The great Catholic broadcaster and preacher, Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) said this about retirement:

“When I resigned, I did not “retire”. I retreaded. I took on another kind of work. I believe that we spend our last days very much the way that we lived. If we have lived with ease, taking our rest, never exerting ourselves, then we have a long dragging out of our days, like a slow leak. If we live intensely, I believe that somehow or other we can work up until the day God draws the line and says, “Now it is finished.”

Retirement has many advantages. It becomes a time to remake one’s soul, to interiorize, to meditate and begin a cram course for the final exam.

(From Treasures in Clay, his autobiography)