Contemplative Life with "The Smallest in the Kingdom"

A year after my re-conversion, and shortly before I met my husband, I briefly dated a moderately prominent ortho/trad Catholic journalist, who one night confessed to me his irrational horror of people with developmental disabilities, and his fear of fathering a child afflicted with them.

We remained friends for a time after our dating relationship ended and he'd begun seeing someone else, when he spoke once more about his fear of having a child with Down syndrome.  His innamorata, it seems, was approaching the age at which the rate of bearing babies with Down increases to 1%.  I reminded him that this statistic suggested that, should they marry and have a child, the odds were 99% in favor of the child not having Down.  This did little to reassure him, however, and he was no more comforted by the ample testimony of parents of children with Down syndrome of the blessings these children bring to a family.

Today I read this remarkable story on the blog Laodicea about a contemplative order of nuns, the Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb, which is partially comprised of young women with Down syndrome.  May God prosper this wonderful order abundantly, and may these holy women of God pray for us all.  For all we know, in the mysterious economy of God's grace, they may be instrumental in my erstwhile friend's salvation.