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
When we privilege writing over personal encounter, we run the risk of setting up what is written as the arbiter of what counts and what doesn’t.
If I Am the Body of Christ, Who Needs the Host?... Ms. Goodie Two-Shoes Rhetoric... When It Comes to Abortion, Rationality Goes Out the Window... The Ambiguities of Maturity... "Father, Forgive Them"... No Longer Part of the Church Militant
Sounds like it, given what Bishop Thomas Gumbleton says.