Life Reflections™

The Entire Journey

End of life issues—along with the beginning of life issues—provide some of the most substantial opportunities for men and women to become disconnected from God. What keeps us connected to God while "being and acting in the world"? How is this connectivity to God maintained from personal conscience through personal will? How can we know God's will?

Our faithful connectivity to God is conscience powered by truth. Conscience must be "open" for the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. As we all know, our intellect makes it possible to think, acquire knowledge, and understand, while our will initiates and sustains deliberate action.

By taking a look at some end of life issues that relate to a medical "vegetative state", we have the opportunity to focus on the human "dynamics" of personal conscience and heart "in play" with personal intellect and will and the need for their integration.

Would it surprise you to know that The New York Times has recently reported (by Benedict Carey) that a Dr. Joy Hirsch, Director of the Functional MRI Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center— as senior author of a recent imaging technology study "to compare brain activity in two young men determined to be minimally conscious with that of seven healthy men and women"—has declared that "we have opened a door, we have found an objective voice for these patients, which tells us they have some cognitive ability in a way they cannot tell us themselves"? How did medical science open such a door and find such an objective voice?

"In a measure of overall brain activity, the two groups were vastly different: the two minimally conscious men showed less than half the activity of the others. But the researchers also recorded an audiotape for each of the nine subjects in which a relative or loved one reminisced, telling familiar stories and recalling shared experiences. In each of the brain-damaged patients, the sound of the voice prompted a pattern of brain activity similar to that of the healthy participants. Although the number of patients studied was very small, the specificity and intricacy of the patterns made it all but impossible that the results were a fluke, said Dr. Joy Hirsch." As Dr. Hirsch also indicated, these findings beg for more research and the development of therapeutic techniques—pointing out that to not do so would be unconscionable.

All of us have been created in God's image and likeness. Our personal uniqueness is developed at least partially from self-discovery fueled by interaction and communion with others. How, then, can any morally right decisions concerning end of life issues be made for a loved one without a connection to God, in that the full potential of every person is embedded by God from the moment of conception? Full communion embraces human dignity in its fullness which includes all of the embedded potential of the person. All brain activity is a part of the fullness of human dignity. Therefore, economics disconnected from a person's potential—and its fullness—are driven by a solo instinct for material growth/gain. Decisions driven by economics (e.g. those based on the notion that abnormal/artificial nutrition and hydration methods alone are "extraordinary means" for keeping a person alive) are fundamentally flawed and are disconnected from the will of God.

The comparative works of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud provide some insight with the clear documentation that the life of C.S. Lewis matures with a default to the spiritual order of things while the work of Sigmund Freud defaults to the human condition. Spiritual order assures "being and acting in the world" (the use of personal intellect & will) integrate with building up grace and holiness in the soul (guided by conscience—the voice of God—which openness to truth softens the heart), while an entirely rights(me)- focused human condition always generates some form of personal disintegration and related disconnection from God. In other words, personal disintegration and related disconnection from God—extended to others—is not communion that integrates God-embedded potential of the person but rather some form of the human condition that is utilitarian in nature. The recently discovered potential of brain activity in severely brain damaged persons speaks volumes about the fullness of human dignity that "leads" communion with the other and is connected to the will of God.

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Prayer of the Faithful
Almighty God, we give you profound thanks for Sarah Scantlin's new found ability to speak having been silenced for 20 years by brain damage. From years of communicating by eye blinks to recently carrying on conversation with her Mom, we thank you for her ability to communicate. We ask that you continue to heal her and her family as they work to continuously improve her physical condition. Lord, as we thank you, all of us working for and with Pro-Life Maryland ask you to stop the effort to euthanize Mrs. Terri Schindler- Schiavo by the removal of her food and water. We fear this gravely immoral act of death by starvation or dehydration, which will launch new and very dangerous sin into the community of our nation, will have long-lasting effects against innocent life in Maryland, around our nation, and around the world. Further, Lord, please help us set the right example for others as we work tirelessly to protect innocent human life by softening hearts which includes promoting and supporting new brain wave research and related therapeutic techniques. Help us always to be like the Good Samaritan in our daily efforts to do your will. All praise and glory to you. Amen

Anthony R. Souza, MTS
President & CEO