29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME : DISABILITY AWARENESS SABBATH 2010..........

On this 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish is joining with other Catholic-Christian congregations throughout our country in celebrating, 'Disability Awareness Sabbath'.  Disability Awareness Sabbath, is the Sunday each year we consider the ministry to the Disabled our churches, temples, and mosques, share for the inclusiveness and empowerment of those with special needs in the Community of Believers.  The theme of our Sunday Scriptures today is on Persistence in Prayer.  Persistence is definitely an attribute the Disabled are well experienced of, for without persistence many of them would be left marginalized by society and often times, even the faith community.  In my homily today I shared my own personal and priestly disability story and what I experienced growing up in the 1960's and 1970's with a physical disability.  I began my homily with a quote from Disability Rights advocate and minister, Gene Nabi, who in an article he wrote, "Gospel Accountability : When Can Special Needs Adults Understand The Gospel ?", said - "Anyone with a disability, however severe, can come into God's Kingdom.  They can be as receptive to the Holy Spirit as anyone else.  To question whether anyone has the capacity to come into the Kingdom, questions the power of the Holy Spirit".  This statement is at the heart of our observance of Disability Awareness Sabbath, since differently abled individuals, adults and children alike, are given by God the capacity to come into the Kingdom.  The Disabled like all persons are, "created and called by God and able to respond to God's calling, as is evidenced in the Book of Genesis 1:26; and in the Letter to the Ephesians 2:10; how much more we should embrace that they too should also minister for the Kingdom, and are specially gifted and invited to participate in the ministry by God", as is found in Paul's 1st Letter to the Corinthians.  At OLOL's 10:30 am Mass this morning we had just such a ministry experience.  Several months ago while I was assisting with 7:30 pm Sunday Mass, I was approached one evening by the father of a girl with Downs Syndrome.  She was baptized as a newborn infant ten years ago, but the geographic parish in which they reside could not or would not provide the catechetical formation this girl needed to prepare for and receive, First Holy Communion.  They asked me if they could arrange to facilitate her reception of the Sacrament sometime soon.  I directed the parents in catechizing their daughter about the Eucharist and to teach her that the Bread of Communion we partake is the Body of Jesus Christ.  Having reached that understanding, we scheduled that she and her family be present here today, to celebrate Regina Marie's First Holy Communion on Disability Awareness Sabbath. It is a travesty in the post conciliar, 3rd Millennium Catholic-Christian, when an indifferent, non inclusive, unempowering, decision is otherwise made.  And this is not the first time I have encountered this in my experience of ministry.  It goes against the norm set by the U.S. Bishops in their groundbreaking, 1978 Pastoral Letter on the Ministry to the Disabled.  That trailblazing document was a full twelve years ahead of the phenomenal Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.  In respect for the dignity of the human person and in fidelity to Gospel values, there is no reason our parishes and communities should be anything but pro-active in providing for those with special needs among us.  Denying them access to Worship and Sacraments, is not only discriminatory, but sinful.  Ways in which we can be inclusive and empowering of the presence and participation within the faith community are wholistic as we must make provision for those with Intellectual Impairment, Physicial Disability, Visual Impairment, and Hearing Impairment.  And so, as you join with the People of God, the Body of Christ, today, may your hearts and minds be truly open and totally sensitive to those around you in church and the wider world of your homes, schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.  Be an ambassador of Christ in facilitating a welcoming and rightful place for everyone, and not allow their limitations or special needs exclude them from a full and active part in being fully Alive !!!!!!!!!!..........In the Spirit of Jesus' Invitation To Healing, Wholeness, And A pLace For Everyone In God's Kingdom,   Fr.  Troy