The Murder of Eluana

Well, the anti-life forces have accomplished their dastardly act. They have murdered Eluana. But what is that to them? They murder babies in the womb all the time.

Once again we see how twisted the reasoning of anti-life forces are. Food and water constitute medical treatment? Then all of us are sick, because we take food and water in order to stay alive. Eluana would not want to live as a vegetable? Well, so also would anyone of us not want to live as a vegetable. But do we want to live in poverty, or in injustice, or under oppression? If we do not, then should we also then commit suicide or get the authorities to murder us? The anti-life forces, many of them claiming to be Christians, have become "vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Rom 1:21b-22).

Eluana passed away quickly. This is the mercy of God. The Father took His daughter Eluana. It was as if God was saying, "The world does not want you, but I do. The world has rejected you, but I never will. You have no place in the world, so I now take you home with Me."

Terri Schiavo suffered so much, being slowly starved to death. It must have been terrible agony, and she could not do or say anything about it. God allowed her suffering because He had lessons that the world needed to learn. About the sanctity of life. About no one having the right to take another's life. About the indomitable human spirit, even in a vegetative state. But now God has looked at the hardness of people's hearts, and sadly decided that they would not heed such lessons. So God "handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their heart, ... handed them over to degrading passions ... handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper." (Rom 1:24,26,28).

God has executed His divine judgment upon the world. The anti-life forces will move forward with ever-darkened minds and hardened hearts. What are we to do? We of course continue to fight for life, and one of the most important aspects of this is education. We must deliberately educate ourselves on life issues. We must see the hand of the devil in what the anti-life forces are doing. We must not be distracted by the other side's deceptions, citing emotional issues such as maternal health and global poverty. We must know the truth. We must not find ourselves, especially as Christians (especially as Catholics), thinking as the anti-life forces do, agreeing with or condoning what they do. "So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess. That is not how you learned Christ." (Eph 4:17-20).

Christians, especially renewed Catholics in CFC-FFL, have already learned Christ. We know Christ. We live Christ. Let us ensure that the Christ we know and live is the authentic Jesus who is for life.

God bless.

frank

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Breaking: Italy's "Terri Schiavo" Dies Suddenly

By Matthew Cullinan Hofman

ROME, February 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Eluana Englaro, Italy's "Terri Schiavo," has died only four days after doctors began a "gradual" reduction in her food and water intake with the intent to cause her death.

The announcement was made by Italy's Health Minister on the floor of the Italian Senate, which was debating a bill that would have saved Englaro's life.

Although no cause of death has been announced, earlier news reports indicated that Englaro's intake of nutrients was being replaced with a heavy dose of sedatives. Palliative medication in high doses can cause a patient to die prematurely.

The news follows public statements by Englaro's physician that she has enjoyed almost perfect physical health during the 16 years following her car accident in 1992, which left her bedridden and in a minimal state of consciousness. She was 38 years old.

Although euthanasia is illegal in Italy and Englaro's body functions were not dependent on machines, her father received a decision from Italy's final appeals court in 2008 allowing him to remove hydration and nutrition in order to kill her. The ruling was based on the notion that food and water constitute “medical treatment,” which can be withheld at the patient's discretion.

Englaro's father claims that his daughter would not have wanted to live as a "vegetable."

The decision to allow Englaro's dehydration death was met with protests throughout Italy during the weekend, and over the past few weeks. The Italian government under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attempted to pass emergency legislation through the Italian Parliament to save Englaro's life after an earlier attempt was blocked by the country's president, a former communist. However, the legislation was still in process when Englaro's death was announced.

Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schindler, commented to LifeSiteNews.com about Eluana’s death saying, “I’m very sad to hear about Eluana. Our family grieves for her.” He added that he was “surprised at how quickly she has passed away.”

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition International denounced Englaro's killing and expressed puzzlement at her quick death.

"To intensely dehydrate a person to death dehumanizes them because it denies them the basic care due to a human person. We turn them into an object," he told LifeSiteNews. "Everybody deserves basic care, which includes food, fluid, and warmth as long as it is necessary to sustain life. This is not extraordinary treatment."

"We ask the question, how did she actually die? She wouldn’t have died in just a few days of dehydration," he added.
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