Beijing – In view of the “Double Nine Festival” , many Chinese Catholic communities are organizing visits to the elderly, as they do every year. These initiatives also have a pastoral significance: in many cases, the meetings with the elderly become an opportunity to pray together or to administer the sacraments of Confession, the Eucharist, and the Anointing of the Sick.
In Beijing, young people from the diocesan Seminary and the parish of Nantang visited the diocesan Home for the Elderly on October 25th and 26th. After thoroughly cleaning the building, they celebrated Mass with the elderly, sang hymns, and shared a moment of conviviality. A large portion of the home’s residents have been the backbone of diocesan parish life over the past decades, contributing to the choir, as catechists, and as leaders of various pastoral groups. Now, these people receive affection and solidarity from those they can consider their spiritual “heirs.” At the invitation of Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai, Father He Yonghui, director of the Guangqi Social Charity Center , along with three nuns and twenty parishioners, visited the elderly in the Guangqi Retirement Home and the Nan Zhang Retirement Home. They thanked the elderly on behalf of the bishop and the diocese for their exemplary life of faith in their families and parishes and for their constant prayers in support of the apostolic work of the Church. Father He and the nuns presented gifts to the elderly and prayed with them, asking the Lord to extend his fatherly love to all the elderly men and women who, through their prayers and witness of faith, offer valuable spiritual guidance to young Catholics in their daily lives. Parishioners in Jiangxi Province also visited the elderly. A special Mass was celebrated for them on Sunday, October 26. The same thing happened in the parish of Tangshan in Hebei Province and in the Diocese of Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. In the Diocese of Zhouzhi in Shaanxi Province, however, the elderly and sick parents of the priests were visited. The “Double Nine Festival” dates back to ancient times and is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month as a way of giving thanks for the rich autumn harvest. The number nine is also the symbol of the emperor, and pronounced twice, it is synonymous with the word “eternity.” Over time, the festival has been adopted by various folk traditions and embodies rich cultural significance with other customs, such as honoring the elderly. During the festival, admiring the autumn landscape and expressing gratitude to the elderly are manifested in rituals that also take the chrysanthemum flower as their symbol, a flower that has inspired countless writers and poets.
In 2012, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress passed the “Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly” and officially declared the ninth day of the ninth lunar month as National Day of the Elderly.
For the Catholic Church, which strives to preach in the context of Chinese culture and folk traditions, the “Double Nine Festival” is a precious opportunity to witness to the care of the communities for all, to transmit faith in Jesus through concrete gestures, and to care for the elderly, thus strengthening the communion and unity that spring from Christian love.
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