Many parents have to suffer the death of a child, at birth or at a very young age. There probably is no greater suffering than losing a child, since it so radically interferes with the desire of a father and mother to see their child grow up to be a beautiful, healthy, mature, and loving person. The great danger is that the death of a child will take away the parents' desire to live. It requires an enormous act of faith on the part of parents to truly believe that their children, however brief their lives, were given to them as a gift from God, to deepen and enrich their own lives.
Whenever parents can make that leap of faith, their children's short lives can become fruitful far beyond their expectations.
For further reflection...
"If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality... The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."[I Corinthians 15: 44b, 46, 53 & Psalm 34: 18 (NIV)]
Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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