of input and meditation. God bless and thank you.”

“Thank you a million times!”

“Really good thank you. Nice to meet other “old” “graceful” peers!”

“Very thoughtful and inspiring window into the fruitfulness of old age. Thank you!”

“Our role – to ENCOURAGE. Breakthrough from action.”

“That was a beautiful morning, thank you all who contributed. Will come again. Love, thanks and prayers.”

“What a spiritual morning! Thank you.”

“A hopeful, restful morning. Holding our heads up. Thank you.”

“Brilliant. Thank you Paula and Fr. Donal all who planned it. Look forward to the next one!”

“Thank you for all you do. Last to come and last to leave, after meeting old friends.” 

“Thank you for organising the face-to-face event.  Excellent.”

A shared lunch followed which was enjoyed by all.

We thank Paula and Fr Donal for leading this very special event and to all who attended.

Christians on Ageing – Faces of Hope in Later Life – Conference

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On Wednesday 24th September, 10:30am – 4:00pm, Christians on Ageing are hosting an online free conference ‘Faces of Hope in Later Life’, focusing on the positive horizons of later life as well as its challenges.

The keynote speaker will be Revd Michael Jackson, formerly Director of St John’s Winchester Charity and author of Still Love Left: Faith and Hope in Later Life.

In addition, the Conference will hear from:

John MacMillan, CEO of the Eric Liddell Community, Edinburgh, whose work with older people in the community embodies Eric Liddell’s values of compassion, inclusion and hope in all circumstances.

Olivia Luijnenburg, pursuing post-doctoral studies on dementia at Kings College London. She is a medical anthropologist with a special interest in residential care for older people, dementia care, spirituality and spiritual care.

The lunchtime interactive workshop will be led by Liv McLennan, co-founder and director of Sounds Better CIC. Liv has a particular interest in working with people with dementia and respiratory conditions. She is currently undertaking doctoral studies in intergenerational music within a care home setting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

To book a place please click here.

Doorways of Hope – online reflections

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Doorways of Hope is a series of three hour long online reflections, hosted by Growing Old Grace-fully.

In the three reflections, Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey explore the invitation to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, the theme of the 2025 Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church.

In the three reflections, they explore and offer ways of noticing the nature & presence of hope, what it means to live this hope & how we can share hope with others in our ordinary, daily lives. You can access the three sessions here, the videos on our YouTube channel and a one page summary for each one, produced by Paula. Just click on the image or heading.

Doorways of Hope Part 1: Glimpses of Hope

Paula Shanks & Mgr. Donal Lucey explore the the theme of ‘Springtime’ to explore how we can awaken to the invitation to be renewed in hope. A hope rooted in God who chooses to be with us in how things are, where we are.

Doorways of Hope Part 2: Living in Hope

Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey explore how living in the flow of life offers invitations to a deeper sense of hope.

 

Doorways of Hope Part 3: Holding Hope

Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey explore how to notice spaces where hope is held out for us in everyday life and the ways in which we do this for others.

We thank Paula and Fr. Donal for leading this powerful series of reflections.

Video and summary sheet from Holding Hope

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On Thursday 17th July 2025, we held the third in the Doorways of Hope series of online reflections, Holding Hope, led by Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey & Paula Shanks, as part of the Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee year.

Holding Hope explores how to notice spaces where hope is held out for us in everyday life and the ways in which we do this for others.

You can watch the whole session on YouTube here.

There is a one page summary produced by Paula here.

Pilgrims of Hope: Journeying as Older People – event

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Growing Old Grace-fully is hosting a half day event offering a chance to reflect on our own journey into later life, as Pilgrims of Hope. This reflects the theme of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, the theme of which is Pilgrims of Hope.

Our aim in gathering together in person is to continue to explore the reflections and conversations so beautifully expressed by Paula Shanks and Mgr Donal Lucey in the “Doorways of Hope” online series. Video recordings of the Doorways of Hope events can be viewed here.

The event will reflect on our own life’s journey, whatever age we are, and explore finding the God of where we are now in our own life.

It will also include suggestions for practical ways of finding and nurturing hope; for example, through meditations on gospel passages, poems and art and also through ways of practising gratitude.

The event will end with a shared lunch over which we can continue the conversations from the day.

If you would like to attend, please book a place on EventBrite here.

From the Jubilee Prayer

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

Taken from The Jubilee Prayer, Pope Francis

Holding Hope – online reflection

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The third and final of the Doorways of Hope series of online reflections is Holding Hope, on Thursday 17th July, 7:00pm to 8:00pm.

Paula Shanks and Monsignor Donal Lucey will invite you to notice spaces where hope is held out for us in everyday life and the ways in which we do this for others.

This is part of the invitation to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ – the theme of the Jubilee Year 2025 – looking at ways of noticing the nature and presence of hope, what it means to live this hope and how we can share hope with others in our ordinary, daily lives. 

Please do join us for Holding Hope on Thursday 17th July, just email growing.old.gracefully@dioceseofleeds.org.uk.

Video and summary sheet from Living in Hope online reflection

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On Wednesday 14th May 2025, we held the second in the Doorways of Hope series of online reflections, Living in Hope, led by Paula Shanks and Mgr. Donal Lucey & Paula Shanks, as part of the Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee year.

Living in Hope explores how living in the flow of life offers invitations to a deeper sense of hope..

You can watch the whole session on YouTube here.

There is a one page summary produced by Paula here.