In an eternal sense, these rare souls are gems that will shine the brightest in heaven.
One of my nieces was born with a defect in her heart that is extremely rare. In fact, the defect is so rare that only two children are born in Australia with the same defect each year.
I, myself, have a very common medical condition in a very rare and extreme form. I am told that there are only 24 people in the world who have the same presentation of this disease as me.
My brother-in-law has a form of cancer that is almost unheard of in men – very common in women – but almost never heard of in men.
And the other day, I heard from a friend that her niece has been diagnosed with a relatively rare condition that will have serious and significant impact on her life.
And I have been thinking about all of these things – and more today. Because it would be easy to say that all of these things were wrong. It feels wrong – after all – to see a human being suffer (and their loved ones suffer) because they have additional needs and additional sufferings and their families suffer more as well. But the question is, is it wrong? In the scheme of eternity and eternal life, is it actually wrong that people who we know, and love are afflicted with rare conditions that cause them and their families to suffer?
I have been wondering about that today. You see, it would be easy to say that there was a mistake. But to think like that one would only be looking at the situation the wrong way around.
You see, it is far more common to be born without any of these conditions or disorders. More children are born in the world without heart defects, or conditions that lead to life-changing treatment and support. Fewer people have cancer – especially rare forms of cancer – than those who do not. And when you think about that, it surely means that God made an exception in allowing those things for those people.
He surely took extra care of creating those souls – who are so different and unusual compared with all the other souls that He chose to create. He made a conscious decision – it was no accident – to create people who had these additional sufferings and sorrows in this world.
And that is a very difficult thing to understand an accept. Because from a human perspective it is an awful lot of work to suffer and even harder – at times – to watch the suffering of someone who we love and be unable to help them. And this was the suffering of Christ and the Blessed Virgin.
They were rare as well. It was a relatively rare thing for a person to be crucified in ancient Roman times. While the punishment existed, it was a rare thing. It was even less common for a Jewish Rabbi to be crucified, as the High Priests would generally try to keep such punishments internal so that they could prevent Rome becoming involved in their religious bureaucracy. And the suffering of Christ and the Virgin was the greatest suffering that the world has ever known.
And I have been thinking about that today, because it seems to me that God spends the time making each of these souls so that they can be perfect – not in a human sense, for we can never recognise perfection here – but in an eternal sense, these rare souls are gems that will shine the brightest in heaven.
These rare conditions are not mistakes but intentional creations that the Almighty God of the universe consciously willed into existence. And this is something marvellous - perfect, and marvellous.
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.