Msgr. Pope on Why God Permits Disability in His People

"Allow me to begin with a simple parable. Every now and then I take a perfectly good paper clip and untwist it, reconfiguring it for some other purpose. Once, I used them to hang Christmas ornaments on my tree. Another time I fashioned a paperclip into a hook to keep my broken file drawer from rolling open. Now if paperclips could see or think, they might be horrified and saddened to see a fellow paperclip so deformed. Perhaps I could try to explain that not only were their 'deformed' brethren not a disaster, they were actually quite useful and important to me in their condition. But alas, paperclips can't understand this; they just 'look on' with sadness and horror. After all, how can you expect a paperclip to understand any function other than holding together sheets of paper? They can't understand things beyond the world that they know. 

"I have often wondered if this isn't somewhat analogous to our understanding of things such as disability, birth defects, and the personal challenges of some of our fellow humans. As we look upon the disabled, the handicapped, the deformed, and the mentally ill, we are often moved to sadness and even horror. And we sometimes ask why God allows this. We often conclude that such people's lives are unhappy or that they will never reach their full potential.

"And yet I wonder if we really know what we're talking about. Who of us can really say what our own purpose is in God's plan is, let alone anyone else's? We are like paperclips; we know only one thing. Our minds are too small to ever comprehend the very special and significant role that even the most 'impaired' in our world play. Perhaps in Heaven we will realize what indispensable and central roles they had in God's plan and His victory. Of all the paperclips in my drawer, some of the most useful to me are the ones I've twisted and refashioned.

"A knowledge too high - I pray that you will accept my humble example of a paperclip. I mean no disrespect to humanity in comparing us to paperclips. We are surely more precious and complicated and God does not use us cavalierly like paperclips. But my example must be humble in order to illustrate what is a knowledge too high for us to grasp: the dignity and essential purpose of every human being to God and His plan." 

In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on some of the reasons why God permits disability in His people. 

To access Msgr. Pope's complete post, please visit:

Community in Mission: A Parable to Ponder - Why Does God Permit Disability? (16 JUN 16)