by Sr. Sheila Campbell,  MMM     Ireland      20.03.2022
We are in a different ball park from two years ago. Here in Ireland most of us are vaccinated and boostered against Covid-19. And yet – after two years of being very careful, finally it has come to our house here in Drogheda. It is not as devastating as the initial months of panic when, with no vaccine, people died. But no one wants Covid. To be honest, I am even sick of the name and I will scream if I hear any more statistics.

What I want to share is how the Sisters are coping with almost half the community confined to their rooms. The first thing you notice is the persistent good humour! Those of us still on our feet meet each other during our daily tasks and exchange a smile, a quip and a nod of encouragement. I bring meal trays to Sisters confined to their rooms. The sense of gratitude for such a small service is almost too much. In spite of the coughing, high temperature and feeling of exhaustion, everyone obeys the quarantine rules and emerges at the end, thanking all around them for their care.
In some ways it reminds me of how the civil society came together during the first wave and health care workers were applauded on the doorsteps and we discovered that there was a category called “essential workers”. It is the same sense of resilience and bonding, of care and concern.
Back in 1954, Mother Mary Martin wrote: “The more difficult things are, the more we must love, the more we must trust. Without God we can do nothing, but with God we can do all things.”
This is the spirit I see amongst us these days. There is the activity of treatment, containment and prevention, but underlying all this, there is a calmness, knowing we are in God’s loving care. This comes to us through the work of our wonderful staff who have been side by side with us throughout this ordeal, and also mediated by the Sisters themselves. So, God, the waters are choppy at the moment, but you are at the helm and will see us all through the storms of life. This is my prayer for today.