My grandson Peter died on Thursday July 26, the Feast of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus. He was sixteen weeks old, a perfect little boy. He was as long as his mother's hand, and died as soon as he was born. I am dating his life, of course, from his conception.
His mother was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, and lost a litre and a half of blood. Despite this she managed to baptise him, giving him the name of his father and grandfather. We had already researched the baptism of those born too soon - it is important, it seems, to rupture the sac first. However my daughter's parish priest said later that the little one was already covered by the baptism of desire.
It is impossible to put oneself in the position of a mother carrying a child who cannot live. I wrote to a canon lawyer asking for guidance but got no reply. Must the mother carry the child to term? If the child is covered by the baptism of desire, what is gained by an extended pregnancy?
It is only too easy for people like myself, far past childbearing age, to fall into a heartless and implacable pro-life witness without in any way sharing the terrible costs sometimes involved. Are we ready to offer material and practical help to children born in poverty, or parents whose pro-life witness means a lifetime of caring for a disabled child?
Amid all these questions, one thing is certain. Little Peter is the one member of my family who is most certainly in heaven. I ask him to watch over me and the rest of us as we make our uncertain and tangled way in the same direction. I will go to my death more joyfully because I know he is waiting for me. - Marist Messenger (click below for full article)
http://www.maristmessenger.co.nz/?p=917