This simple narrative contains the entire pattern of our life in Christ: that of being called and sent with the power of the Holy Spirit.

  • When my smile or hug or simple act of acceptance dispels for another person the lie that they are not loved.
  • When I speak the truth and it leads others out of fear and into deeper compassion.
  • When I help others to forgive and seek forgiveness.
  • I am given the power to heal:
  • When I am trustworthy.
  • When I forgive or seek forgiveness.

When I recognize that it is not people with different abilities that are broken, but the structures, including churches, that are designed to keep them out.

— Ryen Dwyer, S.J., a Chicago-Detroit province Jesuit scholastic, is currently studying philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.