Often, in the gospels, Jesus exhorts us to take up our cross and follow him. For us, this may seem difficult amidst our daily lives. Sometimes, we don’t even know what this may entail.
For one particular Polish doctor, the cross cost him his job. Dr. Bogden Chazan, director of Holy Family hospital in Warsaw, was fired after refusing to perform an abortion for a patient or refer her to a place that would. He was then dismissed by the mayor of Warsaw for not properly keeping the patient’s requests in mind even though he had signed a declaration which permitted doctors to follow their consciences when it came to morally controversial issues. The woman gave birth to her child, who was said to have severe head and facial defects as well as a nonviable brain. Another doctor commented that if Chazan had seen the life he saved, he wouldn’t have done it.
This is quite a high price to pay when trying to live by moral truth: even going to the lengths of losing your job for refusing to abort a child that many would say should not live. However, just because a child is born with defects, does not mean that all hope is lost; nor that miracles aren’t possible.
It reminds me of the story that my father told me about my grandmother. She had been born four months premature and was so small that she could fit in to a shoe box. The doctors said there was no chance of survival, needless to say, they were wrong.
It all comes down to one simple thing: how do we know what will become of the child that God wishes to bring in to the world? Even if we think they are suffering, or won’t survive, or can’t accomplish anything; there is no guarantee. Many times, human judgment has been proven wrong.
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