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 Earth—no 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.

 

 "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!