What Happens When We Get Old? 

This literally brought tears to my eyes but it also gave me a sense of comfort. I also cannot have children or grandchildren with my husband but we always have the Lord Jesus Christ. We also have friendship with the brothers and sisters in Christ. Beautiful! ❤️

You inspired me to get baptized and you’re such an amazing person

Jesus bless catholic priests. God always guide you Amen

What I learned from this video... There is NO such thing as retirement. These elderly Franciscan friars are edifying because in old age, it takes more courage to live than to die. To age gracefully means you learned the art of how to live. Thanks, Fr. Casey.

We should send notes to our retired priests to say hello and thank them for things they have done. Too many act like, “what have you done for me lately”? We need to respect them. My husband and I listened to my Uncle stories until age 100 as if it were first time we ever heard them. If I was annoyed at my husband would say Uncle, tell the story of when...... BEAUTIFUL.... Father, your legacy of kids and grandkids are everyone whose marriage you blessed and baptized. My best friend whom we met a year and a half after marriage is now part of our family -

"Our life is defined by living the Gospel, by prayer, fraternity...There is no retiring from 'friar' life." There is no retiring from CHRISTIAN life! Retirement is the beginning of knowing loving and serving the one True God in a different way.

I’m not crying YOU’RE crying. ❤️

I happened to work in a business where my particular area was working with the elderly for over 20 years..it was a pure blessing! I love them, my work and everything I learned from them. The not so great part was seeing these wonderful people whose children now lived away and were busy with their own lives, had little time for their moms or dads. And these lovely people were living alone where most or all their friends have died. I tried often to introduce people to each other so they had a friend to call or someone to go to lunch with. My point is being married or having children doesn't guarantee that the life you think you will have will be the one your dealt. I think it's beautiful that these wonderful friars live together in community sharing same values, friendships. A family doesn't have to be biological. I pray for the friars!

God bless you Friars. You are the jewels of the Catholic Church and the Kingdom of God.

Hi Casey. I am amazed at the energy many retired priests have. In our local Catholic cathedral, there are three retired clergy who are 82, 84 and 85 years old, and they have dedicated some of their retirement to serving the cathedral parish, and to ease the strain on the bishop and the two full time cathedral priests who serve it. They celebrate mass daily and at weekends, and hear confessions. To be brutally honest, if it wasn't for them, the cathedral schedule would be reduced by 50%.

0:26 The B-Roll of the prune juice!!! 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

To serve God , is to serve God , for eternity . God bless & Godspeed .

Bro (Fr.), I hope when you are 80 or in your 90s that you will remember me in your prayers. Thank you for this video! Blessings 🙏!

As one who spent some time in a Franciscan monastery, but didn't hear the call, thank you. My call was to the vocation of marriage, but I will always have a special place in my heart for those following Saint Francis. Subbed, most definitely.

I'm not Catholic - nor religious, and honestly... I border on the line of questioning... but your love for God and faith is beautiful. I am captivated by your journey and humbleness. Your are a great example of what many are failing to see when it comes to religion.. the compassion, the honesty and love. You speak with years of wisdom and yet with the heart of a young learner still finding his path. I am positive your path will never be alone. Thanks for the awesome insight to a world often not shown.

Read Ecclesiastes 14. A metaphoric description of what it is like to grow old. At 75 ,it rings so true. And the "spirit shall indeed return to God, Who gave it."

Dr Fr Casey I was really moved Iam looking at going back to church after 20 years away and having never gone to mass I have only been a few times with friends I just turned 49 and it is my hope and prayer that it's not to late for me to do something bigger than myself for God. Iam committed to pray for you and your brothers God bless you 💙

As a former Franciscan, I am grateful for this lesson. 🙏🏼

One of my heroes, Father Mychal Judge, was a Franciscan Friar. He was the chaplain of the FDNY. He sadly passed away on September, 11th, 2001. You are sorely missed Father!!

Your fortitude is an inspiration to me, a lay Catholic living and working in the "outside world." God bless you, Brother Casey

Not for me personally Br Casey, but your internet ministry is an inspiration. I'm not even a Catholic - I'm Anglican, yet your words help me to keep my faith and that there are younger generations that can still be influenced by positive role models. God Bless you now and once you become a priest.

Your honesty is so refreshing in today’s world

St. Anthony’s has been my home parish for the past 35 years and over that time I’ve had the privilege and blessing of knowing many of the retired friars in the friary. They are all wonderful men who have served the Catholic Church and the Franciscan Order with dedication and love. My life has been enriched by my friendship with the retired friars. Thank you for making this video about the Friars. May God Bless them and keep them in the palm of His hand.

I really respect all the Franciscans, especially Fr. Groschels friars. They really lift me up. I'm at St. Peters in Chicago often. I cant wait for the church to return to it's full schedule....Amen!

You just had to show the clip of the prune juice, didn't you?

God bless to all our priests. Thank you fathers for praying for us and feeding our souls through Eucharist.

Br. Casey, thanks for the video and sharing more of the ‘inside’ story (life) of your fellow friars. God bless ~ Shalom

Crying through the whole thing, so beautiful

Thanks for sharing Br. I'm listening to your audio book and this part of the book really touched me😀

….prune juice in the fridge....what a moving experience...….

Thank you for sharing this Brother.. God bless you!

I just can’t express enough on how much I truly enjoy watching all yr videos. May God blessed you each and every day 😇

This video is so heartwarming😭💕

This is so beautiful❤️

As I see it with us Augustinians in the Philippines, we don't have an actual retirement home, but the elderly friars are assigned wherever there is a community, but usually they will not be in missions, but in seminaries, schools, or parishes near the metropolis (for medical purposes).

God bless you. May God be with you always. We need prayers

Keep up the good work, young man. God bless you

Inspired!! & feeling the love you felt among your brother friars while listening!! God bless all of you!!🙏🙏🙏

What a Blessing!

Amen, beautiful message, thank you father

This is a wonderful video that you make here brother, this is beautifully captivated. We may have different paths to take, be it vocational, marriage life or single blessedness, the work that we do for others and daily prayer life defines our legacy.

You are a true gift.

Thank you, padre casey...

So awesome. Make me cry happy tears

What a touching story! And really, isn't that what families look like? I wonder how many people are aware of the good the prayers of the retired friars are doing in the world? We'll probably never know in this life, but I expect that when we enter eternity, our Lord will show us how the prayers of others saved us -- the prayers of complete strangers in most cases. May the Lord guard the retired friars in the shelter of His Sacred Heart.

This was beautiful.

I love how they are happy just being there and sharing whats truly important to them all that I find incredable

I had a dear friend I visited many times when he was in residence at Holy Name College, serving as a mentor to young friars in formation and continuing to live in community. It seemed such a wonderful arrangement both for him and for the younger men. He was anything but lonely, had meaning and purpose and joy in sharing his Franciscan charism with them…and with me as well. He was a friar for 75 years, and told me that he was blissfully happy in each varying assignment.

Whoa! You actually CAN be authentic! Keep it up and you might really have something of beauty to offer.

As I am “old” myself, I immediately gravitated to this video. Good job! Though I rolled my eyes and laughed when you said, “Maybe I’ll be here when I am 70....”. As someone who is pushing 70, let me assure you, you won’t be. Also, from what I perceive, no priest these days ever really retires. There are not nearly enough of you. My parish when I am in Arizona is sustained by elderly priests, some of them Franciscans. The talk of legacy in the video, reminded me of something I might sometimes take for granted. I uncovered a gift within myself in my fifties (though it was not unknown to me) that will keep me spiritually alive as I age, and allow me to create a legacy. But at what cost did I uncover it? Perhaps my end will justify the painful means.

this is very interesting! Awesome video!

It’s always heartbreaking to see older people alone but it makes me so so so happy that these priests get to enjoy their last days in fraternity!

I am very happy for you! And I thank God for you,!!🙏💒🌈

Very humbling

amazing 😍😍😍God bless brother

Father Casey, you certainly are called, you share so much of Catholic life from different angles, and do devoted to serving the Lord. Bless you Father Casey 🙏

Beautiful!

this is your best video for me. It made me smile for you.

Awesome story!

May Saint Francis pray for you and grant graces and blessings throughout your life my brother, so you too, one day, would be telling your stories and inspiring another generation. God bless you!

This is such a beautiful video, thank u for making it. Even within our own church there is a misconception that priests are missing out on something by becoming a priest, but it's just not true, it's a beautiful, fulfilled life that of a priest, your wife, your children and your family are just different. This was an important share, especially for those discerning their vocation. We pray for those that are discerning joining any holy orders. St Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

good joy for you.

This was a particularly beautiful video

God bless u..You are lucky to be called...

Hi Father 👋😊! From the title of the topic, I could only say: old friars grow old with boldness and truth, as well as grace. I feel the same way, as a concecratated woman, the lonely part: but even when you're alone, you aren't lonely because of the ministry we do, no matter what kind it is. God bless you!

God bless you

My dear brother in faith, what a lovely experience you had. Visiting a retiring home is always nice, retiring is a nice stage in our lives. We have more time to think, more time to pray, more time to love. I'm sure you'll be happy when the time comes for you to go to a home like that. Your legacy is the memories you leave in people. God is amazingly wise and He has designed everything's so perfectly even our retirement... God bless you my dear friend.

Would be nice to write a book on the older Friars stories. ❤️

At my university is a Dominican priory, and I guess about 30-50 percent of them are older friars. They're a great joy to talk and interact to. These nice, old friars, by their existence alone, disprove the saying "Wisdom is wasted on the old." You really cannot waste wisdom if you learn how to share it, and to pass it on. God bless.

That was truly touching. So many times younger people act annoyed with the elderly...act as though they don't matter any more because they are old, slow, hard of hearing or repetitive.. This little story shows that not everyone feels that way. Yes, our seniors are a treasure & need to be cherished. P.S. I'm right on the cusp...

The stories of faith and a life devoted to God must be enormous. I would love to chat with them for an evening.

I wish all elderly had it this good!!

impressive young man !

Such a beautiful life!

So touching and slightly sentimental

😭🤗💓🤗😭 Wonderful wonderful May God have Mercy on us and world. Amen. 🇮🇩💓🇮🇩

Gracias 🙏🏼 señor por estos frailes, especialmente los sacerdotes ya retirados o ancianos. Bendice sus vidas para que sean testimonio de vida para la iglesia y su comunidad. Gracias 🙏🏼 mi señor Jesucristo y a nuestra mamá del cielo! Un abrazo maternal de nuestra madrecita del cielo!!Shalom!

Father 👍👏👏 your way of talking and explaition is very nice 👍👍 good 👍👍👌 I am very inspiring.

Amen! 🙏🏻

Pray for me because I'm old and lonely and have no legacy like you were afraid would happen to you. i don't think it's my fault.

nice video Father.

Thank you Br. I'm African religious brother of saint Benedict order and always I like to listen your videos also I like to read the spiritual books but at times I find myself unable to understand some context, so please Br when you see my comments with questions please help me.

I want more of this, I want more of this, I want more of this !...

How beautiful.

Our priests are normal people living an extra ordinary life to bring graces from heaven to earth and to continue mission of Christ on earth for the normal people like me... And I do respect each priests more than i respect my country's military men. Glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. May the queen of priest's and St:John mariya viyani pray for our priests to our Lord Jesus Christ.

I often wonder where I will end up down the road, too. I'm getting closer to the time when most people will retire and I doubt that will be an option for me. In fact, I really wonder if I will end up living out of my car. I hope I am able to work until I'm gone but that may not be realistic. All one can do is keep moving forward, I guess. Thanks for video!

Haha! I hope am alive to see you at 85! That's a nice message sir

this is wonderful. as for the title photo, i like how you assume you will have a full head of hair, albeit grey. perhaps, perhaps.

👍...Having been a Benedictine Novice way back years ago...I was part of a thriving midwestern Abbey with wonderful monastic men and great ora et labora....But alas...the life was not for me and I left after 1 1/2 yrs.....Today, that same abbey has less than half of those members with teaching staff made up of salaried men/women and only a handful of monks......It seems the age of "religious life" has almost come to an end.....and that is sad....but...times are changing....May your life be blessed and prosperous....

For me when we get old is scarry my God,,,,,,.😃😆😲 but merry and blessed with our Father in the heavens",.

A beloved priest when he was old and ill, the friars would take care of him un a very loving way untill his death.

These men would make the BEST grandpas to those who have lost their own~

❤

Humility + Pray + Give + Grateful = FAITH Let's pray for all priest around the world. May God have Mercy on us and world. Amen 🇮🇩💓🇮🇩

Would that all people might find such a place of conection and belonging

Too bad that we could not have listened to the wisdom of the senior friars. It is really more a video about brother Casey telling us about the venerable senior brothers.

Although I am not catholic, I appreciate you choose this life. In a normal world, most of the people chase after money, luxuries, social status. After I worked in the corporate world, I have a shock to realize how stupid it is to live the worldly life. I started reading some old school theologians and I realize that a simple monastery lifestyle is closer to the truth and truly joyful. I am an agnostic christian and might god bless you.

Today is my 81st Birthday. "Glory be to God for All Things." Saint John Chrysostom

I always pray for our priests that may our Almighty God protect them from every harm and from every evil, I ask God also to forgive our priests of whatever their weaknesses are and give them a reward in heaven.

May the peace of god be upon the people who dislike these videos.