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Thursday, July 27, 2017

The Imperfect Pancake: Or Hey! Your Baby Has Problems? Just Throw Her Out and Try Again

Not good enough -- Throw 'em out and try again.

You know when I make pancakes sometimes I put one on the pan before it's hot enough or, on the other hand, the pan is too hot. The pancake comes out very anemic-looking or burnt to a crisp. Sometimes I just set it aside as not quite good enough to serve guests. 

Is that what our children are now? Imperfect pancakes? The ones set aside for the dog or the trash? Just try again for the perfect pancake?

This reminded me of a friend years ago. She went to the hospital emergency room for what turned out to be type 2 diabetes. She thought she was pregnant at the time and, like many doctors today, the attending physician asked her if she wanted the pregnancy.

Of course she did and told the doctor so. His attitude bothered her though, so when he gave her the prescription, she reminded him again about the baby and asked if the prescription was safe for pregnancy. "Oh, that's right, you want the baby." He ripped it up and wrote another prescription. Hey, no problemo. You can always abort this one and try again. 

Blessed Margaret of Costello
We really do live in the ultimate disposable society. We don't want imperfect apples or blemished tomatoes or an ear of corn with a worm in it. We throw out or give away clothing rather than repair a hem or sew on a button.

Well, that's fine for vegetables and clothing. But people aren't "vegetables" no matter how handicapped they are. Terri Schiavo and Hugh Finn, brain damaged by tragic life events were precious in the eyes of God. They became invitations from God to love unconditionally. Sadly, those who received the invitations tore them up and chose murder by dehydration and starvation instead. 

Charlie Gard's parents chose life for their little boy, but the devils in lab coats and judges dressed like the grim reaper had other plans. Charlie wasn't worth fighting for, one more imperfect pancake. His case was "hopeless." His parents' hope for their "imperfect pancake" was misplaced. Charlie had to be tossed on the trash heap along with all the others whose lives aren't worth living. Why bother treating when one can use precious medical resources for transgender and cosmetic surgeries.

There is no such thing as an "imperfect" person. There are no "imperfect pancakes" in the human family. In fact, who knows? Maybe from God's perspective the "imperfect pancakes" are actually the most perfect of all. Look at Margaret of Costello, the little blind cripple whose parents took her on pilgrimage seeking a cure and, when no miracle occurred, abandoned her in a strange city. She would have died if the local homeless beggars hadn't taken her under their protection. What a great woman she is for our time! She lived a heroic life and never blamed her parents for their evil deed. She was a miracle worker, a gift to the people of her adopted village. As God so often does, He brought good out of evil.

Let us pray today for all the vulnerable, the "imperfect pancakes" despised by the beautiful people, the elitists who know what's good for all the rest of us. We know where their search for Utopia ends -- in the death chambers and the gulags. Let us pray to all the martyrs of tyranny for the vulnerable treated like imperfect pancakes and for the modern tyrants who threaten them. 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
St. Thomas More, pray for us.
St. John Fisher, pray for us.
Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us. 
All you martyr saints of God, pray for us.


5 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this. My husband and I are in our mid to late seventies, and our youngest daughter and her husband have three girls, and one of them has learning disabilities. Her wall eye was completely corrected and her inability to stand well was greatly helped by stem cell treatment from her own cord blood.

    Although she reads excellently for her age (7 1/2), she has problems communicating and asks questions repeatedly, which can be nerve racking. My daughter home schools but takes her to different therapies and classes.

    I worked with hundreds of children as a paraprofessional, but retired two years early. I was finally "burnt out" as I had had cancer myself. Please pray that our family can help her better, or that she is completely healed through the intercession of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

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  2. I am turning your family over to my secretary Andrew (my guardian angel) to keep you on the prayer list at every Mass we attend and when we pray our daily rosary. May God give you all many blessings through your little granddaughter.

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  3. Thank you, Mary Anne, and I will pray for all of you too.

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  4. My sister had a stroke and a brain bleed 5 years ago. She was at Tufts medical, Boston for 6 days. She went to an aggressive rehab and had another stroke. Mayhem broke loose. A doctor and nurses and nurses aids came storming into her room, telling us to get out. We did. I thought she was dead. After they stabilized her the doctor said he wanted to talk to us (my brother in law, my husband and me). He took us in a room and you could see he was visibly shaken. He started, "I have never seen anyone this bad. You should just let her go". My brother in law didn't miss a beat. "This is my wife and I want everything that can be done for her, done. I want her to live." She can't speak or communicate in any way. She laughs and crys for no apparent reason. But he loves her.
    I have been in the pro life war for many years, but didn't know how my brother in law thought about life. He's a rock. Thank God.
    So far they tried to get her out of the way 2 times, which isn't bad in 5 years.
    My brother in law is with her every day. He hardly ever misses. He's the reason she's still alive.
    This incident brought him back to the Church. He hadn't been in about 40 years. We brought a Priest to bless my sister and my brother in law and he hit it off really well. He went to confession with this Priest and goes toChurch every Sunday.. God does bring good out of every situation . We just have to recognize it.
    Thanks for your wonderful columns.

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  5. God bless your sister and brother-in-law. God uses challenging situations to sanctify us. When I think of the hard times in my life, I rejoice that God sees what I need more than I do. I had cancer at 39. Several years later a neighbor called and told me she had just been diagnosed and was terrified. I could honestly say to her that if I could go back and not have cancer, I wasn't sure I would do it because God brought so much good out of it.

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