The high-profile retirements of Nadal and Biden, the strikes of groups calling for early retirement, the gradual increase in the retirement age or the recurring debate on the viability of pensions lead us to know a little better this reality in religious life.
Recently, some very high-profile retirements have been in the news, which have taken up rivers of ink, today we would say millions of bits of information between news, memes and comments on the networks.
Perhaps the best Spanish athlete and one of the three greatest tennis players in history, Rafael Nadal, after a life full of success and a legacy that will last a long time, has seen how his body has told him: “enough!, that’s it!” He is already embarking on a new life project, plans that involve, according to his words, giving a preferential place to his family or focusing on his foundation.
Another high-profile retirement has been that of Joe Biden during the presidential race in the United States. It was not planned, but forced by circumstances. We can intuit how he has personally experienced this fracture of age, taken to the extreme by the judgement of his own people and the fierce and voracious criticism of his opponents.
Finding the sweet spot in life is not easy. Finding the moment to stop is not either. Normally we imagine a happy retirement to do what we had no time for before: travelling, reading, walking, having fun… But the desire and the possibilities to do things after 65 are not the same as when we were in our prime.
Here we are going to pay tribute to those tireless religious men who put off their work until their body can take it. In religious communities there is no set retirement age. In the ecclesiastical world there is only the case of bishops, who must resign when they reach 75 years of age. And they even have to wait, sometimes years, until their replacement arrives.
Many religious men undertake new projects to accommodate their activity to the pace that their body and mind allow them. The expiration date is not calculated by the date of birth, but by using up the last breath in the service of others and reinventing new forms of presence, pastoral care, support, and spending time for others.
On the occasion of Rafael Nadal‘s retirement from the courts of competition at the highest level, many statements have been published by tennis greats of all time thanking him for his example, his tenacity or his inspiration.
Many older religious, today in a situation of dependency, or with their faculties compromised, or with bodies that fight against pain, illness or dysfunction, we could say things very similar to those that have been published for the tennis player:
“Your dedication, commitment and service will be remembered among those you served. Your spiritual strength made you rise up in the face of adversity and setbacks. Your love for Jesus and the Church, for the Recollection and for your brothers in the community, shone as a testimony and inspired others to follow that path of faith or that vocation.
You opened new pastoral paths, you taught us to be good people, lessons that are not forgotten, that teach us to mature and to face the hard moments of life. You enjoyed your work with passion, as good sons of Augustine of Hippo and of the Recollection.
Thank you very much because you made the earth a better place and taught us to love our vocation. Respect and admiration for what you have done for the people, for the community, for society, for creating a more just and better world.”
As an example, two religious Augustinian Recollect who, motivated and loving their vocation, reinvented themselves when the time came to recognize their own weakness.
Antonio Eraso (1928-2024) was a teacher almost all his pastoral life. When, due to age, he could no longer be in the front line in the classrooms, he made an effort to learn to serve others with a scanner. Until literally the last week of his life, at 95 years old, almost blind and very deaf, with leukemia and cancer, he continued to digitize documents and correct the resulting texts. For him it was not a “job” but rather “entertainment.” When he finished a task, he immediately asked the person coordinating the tasks for more: “give me more birdseed.”
The other example is a living religious friar. We will not mention his name, for he would blush. He was a missionary in very difficult and precarious times in the Brazilian Amazon, then for years he fought to give a decent life and housing to the impoverished in the rural area of the semi-arid northeast of Brazil. He dreamed of dying in his beloved Brazil, but due to his health problems and need for treatment he was sent to Spain, a new country for him, even though he had been born there. While he could, he celebrated the sacraments in a Parish and continued to fight for the forgotten and excluded. Now, in a convent, he prays every day for everyone, accompanying and being accompanied by more brothers in the same situation.
Saint John Paul II said: “Do not worry about me, I have all eternity to rest.” For a good religious, the end never comes, because later, from heaven, he intercedes for everyone: if retirement does not exist in life, neither does it exist in eternity. His way of being and living does not allow it. And this is true, genuine, when the person is focused on the commandment of love: always acting.
