Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: The Results of Leaving God Out of ‘The Equation of Life’.

Euthanasia & Assisted suicide:

The Results of Leaving God Out Of the

“Equation of Life”

To anyone who is contemplating  Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide I say:

“Time is precious,
It gives us time to love,
Time to have God’s preciousness.”
Leona Bruneau, Dec 26, 2005.

This ‘earthly’ time is so precious and so brief.

“For what is your life? It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while and afterwards shall vanish away. For that you should say: If the Lord will, and, if we shall live, we will do this or that.” (James 4:14-15)

On the other hand,  ‘eternal time’,  i.e. time in the next life, is endless. I repeat, time in the next life is without end, endless.

“And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

There are two ultimate, never changing destinations to  choose from: Heaven or Hell. Your choice?

To understand the utmost seriousness of this I invite you to read the testimonies of Saint Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Reverend Joseph Maniyangat, who both saw Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Many others have also had such experiences. For Saint Faustina’s Testimony click the following link:

http://www.divinemercysunday.com/vision.htm

For Father Joseph Maniyangat’s Testimony click the following link:

http://www.frmaniyangathealingministry.com/

Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father, but by me.” We go to God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ. There is no other way to Heaven.

                           GOD IS LOVE.

God is love.

“In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10)

Saint John of the Cross said:

“On the eve of life we shall be judged by love.”

God created us to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbour as our self.

“And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all.
And Jesus answered him: “The first commandment of all is, hear , O Israel: The Lord thy God is one God.
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.
And to love one’s neighbour as one’s self is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.”
Mark 12: 29, 30, 33.

We are free to love or not to love. If we truly  ‘strive to love’  God and our neighbour we become more and more loving and Holy as God is Holy and loving. We call this process becoming a ‘Saint’.

Sadly, few people in the world today are striving to become Saints. They prefer to leave God ‘out’ of the ‘Equation of Life’ and dwell in the present ‘Culture of Death’.

As one of my friends and longtime pro-life veteran ‘Cy Winter’ wrote to me just recently after our discussion on euthanasia:

“Leaving God out of the ‘Equation of Life’ is certainly at the CORE (emphasis mine) of the willingness to kill, for the killers don’t want to even hear any objections to their disrespect for the sanctity of life.

They don’t want to hear that God is the Author of Life, the arbiter of our coming and going on this earth within His Plan for our lives within His natural laws.”

On June 6, 2016, Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are scheduled to become become legal in Canada. Anyone who avails themselves of this method of choosing Death before God’s appointed time to die, is ‘short circuiting’ this precious and brief time allotted to them on earth to prepare for their eternity and personal judgment immediately after death. The following poem explains clearly why this is so:

                         TIME IS PRECIOUS

Time allows us
In wellness or in suffering
Another day
Another hour
To love God, love our neighbor,
Ask forgiveness for our sins.

Time allows us
Another moment
Before the Final one
To choose to repent,
Give our life
To Jesus Christ, Savior.

OUR GOVERNMENT AND LEGAL SYSTEM IS

HUMANISTIC, SECULAR AND ANTI-CHRIST.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH EUTHANASIA

IN A NURSING HOME

In today’s  ‘Culture of Death/Murder’  in Canada we are faced with another great threat to human life, this time it is aimed at the end of the human lifespan. Quebec has recently passed Bill-52 (http://www.lifecanada.org/quehttp://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/) (http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/June11/115.html ) making euthanasia legal. The rest of Canada is in grave danger of having many of its elderly citizens euthanized, killed, for a more explicit word.

I hope and pray that what I will share of my own experience will bring people to an awareness of the great evil we are facing when we speak of euthanasia. Euthanasia means ‘good death’. (CF:  http://www.geocities.ws/euthanasia_ark/)

Let me be very quick to say that the only ‘good death’ is the one in which the dying person dies on ‘God’s appointed time’ , what is known as a ‘natural death’ and has the ‘time’ to prepare oneself spiritually to meet God by ‘having one’s full consciousness’ and ability to communicate with God and with others. Death by euthanasia is done through the doctor’s ‘self-appointed role of God’ who decides ‘when’ that person will die, often in a coma, quickly, and without the time and the means to prepare oneself to meet God. God have mercy on that doctor.

According to Webster’s Dictionary ‘euthanasia’ means “The act or method of causing death painlessly, so as to end suffering; advocated by some as a way to deal with persons dying of incurable, painful diseases.” Euthanasia may be divided into two categories: active euthanasia and passive euthanasia.

Active euthanasia could be defined as “inducing death of a person who is undergoing intense suffering, and who has no practical hope of recovery.”

Passive euthanasia is a planned and premeditated practice of ending a sick person’s life by intentionally not providing nutrients and liquid. (CF: http://www.geocities.ws/euthanasia_ark/ ) This is an excellent link for Paul Wong’s explanation of Passive Euthanasia, I strongly urge you to read it. By reading it you will have a much better understanding of my mother’s death during ‘palliative care’. You will see that not all medical personnel and not all nursing homes are pro-life. I have the personal experience of this heartbreaking and agonizing reality. I fought the hardest battle I’ve ever known in my life in a nursing home for nine years, to keep Mom alive and of a sound mind. You see, Mom’s doctor wanted to terminate her life, put an end to it. Instead of naming it euthanasia she called it ‘palliative care’.

Good palliative care kills the pain and not the patient. It was not so in my mother’s case. Mom was a victim of ‘passive euthanasia’. (CF: http://www.geocities.ws/euthanasia_ark/ ) Had Mom’s doctor had ‘her way’ and had the nursing home had ‘their way’, Mom would have died MUCH SOONER than she did. Their objective was to ‘hasten’ Mom’s death. As I told Mom’s doctor, who did not want to give Mom fluids during palliative care:

Mom will die in ‘God’s’ time, not in ‘your’ time.

DOCTORS CUT MEDS AND FOOD AND WATER CAUSING ‘CRISIS OF PAIN’

The daily consumption of food and water is so important for the continuation of human life. I wish at the outset of my sharing of this ordeal to highlight this fact, because so many doctors do what Mom’s doctor did, they cut the medications and the food and water causing a ‘crisis of PAIN’ in the patient which then necessitates huge doses of painkillers such as morphine which usually brings a coma and death within days. These huge doses of morphine and it’s accompanying coma robs the dying patient of ‘consciousness’ during the most important final days and hours of it’s life. As Dr. John Shea, in “Killing Me Softly” says:

Death by dehydration is painful and arduous. It can sometimes take up to 12-14 days. In addition to hunger and thirst, the patient may experience drying of mucous membranes in the nose and throat and gastrointestinal tract, with the result that she or he may suffer from nausea, vomiting, hemorrhage and even convulsions. (CF: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/she/she_04palliativecare.html )

MOTHER SAW EVERY ADDITIONAL MOMENT OF LIFE AS PRECIOUS

The other point I will be stressing is that my mother, in spite of her advanced age (91 1/2 yrs) and handicaps/sufferings saw every additional moment of life as nothing less than precious till her last breath. She wanted to keep living. My wife and I are her witnesses. My mother, God bless her, affirmed this to me on December 26, 2005 when she said with Divine inspiration:

Time is precious,
It gives us time to love,
Time to have God’s preciousness.

Leona Bruneau-Deschenes, Dec 26, 2005

Mom lived for 91 1/2 years. She rejoiced in and appreciated every additional moment of LIFE as a gift from God, her Creator. Mom and I had a clear understanding with each other regarding her pain control. If she had too much pain she would request a pain-killer as a last resort. Mom also wanted me to protect her from any unnecessary drugs so that she could retain her reasoning and communicative and praying capabilities. This was of utmost importance to her. I deeply respected and defended her wishes and I was even taken to court over this. I was threatened by several doctors that if I did not consent for them to give Mom anti-psychotics they would take me to court. I was taken to court by Mom’s doctor. The Court’s Judgment gave her doctor the right to give Mom up to 50 mgm of anti-psychotics however any *additional amount of the drug had to have my approval. In the last few months of her life (May/June of 2011) Mom was put on Palliative Care.

NOTE: For the rest of my story click on the following link:

Euthanasia

In this Culture of Death I have a most sobering message to give to all those people who are pro-euthanasia, active or passive; man comes against God’s exclusive right over ‘life and death’.

Euthanasia and Assisted suicide is pure evil, rebellion against the Creator, who is a God of LIFE. In a few months, on June 6, 2016 Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are scheduled to become law.

This is a spiritual battle. Can we count on our Bishops, our leaders in the Catholic Church to lead the charge in this battle?

Next I will discuss what the Church can do and needs to do. Remember, “All that is necessary for the triumph of Evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke) Remember also, the sin of omission.

 

WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO AND NEEDS TO DO.

 As I mentioned earlier on, we are in a fierce battle against the ‘Culture of Death’ foretold by Saint John Paul II. He said:

“We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, between the Gospel and the anti-Gospel, between Christ and the anti-Christ.”

One of the few men who is not afraid to speak the truth about this ‘final confrontation’ is Douglas Farrow, a theologian and professor at McGill University. He wrote an ‘Open Letter’ to the Bishops of Canada. (CF: https://s3.amazonaws.com/first-things-resources/uploads/resource_56d75e241c891.pdf )

Urging them to use all their authority to fight this evil onslaught against Canadians. I will mention some of Professor Farrow’s key points and strongly urge you to read the whole letter.

He states: “Our country is suffering from grave moral confusion and from a deep spiritual malaise, bordering on the great sin of despair.”

What I wish to emphasize is his advice to the Bishops. He quotes Saint John Paul II:

“Abortion and euthanasia are crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize.

There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection… It is therefore never licit to …‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for it’” (§73). (Evangelium Vitae)

Douglas Farrow goes on to say:

“It is my hope that the Church will declare publicly, to the Prime Minister, to the Justices of the Supreme Court, to MPs and Senators and the entire country, that she will not regard euthanasia legislation, even when signed and sealed with royal authority, as having the binding force of morally valid law. And that she is prepared both to exercise and to encourage civil disobedience in the matter, though that require significant sacrifice (EV 74).

It is also my hope that you and your fellow bishops will make clear to all Catholics under your charge that formal cooperation with suicide or euthanasia, by analogy with abortion, entails excommunication latae sententiae (cf. CCC 2272 and 2277). And that you will inform Catholic officials that anyone who votes to create a euthanasia regime or to liberalize one – since this provides immediate material cooperation to those who commit suicide or euthanasia and causes serious scandal by gravely injuring good morals – should not present himself for communion and is subject to punishment by a just penalty; even, if need be, to excommunication ferendae sententiae (per cann. 916, 1369 and 1399).

These are strong measures, not ordinarily taken. But nothing weaker will sound the clear note that is needed to rally the faithful and to give pause to our fellow citizens.

Resistance that is not whole-hearted and unrelenting is doomed to failure, failure of a kind that will eventually destroy the witness of the Church and, with it, society’s last and best hope.

Permit me to remark, finally, on something that for too long has puzzled and paralyzed many. It is wondered how the Church, or Christians generally, can address the state on moral matters without compromising the principle of neutrality by which the latter has bound itself. But have we not arrived at a point where this ruse is at last laid bare? A point at which the inherent contradiction of the neutrality thesis is fully exposed?

Surely a suicide regime cannot be justified unless the assumption is made that human autonomy extends to the right of every man to dispose of his own life when he is done with it.”

I ask our Bishops and religious leaders and all Catholics: “Are you ready for civil disobedience, to say ‘NO!’, no matter what the cost to you? If not many will die, many souls will find themselves in Hell, especially those who put their ‘Yes’ behind this genocidal onslaught of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. God’s Fifth Commandment is very clear: “Thou shalt not kill.”

 

YOUR ‘YES’ VOTE ON EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU.

 

In all charity, this is a very serious warning to all MPs and senators before they cast their vote on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.

Give your decision a very sober second thought because if you vote ‘Yes’ for doctors to kill or to assist Canadians in killing themselves, it will come back to haunt you, just as sure as a woman who aborts her baby eventually has to face the reality that she murdered her own flesh and blood, another human being that was in her womb.

Do you have elderly parents in your family? Do you have young children? In the future they can suddenly be disabled, have dementia, or suffer psychologically. What will you do when the day comes that they want to end their lives?. With the coming law, there will be nothing you can do about it. Your hands will be tied by the very law you voted for!

In the process of writing this article I was referred to an article in a  magazine called ‘Michael’, the Jan-Feb, 2016 Issue with an article titled: `A Letter To God`.

It is a fictional letter which shows a `Justin T` writing to God about the upcoming law on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. In the letter we see `Justin` sharing with God his struggles and admitting his confusion with all the relevant issues.

The letter has a very realistic and dramatic ending. I quote:

“What is worse, I keep having these nightmares. I dream that I get out of bed, go to the bathroom, turn on the tap, and blood comes gushing out. I run to  another tap. Same thing. I turn on the shower: blood. I open the dishwasher: a wave of blood hits me. I run out the door: the entrance of my yard is covered in blood. I look down at my hands: blood.

“I suddenly wake up, gasping for air. I look down at my hands: they are clean. I realize you are very busy. And I know there’s lots of people who need Your help. But I truly need Your assistance on this one. Many people are counting on me.“

Sincerely,

Justin T.

(CF: www.michaeljournal.org / Source: Dear God Letter.ca )

I hope and pray that Justin Trudeau does have nightmares such as I just described. He certainly would if he witnessed a real abortion and saw a baby being torn apart piece by piece and all the blood flowing out of the mother’s womb! Our sewers are flooded with human blood due to merciless killings of unborn babies every day in Canada.

It would be a merciful approach of God towards him. A miracle of conversion is possible. Justin would then put a stop to all the killing of the 1000`s of Canadian babies being killed and torn apart piece by piece by womaens `right to choose`….to kill.

Justin and all political leaders, in all Christian charity, I beg you, stop the killing!

I repeat: “God’s 5th Commandment states: “Thou shalt not kill.” And remember that you could find yourself facing the Judgment of God now,today.

“And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

 

WALK IN HIS WAYS, BRING LOVE TO THOSE WHO SUFFER.

Sadly, those who are advocating for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are puppets in the hands of the Devil in order to destroy precious human lives through the ‘Culture of Death’.

God is looking for courageous people who will be a ‘vessel of love’ for Him, to ‘Walk in His Ways’, bringing His love to those who are suffering.

Several years ago while attending St Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, I studied to be a Chaplain. In doing so I did much reflection and studies related to suffering. In the following article titled: “Love and Suffering’ I explain suffering from a ‘Christian’ perspective. You will see as you read on that ‘love and suffering’ are completely intertwined both in a human and divine way.

 

Love and Suffering

Dear friends, I have chosen to write and talk about one of the most interesting and yet mysterious subjects…. ‘Love and Suffering’.

I have decided to do this for several reasons:

1. To give recognition and thanks to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who gave us all, on the Cross of Calvary, the greatest, the supreme example of …Love….a love for all people, you and myself included.  “In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10-11)
2. For myself, to come to a better understanding and appreciation of the role that …love and suffering…plays in my life, as a man, and in relation to my future career as a Hospital Chaplain, Lord willing.
3. To encourage and challenge myself and others to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and in so doing, bring a bit of ‘Heaven’ here on earth and bring some souls to Jesus.

Just before I left home to come to Saint Paul University, in Ottawa, to study to become a Hospital Chaplain, my precious wife, Claudette, organized a going away party for me. My wife and friends blessed me with many gifts and cards. One particular card spoke to me deeply. In it was a poem by my friend ‘Rose Nadeau’ entitled:

 May You Walk In His Ways

May you walk with a loving heart always being kind.

May you burn with zeal, and your purpose be to find.

The lost, the broken-hearted and comfort all the sick.

May you walk in God’s joy never blowing out your wick.

May you walk in His gifts from His Spirit on High.

May you lead others to their homeland in the sky.

May you walk in goodness, may your fruit increase.

May you walk in His Footsteps in the ways of Peace.

By Rose Nadeau

 

On the front cover of the card it said:

“May you walk in the fruits of His Spirit, the fruits being…’kindness, patience, faithfulness, humility, joy, goodness, self-control, peace and love’.”

I determined upon arriving at University to apply what was said in this card as my ‘Mission Statement’, as my goal to be accomplished while training and learning to be a Hospital Chaplain and thereafter. Upon the beginning of my second trimester I decided to make the following statement an added goal:

…To Know…the patients and families and myself.

…To Love…the patients and families and myself.

And as a result of ‘Knowing and loving’…To Inspire these people to discover the ultimate purpose and meaning in life.

From the three words…  ‘To Know…To Love…and to Inspire’…I  put my main focus on Love. I chose as my guide and barometer ‘1 Corinthians 13:4-7’…known as the Bible chapter on Love.

“Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed up; Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

 On many of my hospital visits I have been confronted with that never ending, mysterious question… “Why do we suffer?” I will attempt in this short article to share with you my views on “Why do we suffer?” by speaking about ‘Love and Suffering’.

 Where….  ‘Love’  ….For Each Of Us Began.

God the Father revealed His love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us listen to His explanation as told to Saint Catherine of Sienna, a Doctor of the Church:

“The Father tells Saint Catherine in the Dialogue: I who am invisible made myself, as it were, visible by giving you the Word, My Son, veiled in your humanity. He showed Me to you.

And so that you might have no excuse for not looking at My affection, I found a way to unite the Gift (Jesus) and the Giver (Father): I joined the Divine nature with the human. I gave you the Word, My only begotten Son, who is one with Me and I with Him, and because of this union you cannot look at the gift without looking at Me, the Giver.” (Catherine of Sienna On Suffering, (Human Suffering in the Light of Christ Crucified, by Rodrigo F. San Pedro) Saint Catherine thus considers the Father’s gift of Self in the person of His Son as the greatest manifestation of His Love and Mercy. (Ibid)

If we read the Creation story in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible, we discover that God…out of Love for us, created the earth, and then created Adam and Eve. God, out of love for us, in order to erase evil effects and the penalty of sin of Adam and Eve sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to be crucified and suffer like no one else has ever suffered. Out of love for each of us Jesus accepted to suffer the Passion and the Crucifixion. Then to go one step further, Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, accepted to be the chosen Mother of Jesus, our Saviour and then She suffered like no mother ever suffered, as she stood by watching her only Son suffer ‘the Passion’. Mary accepted her role, out of Love for you and me.

Because Mary loved God, and loved us, she said  “Yes”  to God and she has suffered much. To go a step further, when parents decide to have children, out of love for God and one another, they too, in turn, will experience many sufferings while raising those children. I say all this to say….

 “Love… begets Suffering….and …Suffering

….begets….Love.”

Imagine living in a world where there is no love, no compassion. In this world someone who is suffering calls out for help, for love and no help comes forward, because it is a selfish world, where everyone lives for only… ”me, myself and I”. This would be a type of ‘Hell on earth’.

What I am trying to say is that ‘Suffering’ calls forth ‘Love’. It cries out…”Love…where are you?…”Love I need you, please help me!”

The cries of suffering are many…here are a few examples…

“I am very lonely, will you spend some time with me?

“I need to talk with someone, will you listen to me?”

“I am very hungry and thirsty, I cannot feed myself, will you help me?”

“I am in despair, I am afraid of dying, will you pray for me?” 

Love Dominates Suffering

“Love dominates suffering”…is what a young patient told me recently. On one of my visits I encountered a young lady (40) Susan, (fictitious name) who had a breast removed because of cancer. Then, three weeks ago Susan was in a very bad car accident which caused her several head concussions, broken ribs, punctured lung and a broken left arm.

When I entered the hospital room and saw her, her face was shining with happiness and joy! In the course of my visit we spoke about ‘Love and Suffering’. Upon hearing the words love and suffering, she immediately
said: “Love dominates suffering!” I replied: “Would you please explain that to me?” She answered:

“Love is like a needle you can give to a person who is suffering…

it is a needle filled with love and it will remove suffering.”

 I inquired… “Am I then a needle of love to patients when I visit them and spend time with them, am present to them, listen to them, pray with them?” She replied: “Yes, doing what you just described with the patient will bring them a needle of Love to take away their pain and suffering.”

Last week, at the hospital, in the cafeteria, I understood so well how ‘Love dominates suffering’. I will share with you the story of Robert (pseudo name) and his wife Jane (pseudo name). Over lunch together Robert shared this with me. He and his wife were married and had five beautiful children. The first ten years of marriage were normal with Robert travelling all over the world as an aircraft mechanic and Jane looking after the children at home.

It was a very happy marriage, each one having a deep love for one another. Suddenly Jane discovered she had ‘schizophrenia’. She went through many electric shock treatments, long stays in mental institutions and many hours spent with psychiatrists. Robert told me his wife could get quite violent, waking him during the night as he would suddenly be assaulted by Jane. There came a time, the burden on Robert was so heavy, he had to place the children in custody for a time, so he could have the strength to cope with his wife.

Years later, Jane developed ‘cystic fibrosis’, a disease which affects all the muscles of the body. It was then that Robert gave up his job, which he enjoyed so much, in order to give proper care to his wife. He did this out of love for his wife, Jane. Five times Jane tried to take her life. Once by drowning, another time by swallowing a poisonous drink, and again by trying to slash her wrists. Just imagine all the suffering Robert and Jane went through.

Jane one day asked a psychiatrist to make up papers that she would sign that would make Robert free to leave her and remarry. That was the pure and unselfish love that Jane had for Robert. After telling me all this, Robert again asked me, “Why is there all this suffering in our life, it was bad enough Jane had schizophrenia, she didn’t need to get cystic fibrosis? I asked Robert what he thought. He had no answers.

I remembered something I had read early that same day….a quote of Saint Johnof the Cross…

“On the eve of life, we shall be examined by LOVE”

 Then towards the end of our conversation I was inspired to look in my New Testament and look in First John, chapter three, verses 14-18…

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (I John 3:14-18)

Earlier on I had asked Robert where he got his strength to manage to stay with his wife in spite of all the hardships and sufferings he had to endure. He was not sure. He said he was not a very spiritual person and that he was not a churchgoer.

I said: “Robert, I believe I know where you get your strength….Yes, you get your strength to cope from the genuine, deep love that you have in your heart for your wife. And besides that Robert, you have truly…Laid down your life for Jane, and you are not just loving her in word, but you are loving her in ‘deed and in truth’.”

It was then that I saw a sign of great relief and sense of peace come over Robert, as he seemed to understand better the ‘Why? Of Suffering” He seemed to see now that he was a vessel of love bringing comfort to Jane in her suffering. It was Suffering (Jane) calling

Out… “Love, Love…help me…I need you.” The other important thing I believe Robert realized was that he was much closer to God than he realized.

Don’t Waste Your Sufferings 

Each of us, if called upon by God, or by our choice, can willingly choose, like the Apostle Paul, to ‘unite’ our sufferings to those of Christ, whereupon they acquire something of the redeeming value of the Passion itself of the Son of God.Saint Paulsaid:

“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church.” (1 Colossians 1:24)

 I would like to quote ‘John Downs’, who suffered as a quadriplegic for almost forty years:

“…suffering is a key to living an authentic human life. In the school of suffering we are taught to love. (emphasis mine) Suffering can increase love between two persons and between God and a soul. He who is unwilling to suffer/sacrifice cannot love. He who cannot love is less than fully human. We must learn to suffer well for the love of God above all, and in Him, for the love of everyone in our lives, no matter how demanding or difficult or costly that love may be.” “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”( John 15: 13) “ (Suffering: A Key to the Meaning of Life, by John F. Downs.pg 26)

 Footsteps of Jesus

When we decide to follow in the ‘Footsteps of Jesus’ we begin to reach beyond our own selfish confines and to love someone other than our self. We lay down our selfish desires, our lives, for love of others.

“In this we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16)

In my own little way, I have been trying to be God’s vessel of love to the patients, their family, and some of the professionals I visit with at the hospital. While travelling on the bus from University to the hospital (one hour drive minimum) I make it part of my goals to pray for everyone I will meet that day and that I may be God’s vessel of love unto them.

I keep asking the Lord to soften my heart, to make it more sensitive to the cries of those suffering at the hospital. As a Chaplain intern I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to lay down my self-interests, my concerns, and focus in to the hurts of the patients. The didactic classes and interpersonal relationship meetings have been a very practical help for me to learn in a whole new way…”how to listen” to those that are suffering. The good Lord is letting me know that He is there helping me accomplish this desire to be a vessel of love. Just recently in a prayer meeting, He gave me the following scripture…  “And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

Summary

I thank God the Father for His unselfish love for each of us through His only Son, Jesus Christ..

  “And Christ died for all: that they also who live may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)

 Let us bring to mind some of the words mentioned in the poem earlier titled: “May You Walk In His Ways”…

May you walk with a loving heart,

Always being kind and go to the lost,

The broken-hearted and comfort all the sick.

May you walk in His Footsteps.

By being conscious of wanting…to know…to love…and to inspire…. The patients and their families towards a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, it has deeply influenced my lifestyle.

I have deepened my prayer life and have asked my friends to pray for me in my ministry as a Chaplain. I have greatly changed and improved my listening skills, being much less on the defensive and less judgemental with others.

I am beginning more and more, like Mother Teresa, to see ‘Christ’ in the sick. I find myself standing on ‘Holy Ground’ as I meet with and minister to the patients and their families.

I am convinced that in one way or the other, verbally or silently, I bring God’s Love to the ‘suffering ones’ and that my friends is the true calling, the true mission of every Hospital Chaplain and everyone who, as a ‘Good Samaritan’ visits the sick, to give them a ‘needle of Love’ and alleviate their suffering.

I have been prayerfully discerning how to conclude this article on Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide. Presently in God’s Presence in the Blessed Sacrament at the Adoration Chapel I begin to write the following.

In essence we, as Canadians are deeply entrenched in a ‘Culture of Death’, a culture which, as I said earlier is very secular, humanistic and  anti-Christ.             .

We, committed Catholics and Christians are God’s ‘Remnant’ in this society that wants to live life ‘without God’. A majority of Canadians are ‘shunning’ God from their life. They are rejecting God’s repeated offers of Mercy.

Without God we ‘self-destruct’, the reason being that when our Creator is removed from our life, the Devil immediately fills the spiritual vacuum of our life. He comes to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ with the ultimate aim of taking as many souls to Hell as possible. (Cf:John 10:10 )

We, the Remnant, must pray, pray and pray as never before! This endtime battle between Good and Evil is fierce. With euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide becoming legal many Canadians will have their lives ‘suddenly ended’ without any warning or knowledge of it.

The very doctors who are supposed to be there to help them in their sufferings will be the ones to kill them, to end their lives before God’s ‘ordained time’.

The salvation of their souls will depend on our prayers. This is where the ‘Divine Mercy Devotion’ and the Chaplet of Mercy will be critically important for saving souls targetted by euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Jesus said to Saint Faustina:
“Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge, but as the Merciful Saviour.
Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this Chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite Mercy.”
( Diary #1541, 687 )

I highly encourage you to read the ‘Diary of Saint Faustina’ and to learn the Divine Mercy devotion so as to be equipped to save many souls, including your family members from Hell.
Visit this link to learn about the Divine Mercy devotion.
(  www.striveforheavennow.ca   / Divine Mercy  )                 

Are we to live in despair as Evil increases in leaps and bounds? No! Never!
Please read my article: “Our Christian Witness and Heaven’s Mercy-filled Supernatural Events Will Transform The World.”
(   https://striveforheavennow.ca/our-christian-witness-and-heavens-mercy-filled-supernatural-events-will-transform-the-world-by-donald-andre-bruneau/                                                         

God is going to extend and offer His Hand of Mercy as never before and He is looking for Catholics and Christians who will fight the Evil one, even to the shedding of thier blood, to Martyrdom if necessary.

The greater the Evil, the darkness, the greater the Love, the Light and Life of Christ will shine through us, His chosen instruments!

The more we can die to ‘self’ and abandon ourselves to God’s Will, God will use each of us in wonderful and Miraculous ways. He will lead us to those needing our help and prayers.

The ‘key’ for doing this is to Consecrate ourself to Jesus through Mary.
( www.striveforheavennow.ca go to “To Jesus Through Mary” )

 

Donald Andre Bruneau, B.Th. M.PTh.