"TRADITION! UNHEARD OF ABSURD!"—and Extremely Beautiful

Back in the saddle. It's been a frantic time around here since I got back. I've not said much because it's just been more of the same—some excellent things and some things that are not-so-excellent.

But today's news story is a short one that is extremely good. Yazmine Hafiz of The Huffington Post tells us about how Pope Frances reached out to comfort a man with a severe disfigurement. The Pope cradled the man's head tenderly and comforted him.

Read: Pope Francis Kisses Sick Man With Boils Showing The Healing Power Of Compassion

I looked at the picture. It's ghastly. What are reported to be boils looks more like Proteus syndrome, the disease that the Elephant Man had. Whatever it is that this modern man has, I would hope it is nowhere near as painful and/or disabling. I remember once getting 16 boils under each armpit, and I had a fever and unimaginable pain with just those 16! If that man truly has got boils all over like that, he must be in agony. Boils on top of boils! It looks like all the plagues have descended on the poor fellow at one time. And if he has got Proteus syndrome, he must be in another kind of agony.

Pope Francis is staying true to Catholic doctrine with this action. Jesus healed the lepers and many other sick people. He did not shy away from them or shun them, as was typically done in that era and as still happens in far too many places today. Once again, this Pope is leading by example. He isn't preaching from "on high" that we should welcome and help sick people. He is showing us that none of us—no matter how powerful or healthy we may be—should be never above showing compassion to the least of us. No one is too good to do this, face-to-face, hands-on!

As Jesus put it so aptly: "What you do the least of Me, you do to Me." I've always tried to live by that code, because it resonates very strongly with my own experience of how awful life can be when one is bullied or mocked because of having physical challenges. I also know what it is like to be on the bottom of the social/economic ladder.

This is why I wish so very much that other differences could be just as warmly cared for and accepted inside the Catholic religion, instead of being labeled as "disordered." This is why I would love to see an equality that does not distinguish between genders or gender identities or whatever else makes people different from one another.

Our Pope is a true, sincere Jesuit. He questions. He explores. He pushes the envelope out, seeking answers. But, in the end, he always obeys tradition—unlike Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, who sings of TRADITION, but then says "on the other hand. . . ." Even the very worst breaking of tradition ends up being accepted by old Tevye, because love, ultimately, is more important to him. Yes, at first, it does seem "UNHEARD OF! ABSURD!" but then it really does make sense.

However, Pope Francis is what he is. He is not likely to change. He will continue to teach, by example, those things that he was taught. He will shed new light on some of the finer and better aspects of Catholicism that have been ignored for far too long. Caring for and about disabled people is the next civil rights movement, I believe. And I would love to have Pope Francis lead this movement by example. We can choose to welcome that much and be glad for it even while we agitate and pray for other changes.

Unchurched I remain. Interested in Pope Francis, I also remain. I'm eclectic. I can take the many good things he has to offer into my own life. That is my TRADITION!