Suffering and care: John Paul II’s gaze on the elderly

Abstract

In the history of every person, at every stage of his or her life, suffering will inevitably cross his or her life and travel his or her path. Aging is marked by a series of transformations, especially in the face of so many stressful internal and external situations, such as, for example, the decline of health, the abandonment, sometimes by family members and the uselessness that is put on it by society.Thus, the objective of the study is to discuss the suffering of the elderly person in the light of the biblical passage of the Good Samaritan and the teaching of John Paul II, as a paradigm of care. The study involved a bibliographic review with a brief analysis of the Scriptures, the Teaching of the Magisterium, and the Documents: Apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris and the Letter to the Elders. It was possible to observe how relevant are faith and personalized spirituality in the life of the elderly, not only in the objective sense, but in their lived reality. After all, they influence behavior, enlighten the mind, collaborate in the resilience process, and balance the path through suffering, illness, and preparation for death. At the end of the study, it was possible to conclude that individuals who are in the phase of decreasing life need humanized and professional care to cope with this process with tranquility.