White Mass Homily
by the Most Reverend William E. Lori, S.T.D.
Bishop of Bridgeport

Saint Joseph Parish
Danbury
February 24, 2008

Introduction: Feeding and Hydration

Four years ago, Pope John Paul II astonished some ethicists and health care providers when he stated that it is obligatory to provide food and water, even with medical assistance, to patients who are in what is called a "persistent vegetative state" -- that is, people who, perhaps for the rest of their lives have lost the use of their higher powers and their ability to communicate even with their loved ones and caregivers. Such persons hover between being awake and in a coma but without any apparent awareness.

The late Pope said that providing food and water via tubes- what is often called "artificial nutrition and hydration" - ? (in and of itself) is "not a medical act" but rather the ordinary care owed to the sick. The Pope stressed that even a person who has lost powers such as reason and speech should not be deprived basic necessities because the quality of his or her life is deemed to be too poor. So along with warmth, cleanliness, and as much comfort as possible food and water are to be provided to people in this condition -- up to the point when they can no longer absorb and process them, usually when death is very near -- and/or up to the point where the way we provide the food and water becomes unduly burdensome to the patient.

Of course, this presumes our modern medical system; in very poor and developing countries, it may not be possible to provide medically assisted nutrition and hydration.

Now, even with those qualifications, some ethicists, including Catholic bioethicists, claimed that the Holy Father's address had gone too far and imposed too great a burden on us. Many found this a hard teaching, believing instead that providing medically assisted feeding and hydration for patients persisting in a vegetative state was optional, even when the patient was not dying. This is what many people in our country think in the wake of the Terri Schiavo case. The tragic outcome of that case has been very influential. Many in the so-called persistent vegetative state, who otherwise may live much longer, die because they are deprived of food and water. This is one of the ways euthanasia, a manifestation of the culture of death, is making inroads into our culture.

The Woman at the Well

With that in mind, let's join the conversation at the well between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The subject of their discussion is water, hydration of body and spirit, if you will.

Here we find Jesus in a culturally daring situation, on two counts: First, it was highly unusual for Jews and Samaritans to converse. Second, it was even more unusual for a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman to converse at this well, a spot slightly more charged than the office water-cooler. But Jesus is there as the sinless teacher and redeemer for our benefit.

At first, Jesus and the Samaritan woman seem to be talking at cross purposes. She thinks that his thirst is merely physical when in fact he is thirsting for souls, as would be revealed on Calvary. When she hears Jesus speak of "living water" she thinks it's a special type that will exempt her from having to back to the well over and over again. Yet, as it progresses, the conversation takes a turn. Jesus reveals her to herself, including her six flawed relationships with those purported to be her husbands. In doing this, he uncovers in her an elemental thirst for living water of God's love. She is looking for someone, as it were, to hydrate her parched spirit. Only Jesus can give her this water. And He gives us this water thru Baptism.

New Light on Feeding and Hydration

Now let's bring together the contemporary question of feeding and hydration with the living water Jesus promises the woman at the well. Jesus' prophetic words to the woman spring from the basic need for water. Jesus goes to the well as did the woman because of human thirst. But Jesus uses human thirst and the water that slakes it to identify the Samaritan woman's thirst for God's love. In doing so, he also identifies her dignity in a manner that cuts across the cultural boundaries of his day.

Something similar occurs in the case at hand. The current culture of death finds it at least as difficult to recognize the dignity of a person persisting in a vegetative stage as the culture of Jesus' day found it to recognize the Samaritan woman's dignity … not impossible but quite difficult for many to accept. Jews typically thought that Samaritans were beyond redemption. Today many think that those persisting in a vegetative state are not worth saving because they are unable to function and are a burden on us and others.

Jesus who shows us the dignity and high calling of the Samaritan woman also enlightens our reason so that we can recognize the humanity of those who can no longer function in any ordinary sense of the word. In the prophetic words of Pope John Paul II: "A man, even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise of his highest functions, is and always will be a man, and he will never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal.'"

Taking its cue from Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman, the Church all the more readily recognizes the sound moral and medical reasons for providing water to those whose higher powers no longer function. The Church can do this because she has first recognized Jesus' unquenchable thirst to irrigate the soul of a person so afflicted with the living water of divine love. This fact of faith sets in sharp relief the moral and medical reasons for defending that person's right to water, food, warmth, and cleanliness.

Conclusion

In this season of Lent, we who are already baptized must renew our the living water of our Baptism by penitence and Penance, even as we support those who are seeking the living waters of Baptism at Easter. The Church speaks of Lent as a time of enlightenment, especially for those preparing for Baptism. But it is also a time enlightenment for those already baptized, a time when the light of Christ is allowed to shine in our inmost soul and upon the decisions we make in the course of daily and professional life.

In our thirst for living water, may our eyes be opened to the dignity and destiny of those we serve and those with whom interact day after day.

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