Terri’s Schiavo and the cloud of witnesses

It is only a brief stay, but what an opening for the workings of grace!

Judge Greer has stayed Michael Schiavo’s move to commence the starvation death of his wife to March 18, Sundaythe feast of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a Father of the Church. The day before is St. Patrick’s Day and the day after is St. Joseph’s Day. March 18 is also the Friday before Palm Sunday – the last Friday before Good Friday.

Why does any of that matter? It doesn’t really, except if you want to ask those members of the vast cloud of witnesses to pray for Terri, or for a change of heart within Michael Schiavo.

For example, some might ask St. Joseph, the patron saint of fathers or heads of families to pray for the conversion of Michael Schiavo. Some might ask St. Patrick – a wise bishop – to pray for a tweaking of the conscience of Judge Greer (in a secular world, many would call judges the new bishops).

As to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, well, he wrote: The race is for our soul: our hope is of things eternal: and God, who knoweth your hearts, and observeth who is sincere, and who a hypocrite, is able both to guard the sincere, and to give faith to the hypocrite: for even to the unbeliever, if only he give his heart, God is able to give faith. So may He “blot out the handwriting that is against you” [Col. 2:14] perhaps he would be amenable to pray that the handwriting (legal movements) against Terri might be blotted out! :-)

And too, one might ask one of several St. Theresa’s to pray for her namesake, Terri. One might ask the great Archangel, Michael, to go to battle with whatever darkness is within his namesake, too.

And, of course, there is no darkness so deep that Jesus is not deeper still. With so many in prayer for Terri – both in heaven and on earth – in sacrifice and fasting for her life (and even for her healing because we’ve been promised miracles, so why not pray for them?) I believe – I DO believe – that something wonderful will happen.

And what a testimony that will be to the power of prayer, tp a world that desperately needs to be reminded that prayer has power, that PRAYER WORKS.