A fast for Terri Schiavo
That's what Gregory Popcak is proposing to his blog readers. Terri Schiavo is a badly brain-damaged Florida woman who appears awake, but who cannot directly communicate with others. Her husband wants to cut off her food and water and let her starve and die of thirst. The courts have ultimately sided with him, despite the passage of a law by the Florida legislature, signed by Governor Jeb Bush, that sought to keep her alive. The courts wouldn't allow it.
It is Terri's parents who believe that she is still aware and wants to live out her life and die in her own time. Doctors have said she is in a persistent vegetative state from which she will never recover, and has no cognition despite the appearance that she is awake. I give the benefit of my doubt to Terri's parents, who know her best in life, love her, and intuit her presence and her desire to live. The latest court ruling is that the tube that supplies her food and water will be removed on March 18th.
March 18th is the birthday of my Aunt Sue McPhillips, who lived in saintly fashion, humbly, quietly, prayerfully, and died peacefully at the age of 89 in October 1963. Many people regarded her as a saint, and I've always felt that way (oddly enough, even when I otherwise violently rejected all such notions), as have numerous members of my family.
I'll give the fast a go. Submit it to others as my testimony on behalf of Terri's life and the dignity of all life. And direct it toward Aunt Sue, who I'll put on the spot, and ask for her intercession with the Lord.
I'm not very good at fasts, but I will announce when I breakdown and break it. Just to keep this honest.
There will be a little bread that I need to take with a pill each morning and water, and some damnable coffee. It ought to be good for me, but it's for Terri's life.
It is Terri's parents who believe that she is still aware and wants to live out her life and die in her own time. Doctors have said she is in a persistent vegetative state from which she will never recover, and has no cognition despite the appearance that she is awake. I give the benefit of my doubt to Terri's parents, who know her best in life, love her, and intuit her presence and her desire to live. The latest court ruling is that the tube that supplies her food and water will be removed on March 18th.
March 18th is the birthday of my Aunt Sue McPhillips, who lived in saintly fashion, humbly, quietly, prayerfully, and died peacefully at the age of 89 in October 1963. Many people regarded her as a saint, and I've always felt that way (oddly enough, even when I otherwise violently rejected all such notions), as have numerous members of my family.
I'll give the fast a go. Submit it to others as my testimony on behalf of Terri's life and the dignity of all life. And direct it toward Aunt Sue, who I'll put on the spot, and ask for her intercession with the Lord.
I'm not very good at fasts, but I will announce when I breakdown and break it. Just to keep this honest.
There will be a little bread that I need to take with a pill each morning and water, and some damnable coffee. It ought to be good for me, but it's for Terri's life.
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