Delphine, a novice with the Daughters of Jesus of Kermaria, shares her experience at the Arc of Aigrefoin in St Rémy-lès-Chevreuse (Yvelines, France) during an experience of immersion with vulnerable people living with mental and physical disabilities.
From September through November 2024, I lived among the poorest of the poor. Their joy in living simply, sharing a sincere, genuine, and very natural love, allowed me to see the presence of God in them daily. I came to understand a little of the Gospel of St Luke 10, 21 :
‘Just at this time, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said, “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it has pleased you to do.”
And in the Gospel of Saint John 20,19: ‘Peace be with you’.
A lesson in life
I was touched by the life they shared and the care they took, because they taught me many lessons in life, both in my vocational journey and as a human being in this divided world. They made me discover the face of God’s immeasurable love. Having never spent more than a day with people like these, I would say that I first discovered a world of fragility. They changed my perception of people living with a disability. There is a saying: ‘When God closes one door, he opens another’, which means that they have developed defence mechanisms and qualities to enable them to live what they have to live with to the full. In this respect, they became my teachers in several areas.
The beauty of the heart
In the beginning, I observed everyone, but it was a little difficult for me to get close. Being with people with a disability, listening to them, and trying to understand them was new for me. With humour, however, I was able to create relationships that respected their dignity. In so doing I discovered the beauty of the world of the heart, as well as my comfort zones that I had not taken the time to look at. Shared life for me became henceforth these humanising relationships that lead to the communion of hearts.
Doing things together became a happy and joyful freedom. These seven weeks spent alongside these people have led me to reflect more on compassion, which in a way sums up love of neighbour in all its dimensions, whether a person is sick or not.
Delphine Maiwoyang,
Second-year novice,
Daughters of Jesus
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