By now, we all know what St. Petersburg Bishop said in his carefully worded statement on the the Schindler-Schiavo feud and Terri's life, juxtaposed to the strong stand of Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada.
Overseas, Zenit reports Easter homilies across Europe preaching on the danger of viewing life as expendable.
On our homefront, Father Frank Pavone sent out an 11th hour fax with homily notes for a Good Friday homily for Terri. Seeing the fax in our church office, I knew Father Larry wouldn't be checking the fax machine on these busy Holy Week days. I took the fax and wedged it between his locked office door.
At home, our 10-year-old son Tommy told us,"I want Father Larry to talk about Terri in church."
"Why don't you ask him?" we encouraged. (We're happily training an orthodox Catholic "mole".)
"I'm going to tell him I want him to talk about Terri."
"OK Tommy, you approach him the way you'd like." We wouldn't want to put words in his mouth, would we?
When I asked Tommy how Father Larry responed to his request, he reported: "He said he'd try to work it in."
OK...
That night at our Good Friday service, Father Larry preached: we've all seen the Passion of the Christ, and find our Savior's cruel torture and death abhorrent. But we still live in a cruel society, where people are mistreated, cast aside, even murdered needlessly. Father Larry spoke of a little known saint, a nun, who, at the end of her life was confined to bed, suffering, being able to do God's work only from her confinement. She was visited by a great Cardinal who asked her, what is it you do? She replied, I do just as you do, your Eminence. Taken aback, the Cardinal asked how she could do great works as he. (not the brightest bulb in the box...) The saint responded, we do great works when we follow the Divine Will for us.
We know of saints around the world who suffered in their confinement; eyes fixed on God.
Terri will be the next.
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