November 02, 2002 - 11:22 p.m.
I am in a quandary.
A friend's father is dying. There's no sense in masking it by calling it an illness. He's been in ICU all week. He can't breathe without mechanical assistance. His organs are under vicious attack. And it's all a culmination of a degenerative disease he's been fighting for decades.
It's going to kill him. Maybe not this time. But eventually he will die.
I've been asked to pray for him, but I find myself lost for words. Petitionary prayer hasn't sat well with me lately, anyway, but this one in particular squirms around in my gut. Do I pray for a recovery, knowing there is no cure and another day soon I will be praying for another chance for another recovery? Do I pray for the best possible end? Do I pray for the infinitesimal chance of a miracle? Life above all else? A gentle death to spare him the shrinking world of a room in a nursing home?
Instead I revert to what may be the cop out prayer - Your will, not mine. It may be divine submission, but it doesn't feel like I'm helping much.
