Distant and near echoes of a “Yes”!
“Birth – Old Age – Sickness – Death: the inevitable law of human life. Earth and sky continue to meet every dawn and every sunset, the four seasons Spring – Summer – Autumn – Winter follow one another endlessly, people are born to grow and then grow old and leave this earth forever.
The “yes” of a nun is not only pronounced at the dawning of consecrated life, but also in old age it always echoes in whispered prayers, in small sacrifices in the twilight of existence. Yes! The young Vietnamese Sisters of Charity were able to hear it, in the fullness of its vigour, when they had the opportunity to spend time with the Sisters now retired due to advanced old age in Laos. It was they who brought the charism of Jeanne Antide first to Laos and then to Vietnam.
The Sister of Charity who in her youth was energetic and strong, always enthusiastic and ready to work in the mission field, when her strength failed she was always a Sister of Charity, in the spirit of sacrifice, in silent prayer, day and night, in the meekness of her speech, in the humility and simplicity of her lifestyle. The lives of the elderly sisters met by the young sisters became a wonderful testimony of love in their consecration to God and the poor, in the full response of “Yes”.
Thanks be to God, dear sisters, for your generosity and commitment in helping to make the spirituality of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne Antide Thouret present in Vietnam as it is today. May the mercy of God, through the intercession of Holy Mother Jeanne Antide Thouret, grant you every day health, joy and peace in the Lord.
Sister Mary
