Topic of the week – The joy of old age

For me, Sister Christine Charlwood’s article (“Making a chiming of a passing bell”, 7 March) was the highlight of last week’s Tablet. Why? It just encapsulated that alienating feeling of disorientation at the complex and febrile world we are inhabiting, but safely reaching the other side, if we have hope and trust in God.

Her erudition and use of language express not vain hyperbole but just simplicity and goodness and a real sense that in her ninety-ninth year she has witnessed it all before – maybe not in this catastrophic and chaotic way, but her wealth of experience is invaluable.

There was inherent joyfulness and spirituality wrapped up in a cloak of resilience to the many vicissitudes we are all experiencing. This nun is correct: there is still joy all around us, if we are willing to connect to it, and the kindness of strangers will always be a balm to our souls.

She is the embodiment of religious sisters that we have known over the years, in our schools and churches, emanating a sense of hope, joy and indeed goodness, and we are all the richer for that knowledge and their existence, throughout our lives.

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