"The gift of life comes in fragile earthen vessels."
               --Mary Jane Owen, M.S.W., Executive Director,
                  National Catholic Partnership on Disability

We all know the truth of this statement, yet most of us spend our lives desperately trying to pretend it isn't so. We extol the virtues of youth and beauty and undergo expensive and sometimes risky surgeries with painful recuperations to "undo" the realities of aging. We die in nursing homes and hospitals away from family and friends and when we must acknowledge someone's death, we try to evade the reality by resorting to euphemisms, saying the person has "passed away" or is "gone" or is "no longer with us". We generally expect anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one to "get over it" within a couple of weeks and we comfort ourselves [not them!] by telling them that "at least the deceased didn't suffer" or "you still have your memories" or "let me know if I can help" [but I sure hope you won't!]. Our rugged individualism is challenged by vulnerability. One's ability to produce in the market place and command an enviable income is often the yardstick by which we measure a person's worth. In our desperate pursuit to hold it all together and prove our strength, we have little patience for anything or anyone who reminds us of the reality of our fragility.

So go our defenses against being human!

But we ARE human. We cannot be otherwise, no matter how hard we try. We are called not only to acknowledge, but to actually embrace our frailties. Otherwise we will continue to be controlled by expectations leading to behaviors that will always end in disillusionment.

To know that "the gift of life comes in fragile earthen vessels" enables us to relax and even to befriend our limitations and our mortality. To have been created in God's image, is not synonymous with having been created as God's replacement. The persons with physical and/or developmental disabilities whom Bridge Ministries serves are prophetic reminders of the frailty we all share. The more we are able to acknowledge and live out of that reality, the happier we will be.

We are dependent. We are vulnerable. We are fragile. And life . . . all life . . . is a gift from God.

For more information please visit Pastoral Care, Pastoral Care In Action, and To Contact Chaplains.

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