Brandon Scott
Sr Maire Brid O’Driscoll Ireland’s most recently professed nun has encouraged those contemplating religious life, something that she recognises might be profoundly countercultural in 2024, to “listen to your own heart” and “have the courage to take the risk” to explore that call as if it is the path for you “you’ll find deep peace and fulfilment”.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Sr Maire Brid O’Driscoll, who trained as a primary school teacher before she entered the Redemptoristine order in 2016 said that her own journey took time to come to fruition and required a lot of reflection on life’s big questions.
“When I finished college I trained as a primary school teacher and I suppose I went through I time when I started questioning what life was all about; the meaning of life, if God really existed,” she said. “There I had an experience of God’s crazy love for me and that kind of set me on a new journey of listening to God in a deeper way, the scriptures just came alive. Within that there was that call to the contemplative way of life and I began that discernment journey. It took time; I was 27 before I actually entered.”
“I had heard from friends about the Redemptoristines. I had heard of the Redemptorists before but never the Redemptoristines. I Googled them and was immediately drawn to the red habit. I then got in contact with them and went to visit and it just went from there, step by step.”
Asked if she had any advice for other women considering something as deeply countercultural as religious life in 2024, Sr Maire Brid urged anyone deliberating whether or not to explore the call to “listen deeply their own hearts. Spend time in prayer and listen to your deepest desires. I think God’s will is to be found in your deepest desires and if you can really listen to them. Follow your heart and listen to call and have the courage to take the risk. You’re going against the flow in society, but if it’s the path for you, you’ll find deep peace and deep fulfilment so why not follow it?”