Note from Tim Egan’s “A Pilgrimage to Eternity”
UPDATE: My full review can be found on goodreads.com at http://bit.ly/2RcstVw .
I’m slowly working through “A Pilgrimage to Eternity – From Canterbury to Rome in Search of Faith” by Timothy Egan.
In chapter 8, “The Miracles of Leon” Tim writes:
“My sister-in-law is struggling through late-stage cancer…And I find myself, as with so many pilgrims on this road over the last thousand years, in need of a miracle. If that sounds expedient, last minute, an opportunistic misuse of prayer, so be it. If it means suspending rational thought, consider it done. If there is a force that can produce the scientifically inexplicable, I will beg for it on bended knee.”
This is Tim Egan’s response to his sister-in-law’s stage IV cancer. Earlier in the book, he is an admitted skeptic but here he swallows his pride and asks for a miracle to save her. I am torn.
How can Tim be considered sincere if he admits to doubting the efficacy of his request? Is he being selfish, asking for a miracle for his family member when there are so many many people in the world suffering physically, emotionally without any first world anodyne. How many spurious requests did Jesus turn away?
On the other hand, the fact that he is asking for a miracle means that he is willing to believe, acknowledging the possibility, isn’t that exactly what faith is? How can I as a civil human being, deny him the opportunity for such a humane request?
It’s like peering over a vertical cliff. Is there a giant bouncy trampoline at the bottom? A hard flat surface? Or no bottom at all? There is no way to know for sure, all answers are equally likely.
In Tim’s case, he needs a hope, any hope, for his sister-in-laws benefit. No sacrifice of dignity is too great.
Perhaps, the great injustice of her suffering and near certain premature death is a lesson, something like a Zen Koan, for Tim and his family and friends…and the readers of his book. Maybe it is only tragic to us in our human phase. Perhaps in the broader before and after life, this situation is interpreted in a much different way. Perhaps it is more like a joyous martyrdom, or just a minor perturbation in an otherwise serene eternity.
I read on.