by Sr. Sheila Campbell    MMM         Ireland       02.04.2022

Today my older sister celebrates fifteen years of marriage. Yes, fifteen, and she, like me, is in her seventies. This is her second marriage and today I just stopped and thought – it is never too old to take up a commitment, to fight for a cause that aroused us, to say ‘yes’.

So often we, oldies, use age as an excuse. Climate change? Leave that to Greta T. and her young crowd. The war in Ukraine – I have been on peace demonstrations since I was a teenager and what difference has it made? I am not sure if it is weariness or apathy or just plain laziness that stops me. But the temptation is real and I see it every day in my small life decisions.

Maybe this Lent I am called to re-commit to commitment. Jesus did not sit back when he has called the twelve but went on teaching and preaching until it got him into big trouble. Mary said ‘yes’ at the Annunciation and that led her to a life of dedication and loving service. So, when I made my final religious profession of vows back in 1979, I was not just saying ‘yes’ for the years up to retirement, but for my whole life. The commitment will take different shape over the years but the ‘yes’ has to be constant.

Commitment demands energy, but it also gives energy.  As I watch my sister ‘watching over’ her even more elderly spouse, I see the joy this relationship has brought them both.  I know that my new role in Communications has given me energy to try and reach out and communicate how much God loves us.  The Christian message basically is very simple: Christ said “I came to give life and life in its fullness”. Why complicate the message? Just share it!