The persistent widow in our midst
It may be a spouse’s Parkinson’s disease, a parent’s
Alzheimer’s, a sister’s breast cancer, a child’s leukemia. The illness of
a loved one, a catastrophe striking their family, the suffering of someone dear
to them transforms these moms and dads and sons and daughters and friends into
dedicated advocates and determined guardians.
They fight hospitals and insurance companies for the
critical medical care needed by their loved one. They take on the most
obstinate bureaucracies for the assistance and services their child is entitled
to but denied. They work tirelessly to raise awareness, raise money, and,
when necessary, raise Cain, so that their loved one may live as fully a life as
possible, so that a cure might be found, so that other families will not have
to experience the pain and anguish they have known.
These dedicated men and women are the Gospel widow in our
midst. They face down the “dishonest judges” of arrogance and avarice;
they take on the “fearful judges” of insensitivity and unawareness; they go
toe-to-toe with the “judges who fear neither God nor respect any human being,”
save themselves.
