A Vocation Disabled
SEARCHING FOR COMMUNITY
It was happening again. I bared my soul to reveal my spiritual restlessness, my floundering for a place to belong, a true community. And once again, someone was telling me I should be satisfied with what I had. After all, I was a baptized Catholic, therefore an integral member of the Church, and I had been permitted to take private vows — poverty, chastity, and obedience — approved by the bishop and renewable on a yearly basis. Why could I not be grateful for the graces I had received?
If only it were so simple. If only it were as simple as following a separate set of guidelines for people with disabilities.
Due to an accident at birth, I lost my sight completely. Although my family did their best to give me a sense of well-being, my parents divorced when I was young. As I grew up, I felt alone and abandoned. However, in my misery, I turned to God. I came to understand that life is empty without Him. Without God, everything seems purposeless. While my heart ached for peace in so many ways, I found immense fulfillment in Him.
You May Also Enjoy
Vincent was conservative toward God and Church but liberal toward his neighbor. In this he is surely our exemplar.
In these times, the idea of self-giving love is squeezed out by the identification of love with sexual attraction and pleasure.
Waugh contended that the quiet and faithful "middle rank of the Church" are precisely those whose concerns were not being heeded by the Church or her Council.