Posted by ACN News on 25/6/2012, 11:54 am
Board Administrator

ACN News, Monday, 25th February 2012 – LATIN AMERICA “Day by day we experience miracles of God’s Grace” More and more young women are joining the religious community of the “Servants of the Plan of God”, founded just 14 years ago. By Eva-Maria Kolmann “Milagros de las Mercedes”, is the little girl’s name, “miracle of grace”. The doctors said that the premature child had no chance. “Actually the little baby was already dying,” recounts Sister Elizabeth Sanchez Valdivia. The Bishop himself blessed and baptised the dying infant while it lay in an incubator. Moved, the sister reports: “Suddenly the little girl’s condition improved miraculously.” It was no ordinary day – 24 September, the Festival of “Maria de mercede redemptionis captivorum”, called in Spanish “Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes”, “Our Lady of Mercy”. The festival is of great importance in the Spanish-speaking world. The sisters of the community of the “Servants of the Plan of God” are all agreed: “For us, the girl is a gift from the Holy Virgin Mary”. “Day by day we experience miracles of God’s Grace,” the sisters say, joyfully. One such miracle is the fact that more and more young women are joining their community. The international charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is currently supporting the training of 156 sisters. It all began in Peru in the year 1998, with nine young girls who wanted to devote their lives to the service of the poor. Today, only 14 years later, their community is active, not only in many countries of Latin America, but also in the Philippines and Angola. Many of the young religious sisters are doctors, lawyers, teachers or nurses. They are between 18 and 44 years old. Many other religious communities could only dream of such an age profile. 32-year-old Sister Veronica Aguilar from Ecuador could have taken a well-paid job in a firm immediately after completing her studies. But she decided to follow a different path: two weeks after her exams she joined the religious community of the “Servants of the Plan of God” in Peru. “Wearing my religious habit, I can bring the joyful message to hundreds and thus come into contact with the lives of many different people,” she says, smiling. Wherever they work, the sisters serve the poor, the sick and the disadvantaged. In Lima, for example, they run a school for physically-handicapped children from needy families. In Ecuador they care for mentally-handicapped children and young people. “In many countries of Latin America, people with handicaps can expect no help from the state. If the family is poor, it has little chance of caring for a handicapped child properly. Through our work, we also want to change people’s attitudes towards handicapped people in general. They need love and the feeling that they are wanted. Then they develop many new talents!” the sisters explain. (A handicapped child being assisted by one of the religious sisters) The children in the care of the “Servants of the Plan of God” come from very poor families; they would be undernourished if they were not fed at the school. “At home they would only be given a few spoonful’s of noodle soup, but the food contains no vitamins and no protein,” explains Sister Elizabeth. Some of the mothers are drug addicts, or drank alcohol during pregnancy, resulting in the children being damaged even before birth. The sisters try to support them in every way possible. “Some of the handicapped children have recently received the First Holy Communion. Ana Maria, who is confined to a wheelchair, told us: ‘That was the happiest day in my life!’”, reports Sister Elizabeth. “The children in our school have a great sensitivity for God; their faces light up and they are happy when they pray and sing. The mentally-handicapped children in our facility in Ecuador also understand very well that Jesus is coming to them.” The fact that some priests are hesitant to admit mentally-handicapped children to First Communion upsets the two sisters: “Our experiences with these children are very good. They behave respectfully and devoutly, and have a deep understanding of what the Holy Communion is. And that is the most important thing!” (Handicapped children under the sisters care receiving First Holy Communion) The sisters do not only care for the children, but also for their parents. “The mother of Gensi, who also took First Communion this year, was abandoned by her husband and fell into deep depression. It was a very difficult time for both her and her daughter, but it brought them closer to God,” reports Sister Elizabeth. This year the “Siervas del Plan de Dios”, as they are called in Spanish, will celebrate the fourteenth birthday of their religious community. In this short time they have already given aid, comfort and support to countless sick and suffering people. Their history, too, is a miracle of God’s Grace. Editor’s Notes Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action. The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, Aid to the Church in Need’s Child’s Bible – God Speaks to his Children has been translated into 162 languages and 48 million copies have been distributed all over the world. While ACN gives full permission for the media to freely make use of the charity’s press releases, please acknowledge ACN as the source of stories when using the material. For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. On Line donations can be made at www.aidtochurch.org