senior citizens

¹²In old age is wisdom, and in length of days is prudence.

¹⁶For this reason, we are not insufficient. But it is as though our outer man is corrupted, while our inner man is renewed from day to day.

¹⁸even in old age and with grey hairs. Do not abandon me, O God, while I announce your arm to every future generation: your power

¹⁵They will still be multiplied in a fruitful old age, and they will endure well,

⁴Even to your old age, I am the same. And even with your grey hairs, I will carry you. I have made you, and I will sustain you. I will carry you, and I will save you.

¹⁶I will fill him with length of days. And I will reveal to him my salvation.

¹But you are to speak the things that befit sound doctrine. ²Old men should be sober, chaste, prudent, sound in faith, in love, in patience. ³Old women, similarly, should be in holy attire, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teaching well, ⁴so that they may teach prudence to the young women, so that they may love their husbands, love their children, ⁵be sensible, chaste, restrained, have concern for the household, be kind, be subordinate to their husbands: so that the Word of God may be not blasphemed. ⁶Exhort young men similarly, so that they may show self-restraint.

²⁵I have been young, and now I am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his offspring seeking bread.

²⁵And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and God-fearing, awaiting the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was with him. ²⁶And he had received an answer from the Holy Spirit: that he would not see his own death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. ²⁷And he went with the Spirit to the temple. And when the child Jesus was brought in by his parents, in order to act on his behalf according to the custom of the law, ²⁸he also took him up, into his arms, and he blessed God and said: ²⁹“Now you may dismiss your servant in peace, O Lord, according to your word. ³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation,

³¹Old age is a crown of dignity, when it is found in the ways of justice.

¹A Psalm of Confession. ²Shout joyfully to God, all the earth. Serve the Lord with rejoicing. Enter into his sight in exultation. ³Know that the Lord himself is God. He made us, and we ourselves did not. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. ⁴Enter his gates with confession, his courts with hymns, and acknowledge him. Praise his name. ⁵For the Lord is sweet, his mercy is in eternity, and his truth is from generation to generation.

³²Rise up in the presence of a gray-haired head, and honor the reputation of an elder, and fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord.

¹A Psalm of David. The Lord directs me, and nothing will be lacking to me. ²He has settled me here, in a place of pasture. He has led me out to the water of refreshment. ³He has converted my soul. He has led me away on the paths of justice, for the sake of his name. ⁴For, even if I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they have given me consolation. ⁵You have prepared a table in my sight, opposite those who trouble me. You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup, which inebriates me, how brilliant it is! ⁶And your mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and so may I dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days.

¹²Create a clean heart in me, O God. And renew an upright spirit within my inmost being.

²⁹The joy of youths is their strength. And the dignity of old men is their grey hairs.

¹Now there was a man among the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He went to Jesus at night, and he said to him: “Rabbi, we know that you have arrived as a teacher from God. For no one would be able to accomplish these signs, which you accomplish, unless God were with him.” ³Jesus responded and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn anew, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him: “How could a man be born when he is old? Surely, he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be reborn?” ⁵Jesus responded: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.