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Posted: April 16
(Rome) Easter is a big liturgical season here, with tourists and pilgrims flocking into the city from all over the world. Each service comes with a homily, so you hear many of them. They tend to be rather abstract, in the European fashion of the preacher showing as much learning as he can in the brief 20-30 minutes allotted to him in the “homily”time. Fortunately, most of the churches are full of artwork so you have something to think about. In this context, the best Easter story I heard came at breakfast one morning.
A Jesuit visitor from Chicago came into breakfast with a pin the lapel of his coat. I asked him what it represented and he explained that it was from Misericordia, a home in Chicago that a Mercy sister had founded to care for disabled people. He had been involved with them for years and proudly wore the pin. We got talking about the people who lived there and he recounted the story of one man known as the “Mayor of Misericordia.” I was curious where the name came from. This particular man was born with a rare disease that caused his bones to grow in an unusual way, including his head. He could not live on his own and experienced many difficulties because of his disability, but it did not hamper his speaking ability, indeed he was unusually outgoing and gregarious. I think that is where the nickname came from.
The mayor loved birthdays more than anything else, and his own birthday most of all. He routinely organized four or five birthday parties for himself each year. Finally the sister who ran the center started to tease him about perhaps overdoing things.
“Most people have one birthday party a year, but you always get lots of them,” she said. “How does that happen?”
“I was just born lucky,”he replied.
That was the best reflection I have heard in the last few weeks. We are all born lucky because Jesus came to share our lives and transform them. Despite our disabilities we can celebrate. Happy Easter.
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