Here’s a story worthy of Tiny Tim, during this season of affirmation and hope — a profile of a gifted Jesuit born with one arm, but seemingly limitless optimism:

The life of the imagination has no physical boundaries and people with physical disabilities can use their imagination to face life’s difficulties. That is the enduring message of Jesuit Brother Rick Curry and the organization he founded 30 years ago, the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped in New York.

The message is taught in classes and demonstrated by the example of Brother Curry and those who work with him. He said about 15,000 people have participated in the group’s programs since its 1977 debut.

The New York-based not-for-profit organization provides theatrical training and seeks to create a safe haven in which artists with physical disabilities qualify for and obtain work in the performing and baking arts. It integrates the able-bodied and the disabled in its programs.

Brother Curry, 64, is a native Philadelphian who was born with one arm. In an interview with Catholic News Service, he laughed as he described trying to convince his first-grade teacher that he should be eligible to take piano lessons because he had the only requirement she stipulated: a permission note from his mother.

He joined the Jesuit order in 1961 and served as a baker, tailor and high school English teacher and founded the theater program at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, a Jesuit university. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in theater and formulated the idea for the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped while he was a graduate student at New York University.

“Disability is a gift,” said Brother Curry. “I truly believe that my arm is a blessing. It’s demeaning to think that the Lord would place us in a situation where there is not a great blessing.”

There’s much more at the link to read, savor and appreciate. God bless us, everyone.

Photo: by Bob Roller, CNS