Some personal thoughts on Terri.

Over Easter, my thoughts were never far from the Schindler family, or Terri Schiavo. I hope she isn’t suffering. I hope they have her drugged up enough that she can’t feel her parched tongue, or her burning abdomen. I hope the discomforts of renal failure are somehow blurred in her subconsciousness. I want God now to let her die mercifully now, because this is just hell to witness. Hell.

I’m going to suggest to my children, but particularly to my daughters, that when they decide to marry that they give Mr. Pete and I medical power of attorney, at least until they hit the 10th anniversary mark. Those first 10 years of marriage will tell me a lot about a son or daughter-in-law and how committed they truly are the culture of life. I’m afraid I wouldn’t have any patience with a Michael Schiavo type in my family.

It’s clear to me also that the fullness of the Culture of Life, (a phrase originally coined by Pope John Paul II) is in the Catholic Church. This was never more clear to me then as I read Christian bloggers who were somehow undecided on this case, or who came down on the side of pulling the tube and letting a woman starve. This is the confusion that is Protestantism and for me a re-wake up call to hold my children as close to Holy Mother church as possible and the fullness of truth.

And as I debate and discuss with young adult liberals, I am even more convinced that our decision to be open to new life was an important one. Part of the culture of death is a culture that resents and abhors new life, or at the very least, tolerates it as just one of life’s little experiences that one should perhaps try once. One of the best ways of defeating this culture is in conceiving, bearing, and raising Godly children, who know the Lord, love the Lord, and understand the fullness of the church’s teaching on the Culture of Life. In simple terms – we can win by sheer numbers if necessary, something that I think most families in the Christian HomeSchool movement have already figured out.

So those thoughts sustain me. I’m so sorry for the Schindlers. I hope they can draw some comfort from the cross, remembering that Mary saw her son die slowly too. Mary and Jesus, pray for them, pray for us, and pray for Terri, now and at the hour of her death.

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