Sobering.

But a fitting post, to end an awful week.
Dean | Homepage | 03.24.05 - 5:26 pm | #

Very fitting, and it has been an awful week. The quote from Chesterton is right on, as is Wanda's final analysis. What has happened in this country, and what would the Founders think of it? I've quoted Jefferson before and I'll do it again: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever." We now must collectively await that justice.
Mitchell Hadley | Homepage | 03.24.05 - 5:34 pm | #

A very powerful and I fear accurate statement. No time to say more, although much comes to mind, as I'm off to Holy Thursday Mass now, but will be thinking, which generally begets writing, about this.

I need to re-read some of my Chesterton.

A blessed Easter to you, Dawn, and all others reading this (if it's ok to say that to non-Christians).
Maclin Horton | Homepage | 03.24.05 - 5:57 pm | #

""I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever." We now must collectively await that justice."

Well said! My thoughts have become disordered this week as I've been praying for Terri and I don't know if what I'm praying is kosher or not. My prayers keep returning to the thought of please God don't include me (my family) in Thy wrath when you punish the evildoers. I feel guilty and wonder if I'm complicit for not having done my best to help out Terri.
Hannah | 03.24.05 - 5:58 pm | #

Excellent post Dawn. Through Chesterton you've so graciously summarised much of what I've been seeing and feeling, but have unable to pinpoint. Thanks.
Chris | 03.24.05 - 5:59 pm | #

Glad you like the post. Just to clarify, I didn't write it—it's by reader Wanda Sherratt.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 03.24.05 - 7:20 pm | #

Here's a question -- I want to be vindicated. I want the people who insist that Terri's nothing but an empty shell to have to eat their words and admit that they were wrong about her. I feel like my prayers are being contaminated by this desire to be vindicated.

Is this a contamination, or just another reason to pray?
Christina | Homepage | 03.24.05 - 7:37 pm | #

Good question, Christina. I think Paul has the answer for you, in Romans 12:19-21, where he references Deuteronomy 32:35 and Proverbs 25:21-22:

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 03.24.05 - 7:59 pm | #

Sleeping Christians,are now waking up all over the world; it is a good thing, no matter what the outcome.
peon | 03.24.05 - 8:27 pm | #

Good observations from Ms. Sherratt. I can only hope that she's wrong about what the future holds for our country.

I am so conflicted about this...I vacillate between wanting to end Terri's suffering, and giving her parents the opportunity to take care of her. Every time I read about the case, I come across some new piece of information that throws me back from one side to the other.

But the one constant thought that I just can't seem to get around is simply this: a decent society does not willingly and purposefully allow an innocent person to die like this. Not like this. It's just not right. Our courts, our laws, have utterly failed this woman.

I do hope some good can come of all of this. It usually does, but not in the form or timeframe we might expect or desire.
Sloan | 03.24.05 - 9:23 pm | #

God rises in the divine council, gives judgment in the midst of the gods.
"How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked?
Defend the lowly and fatherless; render justice to the afflicted and needy.
Rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
The gods neither know nor understand, wandering about in darkness, and all the world's foundations shake.
I declare: "Gods though you be, offspring of the Most High all of you,
Yet like any mortal you shall die; like any prince you shall fall."
Arise, O God, judge the earth, for yours are all the nations.
Mary | 03.24.05 - 9:52 pm | #

Wanda's thoughts and fears are close to my own persistent intuition about something strangely different happening now. I feel as if I have been in a waking dream for the last week.

More than the evil of the vituperation that I have read about thrown at Terri, her parents and suppoters, there is something more demonic about the rational opposition to her life, whether by professionals, ethicists, politicians or the media.

She represents some kind of threat to them. Perhaps it is the witnessing of this woman's utter dependency upon the Lord and the incredible love given to her by her parents and those who wish to save her life.

Does love itself, real love, pose a threat to the well-ordered world of some Jesuit ethicists, Democratic politicians, media spokesmen, et al?
Is that really why Christ is hated now and was hated then?
John Hetman | 03.25.05 - 12:42 am | #

EWTN ran an episode of Fulton Sheen's timeless series "Life is Worth Living" this week. The episode was centered on Good Friday and his focus was the three groups who were present for the great drama of the Crucifixion:the apathetic, the antipathetic and the sympathetic. I was particularly struck by his depiction of the apathetic lawyer-type, Pontius Pilate. Several times he declared Jesus to be innocent, yet still, following the law, had him scourged and sent him off to die, washing his hands to declare his own innocence in the matter.
His words were so relevant to the Schiavo situation I almost wept. Sheen was a genius, and thank God for EWTN keeping him before us.
Sheen was a genius.
Mpav | Homepage | 03.25.05 - 8:57 am | #

If I remember "Everlasting Man" correctly, Chesterton also said something about individual civilizations dying, but Civilzation itself then rising - the Christian kingdoms of Europe from the ashes of Rome, for example. It was along the lines of CS Lewis' "All lands must end, save Aslan's Country," but longer and more eloquent.

We love our country and our neighbors, or this wouldn't be such a sobering, horrible thought. And Christ lamented over Jerusalem, even though he came to found the Kingdom of Heaven, not earth. Amid our sorrow, though, consider that God doesn't want us fat, dumb, and happy while we're here. We are the Church Militant, and like any other soldiers in the field, we find our fighting conditions uncomfortable at best, miserable and dangerous at worst. We fight on alien ground to free the hostages of the devil, and bring them home with us. That's where we will have feasting and celebration.

This may lead to a great renewal in the country, or tip us out into the dark, but either way let's keep our eyes on the prize.
Nightfly | Homepage | 03.25.05 - 10:25 am | #

Great point, Nightfly--thanks.

She Who Is Months Behind on Her E-Mail, a k a
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 03.25.05 - 11:53 am | #

Dawn, this is one of the top ten reasons we home-educate.

We want our daughters to know and understand history, and how it connects to today, not just mark timelines for some bored, uninterested coach.

Many times, while reading, I will stop and ask the girls if any of the situations of which I am reading, sound familiar. Other times, they will stop me and say, "Mom, that's just like...."
Rae | Homepage | 03.25.05 - 2:08 pm | #

Nightfly, I think Chesterton does say something like that - that transcendence can never disappear from the earth, and that when all the empires fall, somewhere a naked savage will look up at the stars and know that there is a Creator to be worshipped. But we also know that there will someday be an end to everything, so we can't console ourselves with the thought that no matter what happens, life is just an endless cycle and that another civilization will rise on the ruins of the previous one. It's always bad when evil triumphs, no matter what eventually comes of it. And we have no promise that a better, stronger civilization will arise from a dead one - it's quite possible that something worse could come. The passage from Chesterton that I was quoting is a meditation on just how bad things can get among human beings, and yet just continue. The most frightening thing he writes about Rome is that it was a GOOD thing, and yet it couldn't save itself from this dead end. "There was nothing left that could conquer Rome; but there was also nothing left that could improve it. It was the strongest thing that was growing weak. It was the best thing that was going to the bad...The people had pooled their resources and still there was not enough. The empires had gone into partnership and they were still bankrupt." And there's even worse to come: "The life of the great civilisation went on with dreary industry and even with dreary festivity. It was the end of the world, and the worst of it was that it need never end." That's how I feel right now - we have tried so hard to fit all the good things into one place: democracy, Bill of Rights, rule of law, freedom, abundance - and this is where we've arrived. Maybe the "dead end of the world" is the way I would term it. And we know that nothing can happen exactly the same way again, so I wonder just how we will be saved this time?
Wanda | 03.25.05 - 6:05 pm | #

I uderstand, Wanda. And in our case we have a problem the ancient civilizations don't have - there's no "New World" for us to go to. If man is start again, he is forced to dismantle and rebuild, not merely go off and start over from scratch.

Nor do I dispute the pain and evil in the failure of what has come before; nor the ultimate 'end of everything' when Christ calls the end of the performance and strikes the set.

It just could be my pollyannism shining through. ;) Ultimately Christ is the hope of the world, and freedom, life, and joy attend Him and do His bidding. Even the end of everything is only the beginning of the rest of our life. We can work hopefully here in any circumstance because of this; we can mourn for Terri and for the ascendance of evil in our country but we can also regroup and counterattack.

What worries me is that this particular event has come on the heels of a long slow decline in the hard virtues among God's people, where churches have slowly been letting their focus on Christ shift off into a focus solely on His people. We're constantly enjoined to be nicer to each other than ever before (and increasingly, we have to do it under force of civic law), but we aren't often reminded of why. If churches become social clubs, there's nothing different about them that can appeal to the hungry soul.
Nightfly | Homepage | 03.26.05 - 3:08 pm | #

One item that Wanda has listed as a "good thing" has been slavishly applied to be the cause of Terri's torment. The rule of law is now shown to be adoration of precedent.

While it is said that "An unjust law is no law at all", the acts of one County Judge are being upheld, enforced and WILL BE the precedent for the rest of the country.

We are surrounded by a culture of self-convenience. The belief is that if it is incovnenient to me then it is not "right".

Contrary to the platitudes we hear about justice and the law, the application of the law is not concerned with justice, only precedent.

"I was (am) just following the law". We have heard that before.

There must be a deep cultural change. We are the Church Militant. We must act. We need to teach, forgive, suffer and work toward Justice. "Whatsoever you do for the least of these, you do unto me".
John Huntley | Homepage | 03.27.05 - 8:31 am | #