God has blessed you with life, and with differing talents and gifts. Through these you are able to serve him and society in various ways. While some people’s contributions seem great and others’ more modest, the witness value of our efforts is always a sign of hope for everyone.
Sometimes it is challenging to find a reason for what appears only as a difficulty to be overcome or even pain to be endured. Yet our faith helps us to break open the horizon beyond our own selves in order to see life as God does. God’s unconditional love, which bathes every human individual, points to a meaning and purpose for all human life. Through his Cross, Jesus in fact draws us into his saving love (cf. Jn 12:32) and in so doing shows us the way ahead – the way of hope which transfigures us all, so that we too, become bearers of that hope and charity for others.
That link did not work. I found this one will get to the speech, but it has the fancy vellum background from the vatican website.
[url=http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080419_youth-disabilities_en.html]youth_disabilities[/url]
I’m glad that he met with disabled youth. As a middle-aged disabled person who, at least, has a few decades of memories and achievements to recall and cherish, it must be very difficult for disabled youth to find a place in this fast-paced, competitive world that makes “what you do” akin to “whom you are.”
Not long ago, I lamented to a friend that I felt “utterly useless.” She expressed astonishment and said that she and others we know have often discussed the patience and humor I’ve exhibited in the face of a dread disease. “You show us every day how to handle adversity with grace,” she said. Wow, I had no idea!
This is what the pope is saying, I think. It helps to know that we DO have a purpose in the grand scheme of things and I hope that all disabled folks will find comfort in his words.
teatime, I have always thought that my disability has given me a chance to see both the best and the worst of human beings – and in loving family and friends I have come as close as we can come on this earth to understanding what unconditional love means. It is hard to turn the mirror around and see what others may learn from me. God bless.