www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Hello--is this the proper forum to introduce myself?

Many, many, many years ago when I was attending a Roman Catholic Church, there was a young woman (I would guess about 23, though it was hard to tell) who had downs syndrom (sp?). I purposely sought her out to be able to sit behind her. Accompanying her was what looked liked her grandparents. They never received Communion, but she always did.

That Catholic Church was noted for it's music ministry and this young woman sang so loud with all her heart and soul that I always felt priviledged being able to be near her and thought how beautiful she must sound to Our Lord. She sang very much off key and added her own words some times.

I still go to that church occasionally as I have family who always attend that church and during the holidays we all go together. But now I don't see my little friend - and I wonder sometimes if she passed away or possibly her elderly grandparents passed away and no one takes her to church any more. So I always say a prayer for her - and sing for her. I'm relating all this John, to say that possibly your disability may be silently touching someone's heart and bringing them closer to God too.

I will remember you in my prayers.

Andrea,
Book of Byzantine Prayer (something in that order) by Byzantine Seminary Press.

Memo, thanks for that. That's the most thought-out explanation/defense of the (official) Charismatic Movement I've ever seen (in my experience, the more "intense" Charismatics seem to have the attitude in question, so I took that to be the 'official' teaching). Do you have any resources on what constitutes "official" Charismatic spirituality?

spdundas,
Seems like we think along very similar lines! I always argue this way: in an unfallen world, what would it matter if someone were blind, deaf, etc.? Those things are only "defects" or "disabilities" because of our fallen nature. God is very obviously interested in diversity: He made this amazing, diverse, creation to play with, as Scripture tells us.

And He creates people with different body types, different characteristics, different basic personality traits, etc., so that He can have different people to relate to.

The whole idea of suffering entering the world through original sin is really a misreading of the Curse: He says to Eve, "I will *increase* your pangs." TO me, that means that "pain" or whatever you want to call it *existed* before the Fall; it just matters *more* to us now because we're self-centered from Original SIn.

I have Reflex Sympathetic Dystorphy and Dystonic Spasms, with COPD. This all developed from a work related injury but has been going on since early 1990s.

Now people stare and unfortunately, I often scare people when I get into spasm out in public. I try to make it as easy for them as I can. We have learned to use some aternative methods thanks to our chiropractor, one of which is a touch to the reflex in the body to stop the spasms. So now at church when I get into a spasm if one of my family isn't close by, someone will walk up and say 'where do I need to place my hand to stop it'. I guess it has become a normal thing for them and me at church, it's a family affair

Maybe in someway because of the craziness of this souls body, they are less likely to be shaken when they see someone else with unusual or different problems. God draws good out of everything. WE are all his creations and he loves us all the same!

John,

Yes. I moderated the Eastern forum there for a while. Given your reference to Marfan's, I remember you from there.



My brother Francis and whomever else might be wondering, ...

Marfan Syndrome was first described in the late 19th century. It's a connective tissue disorder and frequently affects other body systems, particularly the cardiac. Persons who suffer from it are not uncommonly very tall and what would be described as "gangly". The degree of disability that results from it varies significantly, from instances of being chiefly a major inconvenience to being near totally disabling, but the potential cardiac risk of a burst aorta as a consequence of a commonly-observed weakness is very high.

Probably the best-known person believed to have suffered from Marfan was Abe Lincoln (the Syndrome was not identified until 3 decades or so after his death). Charles de Gaulle, Andre the Giant, Rachmaninoff, and several other prominent individuals - including a couple of Olympic athletes and the playwright of the Broadway theatrical "Rent" are either speculated to have or confirmed as having suffered from it.

The National Marfan Foundation site [marfan.org] is a good source of info on the topic.

Many years,

Neil

Hi, Neil,

Actually, Andre the Giant definitely was not a Marfan. That's kind of an urban legend on the Net.
Lincoln is the "classic" theoretical Marfan, but a couple years ago, but really that was just because of his height. While he definitely had health issues, most had no real relation to Marfan.
I saw an article a couple years ago about some genetic neurological condition that affects Lincoln's closest living relatives, and would explain a lot of his actual symptoms.

Two of the best cases of Rachmaninoff and Paganini. Rachmoninoff (sp?) was more than just tall: he had extremely long, loose-jointed fingers (he could play C of one octave with his pointer, E of the next octave with his pinkie, and move his thumb under them to play multiple notes). He also had vision problems and severe chronic headaches (consistent with cardiovascular and/or vision problems).

Paganini, one of the most famous violinists in history, could similarly do things with the violin that seemed impossible. Because of that, and his appearance, people thought he'd made a deal with the devil. He was tall and thin, with disproportionately long arms and legs. He could twist and contort in many ways. His face was very "skeletal." He grew weaker and paler as his career progressed, eventually able to do little more than perform. He also found it difficult to breathe or swallow, and he eventually lost his ability to speak (all consistent with a thoracic aortic aneurysm cutting off the esophagus, bronchial tubes and vocal chords).

In my own case, I had open heart surgery in 1996, but thankfully haven't had any manifest problems with my aorta since, although my valves leak if I overstress myself. I'm not as flexible as many Marfs. Vision is poor. Lots of chronic pain in various parts of my body.

*Good news* is that there's a drug called Cozaar/Losartan, a high end blood pressure med, that Hopkins did some lab rat studies with a couple years ago, and the studies showed that it not only slowed growth of aortic aneurysm but *healed* existing aneurysms and strengthened the aortic wall in lab rats with the Marfan gene. Subsequent lab rat studies have indicated that it seems to act chemically similar to the defective protein (fibrillin), and that it also improves other manifestations of Mafan syndrome, as well as muscle mass (they're also testing it as a treatment for some forms of muscular dystrophy).

I've been on Cozaar for a year, and it has improved my health in a lot of ways.

Hi John,




I am glad to be of service.

You may want to start with the "official" Catholic Charismatic Renewal's US National Service Center. There website is here:

http://www.nsc-chariscenter.org/

On the particular subject of healing, Fr. Rainero Cantalamessa had a very good commentary on the readings for the 3rd. Sunday of Ordinary Time, this year (Latin Lectionary).

You can find his commentary here:

http://www.zenit.org/article-21608?l=english

In addition of being the Pontifical Household Preacher (that is the guy who gets to preach *TO* the Pope), Fr. Rainero has been a leader of the Charismatic Renewal for a few decades

I hope this helps.

Shalom,
Memo

Thank you!

John,

Have you heard of Saint Rafca?

You may be interested in her story.

Terry

Rafqa may be the proper spelling.