Every Sunday I take Communion to eight Catholics at a local nursing home. All but one are seriously mentally incapacitated with either Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Several are often difficult and hostile. But what a change comes over them when they see children! One lady is often negative and cheerless. Not today! We took our two little visitors from the Fresh Air Fund and she just kept telling them over and over how beautiful they are. She asked them questions about school and how they were enjoying their visit. She repeated herself several times. Alzheimer's patients can't remember from one minute to the next what they just said, but the entire visit was sweet and charming.
I love all these dear people and am saddened when people talk about how their lives aren't worth living. Of course they are! They invite us to self-sacrifice. They remind us of what we need to be before our God -- dependent and little. They are the ones in the highways and byways that the master sent his servants to gather in for the banquet. And they are also the ones he said to invite to dinner -- those who can't invite us back.
Please, please take your children and grandchildren to nursing homes. Teach them that the sick, the suffering, and the elderly are precious in God's sight. It is a corporal work of mercy, but I can tell you that you will receive more than you can give.
