This year’s World Down Syndrome Day is a sombre one, with Down Syndrome people facing extinction thanks to abortion.
The hatred that they face from pro abortion advocates is of a demonic character, with so called ‘prochoice’ working as hard as possible to reduce the presence of Down Syndrome people in society, perhaps because Satan knows that they remind us of goodness and of the simplicity of God’s love.
It is a great credit to our church that people with Down Syndrome are welcome in it, when they are unwelcome virtually everywhere else in the modern world.
In France, The Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb highlight this.
They are a religious community including women who have Down Syndrome and who wish to serve Our Lord.
Founded in the 1980s by Mother Line, they cater for those who have Down Syndrome, who did not fit in in other communities. Mother Line has said ‘I visited several communities that welcomed people with disabilities, but I saw they could not find their place in these communities because they were not suitable for them. It was the encounter with Véronique, a girl with Down syndrome that gave us the idea for a new beginning. I told myself I had to help her realize her vocation”
They set up in the town of Le Blanc, which has 6,500 inhabitants in the Diocese of Bourges.
There are 10 sisters in the community, 8 of them with Down Syndrome. The contemplative life suits them as it offers routine and order, something which suits the personality of those with Down Syndrome.
Holding on to a special devotion to French saints St. Bernadette and St. Therese of Lisieux, they devote themselves to their tasks each day with great love and diligence.
Mother Line has said, ‘Their souls are not disabled! On the contrary, they are closer to the Lord, they communicate with Him more easily. The other sisters of the community admire their ability to forgive, to encourage their sisters by finding the right phrase from the Bible that helps give meaning to the day’.
Let’s pray that the holy example of their lives permeates to how we treat all peoples who are different, that by doing so we can enlighten the world to know that all of us have a purpose in this life, regardless of circumstance.