Feast of Joachim and Anna, ancestors of the Lord. Remembrance of all the elderly who lovingly communicate their faith to the youth. Memorial of Mary, a mentally ill woman who died in Rome in 1992. With her we remember all who are mentally ill.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Sirach 44,1.10-15

Next let us praise illustrious men, our ancestors in their successive generations. But here is a list of illustrious men whose good works have not been forgotten. In their descendants they find a rich inheritance, their posterity. Their descendants stand by the commandments and, thanks to them, so do their children's children. Their offspring will last for ever, their glory will not fade. Their bodies have been buried in peace, and their name lives on for all generations. The peoples will proclaim their wisdom, the assembly will celebrate their praises.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The 'famous men' protagonists of this passage from the book of Sirach are, in the Jewish tradition, the 'men of piety', hassidim. In a certain sense, God has continued to govern history through the figures of these men who, through faith in God and his Word, have made love and piety grow in the world. A precious memory of them has been preserved, a religious key for the people of Israel, but also for our humanity. The writer Primo Levi, a surviving witness of the Shoah, said: "All those who forget their past are condemned to repeat it." In our times, as we see the witnesses of the two world wars disappear, the theme of memory is reminded to us by Scripture as something fundamental. On the fourth Sunday of July, just around the time of the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary, Pope Francis wanted to establish the 'World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly,' so that we do not lose the memory of the faith passed on to us by them. Let us therefore also honour the elderly, 'famous men' whose generations have experienced the power of evil and war. May their memory inspire us to be witnesses of peace, and in the alliance between young and old, may the communication of faith continue. In memory, history becomes a liturgy of praise to God who has done wonders. All generations are in God's heart and the memory of Israel remembering the fathers makes us realise that it is God who first remembers us.