‘Let Love Speak’: No One Should Die Alone

COMMENTARY: ‘A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God,’ says Benedict XVI, ‘and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak.’

I live in a country in which euthanasia has run amok. Compassion has been replaced by killing. It’s become normal.

A few of us tried to stop it. But the odds, as it turned out, were against us.

I was a career journalist. I watched and reported on our descent into madness. It was depressing to realize that friends and colleagues thought state-sanctioned death was progressive.

I soon realized the only thing I could do was to accompany those who had chosen a natural death on their journey home to God. It was the answer to quell the frustration of living in a society in which some lives are considered disposable. It was also a way to exercise my faith. So a few years ago I became a hospice volunteer. It was the last thing I ever expected to do but it turned out to be one of the great blessings of my life. I believe it was also a blessing to those who were dying.

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