The famous composer Beethoven became deaf at age 31 and avoided all social contacts. His life became very dreary and intolerable since he could not come to terms with his infirmity. His middle years were the least creative. It was only when he finally accepted his handicap that he could find an inner peace. The Irish scholar J.W. Sullivan says he achieved “a marvelous peak of creativity with his Missa Solemnis, the Ninth (or Choral) Symphony.” Another writer said: “Beethoven seemed to have an inner reservoir of strength stored up from his experience of suffering — a suffering that gave him illumination and power.”
From Father Edwin J. Duffy’s book “Father Duffy’s Reflections.” Father Duffy is pastor emeritus of St. Pius X Parish in Manoa.