Life and Terri Schiavo
Some issues stir people profoundly. The agonizing conflict over Terri Schiavo's life, and her passing Thursday, have moved many of us to think long and hard about our own lives, the lives of those we love, and what constitutes life.
Yet it can be hard to think clearly amid the distractions of so many conflicting opinions, no matter how heartfelt. So we hope readers will take this occasion to listen, think, and pray from a perspective that may be new to many. Perhaps, from this perspective, moms and dads, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, wives and husbands will gather and talk openly with each other.
We hope that mere human opinion gives way to conversations and listening to God - that understandably passionate concerns give way, if even for a moment, to the light of compassion and brotherly love, and that grief and doubt be touched by real comfort. Because isn't it true that few of us are untouched by this heart-wrenching experience?
Certainly nothing substitutes for looking deep within ourselves to ask: What do I believe about life and death? Our hope, and expectation, is that ultimately individuals will find answers by looking deep outside themselves, to the God who is with each of us in every step we take. To us, Moses had it right when he spoke of God and insisted, "for He is thy life."
With no intent to offend any, we suggest that God is more than the source of all life. God is eternal Life itself. The founder of this newspaper, Mary Baker Eddy, posed both a promise and a dramatic paradigm shift when she wrote, referring to God, "Life is real, and death is the illusion" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 428). Catching even a glimpse of this profound truth can begin lifting the weight of the sting this illusion presents. As Easter has again announced, Christ Jesus set the model by defeating this enemy, death. And he promised that life would be found in God, in "Our Father, which art in heaven."
Our love and heartfelt prayers are with the family of Terri Schiavo today, and with every family currently facing life's most difficult decisions.