A handicapped child and vocation

I heard the following story at a meeting of priests in a seminary in the Far East a few years ago.

An elderly priest narrated how when he was a young priest on his first assignment in the US. He got to know a couple who were having their first baby. They were 25 years old. The wife’s name was Nancy.

The baby was a Down's baby. The obstetrician asked them,  "Are you ready to accept this baby. I can't tell you that it is going to be easy but I can tell you that for every ounce of love you give this baby you are going to get a pound of love in return."

Nancy said, “Yes, we are ready to accept whatever comes”.

Fr Paul was very impressed with that because he said no one gets married and says I want to have a handicapped child.

He said I learnt the meaning of vocation from Nancy. It means being ready to accept whatever comes.

A few years later he was asked to go to Rome and become the Procurator General of his order. He was handling the paper work, legal, financial, architectural etc.

One day someone came and asked, "What are you a missionary priest doing here behind a desk in Rome? Shouldn’t you be off in Brazil somewhere?"

Fr Paul replied, "I got my answer from Nancy. I did not ask for this job but I am ready to accept whatever comes. I don’t particularly like it either but this is what came along. I would prefer to be off in Brazil somewhere. This is my handicapped child. If someone came to our order and said I am willing to join as long as I can work in Rome and handle the paper work he would be told you don’t have a vocation for our order; you have to be ready to accept whatever comes. That is the meaning of vocation."

Moral:

We all have a handicapped child, something that came along that we were not expecting and will not go away. It is a pathway to holiness. Accept with faith the little things of every day. Everything is a gift of God.