Last Rites

By BonnieBlueFlag

The days of excited anticipation for the Easter Bunny seem so long ago tonight, as I wait on a Holy Thursday night for a judge to decide the fate of Terri Schiavo. A woman I have never met, nor ever will in this lifetime. Someone's little girl who only had 26 years to enjoy her own life, and then another 15 years to eventually touch the hearts and lives of almost every American.

Raised in the Catholic Religion, but denied Holy Communion on her death bed by her husband. Not one crumb of a Host to touch her lips, denied the grace of God at the moment when she needs him most, by the man who promised to love, honor and cherish her until death do they part.

I am reminded of all the little stories we learned about the Catholic Saints and Martyrs in childhood. Never did I imagine, that I would one day be living in a time and place, where death and the denial of religious beliefs would once again go hand in hand.

Terri is not being put to death because she believes in Jesus Christ, but because her husband does not believe in him or his teachings. Michael Schiavo will most likely have committed murder when Terri draws her last breath. He has become so twisted in his heart and mind, and so consumed by evil, that he cannot even allow Terri to receive Holy Communion, so that she might be with God.

Perhaps Michael too knows some of the stories of the Saints. The obscure little stories that tell of men and women who were ill, and became stronger or even well, after receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Perhaps Michael is afraid that if Terri receives Holy Communion, she will also receive the strength to endure his attempt to end her life.

When comments add so much to the original article I like to post them on the main board.

Here's what TJ Willms said...

The fact that Terri and Michael Schiavo are Catholic is perhaps the most incongruous element of this entire situation. He, in trying to snuff out her life, living with and fathering children with a woman he is not married to would seem to fly in the face of thousands of years of Catholic doctrine. I cannot make myself believe that he has any remaining commitment to the church in any way. "Till death do us part",� seem to be the only words of his marriage vows he's willing to "honor".� If that word can even be used in association with that creep.

The vows we recite during a marriage ceremony are not a declarative to the community at large, as many people mistakenly believe. We utter those words aloud for our own ears to hear so that we may understand exactly what we are committing to.

Those who miss the significance of their vows are destined to fail in the fullness of what that committment entails. As awful as Terri's death will be she will suffer relatively briefly, Michael Schiavo on the other hand will suffer the consequences of his actions for eternity. That is perhaps the only justice that truly matters now.