Pope Francis has written a letter for the 2nd annual Day for Grandparents and the elderly. Read it here.
And if grandparents and other members of the family have not been back to Sunday Mass for a while, because of COVID, why not come this Sunday to thank God for the gift of life and to pray for your family.
Some years ago, Pope Benedict XVI composed a prayer for the Church to use in praying for grandparents and for giving thanks for their role in families and society.
Lord Jesus,
you were born of the Virgin Mary.
the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne.
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them! They are a source of enrichment for families, for the Church and for all of society.
Support them as they grow older.
May they continue to be for their families strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardians of noble domestic ideals, living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits of their mature human and spiritual experience.
Lord Jesus,
help families and society to value the presence and role of grandparents.
May they never be ignored or excluded, but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed in all the years of life which you give them.
Mary, Mother of all the living,
keep grandparents constantly in your care, accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity for the great embrace of life without end.
Amen
Pope Benedict XVI
And a prayer for use by grandparents themselves, can be read here.
Photograph: (c) 2017, Carving of the Holy Family with SS Joachim and Anne. Compton Verney.