St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962 to serve children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Their staff has made a profound commitment: “Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — so they can focus on helping their child live.” One of their especially moving promotions is an interview with the father of a dying child who says, “The worst thing in the world that you can hear from a doctor is not that you have cancer, but that your child has cancer.”

Functional disabilities

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a federal organization headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, comprised of medical specialists who respond to global outbreaks and work to diminish such diseases. Recently, their scientists analyzed data regarding the prevalence of disabilities in the U.S. Due to their redefinition of what constitutes functional illness, their report asserts that the presence of disabilities in the U.S, has risen from one out of every five individuals to one out of every four individuals. In other words, 61 million people in America have at least one of these infirmities.

The list of what constitutes a functional disability is as interesting for what it contains as for what it leaves out. The six functional disabilities are:

I. Hearing (serious difficulty hearing) II. Vision (serious difficulty seeing) III. Cognition (serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions) IV. Mobility (serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs) V. Self-care (difficulty dressing or bathing) VI. Independent living (difficulty doing errands alone)

Spiritual disabilities

As we might expect, “spiritual disabilities” (or crosses) are not included in the CDC list, although these can seriously inhibit physical functionality at any age. Recall how St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta warned that, of all the physical suffering she witnessed, loneliness was by far the greatest plague.

Stress, for example, has garnered a great deal of attention in recent history. Some major life-altering events that can cause significant stress and jeopardize functional health include:

I. Death of a loved one II. Divorce III. Moving to a new home IV. Major illness or injury V. Job loss

Daily events that also create substantial stress are:

I. Financial problems II. Relationship issues III. Health concerns IV. Work-related pressure

When people have weak faith or no faith at all, disabilities can also deteriorate into immoral behavior. The Catechism of the Catholic Church identifies these as seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and laziness. These sins are considered particularly harmful because they can lead to further immoral behaviors and a more fractured separation from God.

Biblical disabilities

Lastly, the Bible lists some of the most crippling sins humans can commit: worshipping false gods, blasphemy, belief in sorcery, lying, social injustice, legal corruption, and child sacrifice. Perhaps this final disability, child sacrifice, is worthy of highlighting. Whereas sacrificing a firstborn to appease the wrath of God can be classified as a barbaric practice of bygone ages, abortion has brought the world full circle. The only difference is that instead of appeasing God, we sacrifice unborn babies to appease ourselves.

Holy Homework:

St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases. The hospital that bears his name could not be more generous in striving to wipe out disabling diseases with science and love. Let’s take a moment to ask ourselves which of the functional, spiritual, or biblical disabilities we would consider most devastating to our society today. Then, in this month of the Blessed Mother, let’s ask Mary to intercede for us, so that we may gain God’s strength to carry our crosses.

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