You are invited to our next online reflection, Finding Newness in Old Age, which is on Tuesday 23rd June, 7-8pm
A challenge to us all as to see growing older as a positive experience, the reflection will focus on how we can transition through the different stages of growing older, from being healthy and active to a slower pace and a time of more dependence and vulnerability. How do we adapt and maintain a sense of purpose?
It will be a combination of reflection, sharing thoughts with others and prayers.
Growing Old Grace-fully are hosting an online session and reflection as part of our Carers Project, being led by Michelle Anderson. This is on Wednesday 15th July at 2pm.
“You are Precious in my Eyes“, we will consider how carers may often feel ignored or invisible, but can be reassured in the knowledge that they are always seen by God and are precious to him.
This online session will include practical information, time to share experiences along with prayer and reflection.
Whilst this is mainly aimed at unpaid carers, it is open to all. Anyone who wishes to attend just needs to email Michelle at carersproject@growingoldgracefully.org.uk & she will send you the Zoom link to join.
All carers and the person or people they are caring for are invited to join us for a special Mass to celebrate the wonderful and important work of unpaid carers across the Diocese of Leeds.
It is on Saturday 11th July at 12pm (12 noon) at Leeds Cathedral, Great George Street, Leeds LS2 8BE.
This Mass is a great opportunity for us to pray for unpaid carers, acknowledging how invaluable they are, and how vital their role is within society. This special Mass is part of our Carers Project, being led by Michelle Anderson.
A sandwich lunch will be served in Cathedral Hall after Mass.
For more information, email Michelle at carersproject@growingoldgracefully.org.uk. It would be helpful if you can let us know you are attending, so we have an idea of numbers for the sandwich lunch, but all are welcome.
Every First Wednesday of the month at 2pm – starting 3rd June 2026
Growing Old Grace-fully is starting a monthly online support group for unpaid carers, which will meet on the first Wednesday of every month at 2pm. This is part of our Carers Project, being led by Michelle Anderson.
The first session will be on Wednesday 3rd June at 2pm.
All unpaid carers are invited to come and join the session for an opportunity to make new friends, chat and share with each other, including space and time to pray.
Sometimes leaving the person you care for may not be possible which is why we are offering these online sessions; to bring support and the opportunity to pray and have time for your faith in your own home or wherever you are caring.
Easter, the glorious celebration of the resurrection of Jesus our Lord and God, is a feast and season rooted in renewal, light and hope.
Easter invites us, especially in later life and old age, to reflect not only on Christ’s rising but also on the quiet transformations throughout our own lives. The moments of joy and sorrow, success and failure, achievement and loss that have shaped us through a lifetime of walking, sometimes steadily, sometimes falteringly, toward the light. The eternal hope of Easter is God’s enduring promise that new life can and will emerge, for all who seek it, whatever age and stage of life.
Growing Old Grace-fully, Easter 2026
Our journey towards the empty tomb
Loving God, in this Easter season of new life and quiet hope, we come before You with hearts shaped by many years.
We thank You for the journey behind us— for the joys that have lifted us, the sorrows that have deepened us, and the faith that has carried us through every season.
As we grow older, Lord, teach us to see Your resurrection not only in grand moments, but in gentle mornings, steady breaths, and the kindness we both give and receive.
When our bodies tire and our steps slow, renew our spirits with Your living presence. When memories crowd our minds—both sweet and painful— hold us in Your peace and remind us we are never alone.
Help us to trust that even now, You are still bringing new life within us— new patience, new understanding, new grace. May we face each day with quiet courage, resting in the promise that Your love does not fade with time.
And as Easter proclaims life beyond death, fill us with calm assurance and hope, that our journey leads ever closer to You.
Amen.
Growing Old Grace-fully
You Are the Resurrection
How wonderful, Lord Jesus, you came back You suffered death but conquered it You laid in the tomb but on the third day You rose again O joyful day, Lord Jesus, when you returned You are the resurrection, our hope and our life O glorious and victorious Redeemer Help us not to be afraid of death For we must pass through it to see you face to face And on the last day we will rise again For you said so Let us rejoice and praise you Our Blessed and triumphant Lord On this happy, joyful feast.
Holy Week, the holiest week of the year, invites us all to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice made for all of us. As we journey through these days – recalling Jesus Christ’s fear, suffering, anguish and death and then the glory of Easter – we are gently reminded that every stage of life carries its own meaning and grace.
In later life, the challenges of ageing – whether physical ailments, aches and pains, loneliness, loss or the weight of memories – can trouble us and lead us to doubt, anxiety and sadness. Yet Holy Week speaks directly into these experiences. It reminds us that suffering is not without purpose, that quiet endurance has dignity, and that even in moments of loss, there is the promise of new life.
We have compiled some prayers for Holy Week below, prayers to help us reflect through this week.
Through reflection and prayer, may this Holy Week become a time of peace, connection, and renewed hope.
Growing Old Grace-fully, Holy Week 2026
A Holy Week prayer for older people
God our Father,
As we walk through Holy Week, we remember Jesus on the road to Calvary— weighed down, yet faithful, wounded, yet still moving forward.
So too in our own lives, as the years gather and our strength changes, we carry burdens we did not once know— aches in body, losses in heart, and the quiet letting go of what was.
Teach us, like Christ, to walk this path with courage and trust, to accept each step with grace, and to know we are never alone.
And as Easter dawned with light and new life, remind us that growing older is not only loss, but also transformation— a journey toward deeper peace, renewed hope, and the promise of resurrection within us.
Amen.
Growing Old Grace-fully
Prayer for Holy Week
Lord Jesus,
This Holy Week we follow you on your sorrowful and glorious journey, your journey to the Cross and Resurrection.
Today we ask that we may walk with you, give us grace to see the deep love you show us.
As you were welcomed with joy and acclaim to the Holy City, your betrayal by the crowds soon overwhelmed their cries of Hosanna.
On the Cross, you made yourself servant taking the sins of the world upon yourself.
May our lives reflect your desire to serve God our Father first; that we may serve you in our brothers and sisters.
When we face suffering and disappointment, may we know your love.
When we are feeling lost, may we know that you are with us.
When we are worried, may your Cross be a sign of hope and strength.
May this Holy Week be for us a time of renewal in faith and love.
Jesus my Lord, let me strengthen my courage by taking on the courage of all those people who have been “centurions” for me.
Many have faced disasters and hard times with great constancy. The upper hand of evil never turned them against you. They kept going.
Let me be like them, Lord. No matter what the cross, let me never stop declaring you to be “truly the Son of God, the source of my hope, the reason why I will never quit on life.
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.
Growing Old Grace-fully is hosting an online Stations of the Cross on Tuesday 24th March 7pm – 8pm. 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.
The invitation to carers through the Stations
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. While the event is part of the Carers Project it is open to all.
Join us on Tuesday 24th March as we approach Holy Week and prepare for the Holy Season of Easter.
Growing Old Grace-fully is delighted to announce the launch of a new Carers Project, which will be a key focus of our work.
The main aim of the project is to recognise and value the role of unpaid carers and offer emotional and spiritual support to them within the Catholic Diocese of Leeds.
Unpaid carers can often face isolation at a time when they may have difficult decisions to make and a range of emotions that caring for a loved one can bring.
The project aims to help reduce the isolation, giving carers the opportunity to engage with other Christian carers and support each other through their faith.
So many people, including many older people, have caring responsibilities of some sort, for spouses, friends and adult children with special needs. Caring is something hugely important to society and a real vocation, whether chosen or not.
The project will be coordinated and led by Michelle Anderson and we are delighted Michelle is joining the Growing Old Grace-fully team.
Michelle Anderson, Carers Project Coordinator
Michelle introduces herself as follows:
“I live within the Diocese of Leeds and am a parishioner of the Parish of St Mary and St Patrick in Batley and Birstall. I am the Parish Administrator and also a Foundation Governor of St Mary’s Catholic Primary Academy. I take an active part in parish life and enjoy meeting new people. Since leaving education I have been involved in support and care in a variety of roles.
“Working with older people, and advocating for vulnerable people and those in need of support, has always been something that has been close to my heart. Making a difference and helping to make improvements in people’s lives, no matter how small, is something I have always been passionate about”.
Would you like to be involved in the project?
There will be a number of ways to be involved in the project. These will include:
Regular online meetings where carers will have the opportunity to chat and share with each other, including space and time to pray.
Days of reflection for carers
Online talks where carers will be able to share their reflections and look at how faith helps.
If you would like to get involved with the project or you feel the project could be of benefit to you or someone you know please get in touch, either through your parish priest or by visiting our website growingoldgracefully.org.uk.
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.
