Thursday, November 21, 2013

 The Eleventh Commandment

Oh, I am almost ready to go to Church! Pope Francis is just absolutely sending frissons of joy through my entire body, heart, mind, and soul. He is now emerging—again by simple example—as a leader in the disability movement.

Read: Pope Francis Blesses Man With Disfigured Face Displaying Healing Power Of Love 
 


When I first saw the above picture, I thought it was Pope Francis talking to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and that the part of the picture with Kerry had mixed up pixels. Then I read the text and found out it was a man with a severely disfigured face.
 
Huff Post Religion reported that "Vinicio Riva, the man with neurofibromatosis, told the media that he 'felt only love' as the Pope embraced him." I can believe it! Pope Francis is the most loving Pope I can ever recall in my nearly 65 years of living. He is a sweet man. He's the sort of person one can agree to disagree with and yet love, love, love so very much. It's the Pope's utter sincerity and total willingness to just keep reaching out to people of all sorts that makes him so appealing.
To look straight at a person with a disfigurement is an act of spiritual greatness that every single person on this Earthno matter what his or her beliefs or non-beliefs may be—can achieve. To touch that person is even better than that.

Look at that picture! Look at Pope Francis' face. He is looking at Mr. Riva without a trace of condescending pity or disgust. Pope is simply listening to another human being and touching him. By doing this, the Pope draws us in, compels us to emulate him, and realize the importance of the inner being rather than the outside package. We see both men together; we cannot ignore Mr. Riva and pretend that he doesn't exist because he has a deformity.
 
Look at this one:


Can you see the pure love radiating from Pope Francis? I do. He's not faking it. It's not theater. It's a close embrace that is tender and profoundly spiritual. It's soul-to-soul. 

This is where our true journey into a higher level of consciousness starts. We leave the body for a time to appreciate the soul and the heart and the mind. We realize that the body is only one tiny dimension of Being.

Indeed, this is the beginning—the fundamental stage—of acceptance and welcoming those among us whose bodies are not perfect. This is growing away from society's obsession with beauty and sex objects. This is how we see a person's being—body, soul, intellect—all as one beautiful entity. 

If there is a better lesson in life that any spiritual leader can teach us, I don't know what it is. Pope Francis expresses the ultimate essence of G-d's love for all of Creation.

This Pope, in my view, is a reincarnation of St. Francis. He is also a Buddha, a Christ, a Moses, a Mohammed and more—come down to earth to show us a path out of the horrible corruption that worship of The Golden Calf has infected us with. 

If there were an Eleventh Commandment, it would be: "Thou shalt not dismiss diseased or disabled people; for they are made also in the image of G-d."

THAT is what Pope Francis said without words. And THAT is what resonated completely with me as a person with several disabilities. The Pope was telling us that Jesus was not sexy and stunning when he was on the Cross. It was a physically ugly sight, but it had a profound spiritual meaning that was very beautiful.
 
If we do nothing else, I would say, let us follow this "Eleventh Commandment." Lead on, Pope Francis.
 

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