You may remember the story of the Torres family making the rounds of the Internet. Jason and Susan Torres were expecting their second child when Susan collapsed due to undetected cancer. Susan was kept alive on life support until the child, a little girl, was delivered August 2. Susan died the next day on August 3.
Tragically, little Susan Anne Catherine Torres died in the early-morning hours of Monday, September 12, after emergency intestinal surgery:
"An infant born last month to an unconscious, severely brain-damaged mother has died, the family said Monday.
"Susan Anne Catherine Torres, born prematurely on August 2, died of heart failure Sunday after emergency surgery to repair a perforated intestine, a family statement said.
"A spokeswoman at St. Rita’s Church in Alexandria [Virginia] said parishioners were told of the child’s death during morning Mass."
GET THE (HEARTBREAKING) STORY.
Please keep Jason Torres and his family in prayer. Their agony must be unimaginable. You can learn more about the Torres family’s story HERE.
Wanting to find some glimmer of hope in this tragedy, I did a Google search to see if I could find out whether or not the baby had been baptized. I figured she must have been baptized, but wanted to know if I could confirm it. I did.
GET THE (LIFE-AFFIRMING) STORY.
Because this little girl was baptized, we can know — not just hope — that she is a saint now. Susan Anne Catherine Torres, pray for us.
The Old Oligarch says it perfectly.
God desired that the entire struggle to save Baby Torres become an absolute statement in favor of the value of human life, and so He removed any possibility of conflating the value of the struggle with the goodness of the consequences everyone envisioned from the birth of the apparently healthy baby girl. Her loss is enormously sad. But we did not save her for baby smiles, tricycle rides, long nights in Daddy’s loving arms, or her eventual emergence into adulthood. We helped save her because she was a human being and deserved to live. Baby Torres’ death does not alter the force of that motivation; rather, it underlines the intrinsic worth of that motivation in a grave, irrevocable way.
Since, if I remember correctly, she was baptized in extremis following birth, we know something else too, as sad as it is to think about. Despite her early death, her ultimate fate is as good as it gets. And that will last a lot longer than Dad’s sorrow. Let’s pray for him that he may enjoy heaven with his wife and daughter and not be driven to anguish and despair.
http://www.old-oligarch.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_old-oligarch_archive.html#112658699111649722
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”.
-1 Thess. 4:13
My heart goes out to the family. I will offer a Rosary for them today.
*I’m saddened by the death of this little girl. My question is theoretical. I’m not addressing her specifically*
“Because this little girl was baptized, we can know — not just hope — that she is a saint now.”
Can we?
Infants cannot make a moral choice while on earth, as they have yet to achieve the faculties of reason. Yet, can someone enter the eternal presence of God unless they make a free act of the will to do so? Aren’t all creatures, humans and angels, subject to a test? It seems possible (or even likely) that babies are given, upon death, the faculties of reason, and are presented with the choice of the Angels: a once in a lifetime decision, God or self.
Hence, it seems they could choose hell, even if they were baptised. So we can’t know (not with absolute certainty, anyway) that they are in Heaven. We should still offer them to the mercy of God.
Agree? Disagree?
I remember Tolkien saying that since history is one long defeat, we have an obligation to try to provide for the rest of mankind a glimpse of Heaven’s triumph, even if fleeting.
She was but a glimpse, a fleeting moment in the annals of history…but a beatiful glimpse of that final triumph nonetheless.
“It seems possible (or even likely) that babies are given, upon death, the faculties of reason, and are presented with the choice of the Angels: a once in a lifetime decision, God or self.”
Being that babies are innocent (and in little Susan’s case, free of original sin by the virtue of baptism), and not attached to the things of this world like an adult person would, it seems completely impossible for me that they would choose Hell instead of the glory of God. I think we could be very sure that little Susan is in Heaven.
That said, I think that topic should be discussed at another time, and not now, when so many people (including me) is mourning the passing of the baby.
Veronica,
The Angels were free from original sin and completely pure as well (as was Our Lady). Nevertheless, they were tested.
The only reason I brought it up was because Jimmy made an absolute claim of Sainthood. Better to commend such babies to the mercy of God.
Jason, the post is mine, not Jimmy’s.
Oops. My bad. I always forget about the extra bloggers on here. 🙂
God saves us. We do not save ourselves.
Note that the Holy Innocents are also saints and martyrs, though incapable of choice.
Of course we don’t save ourselves. Free will does not negate God’s grace. It is only by his grace we can properly exercise our free will.
The Holy Innocents certainly could have been given the same choice upon death. They accepted God’s gift.
But, anyway, I’m willing to let the theoretical discussion go, out of respect for the babies death.
Susan Anne Catherine Torres, Saint in Heaven
I had heard about Baby Susan Torres dying, and hadn’t known what to say about it. I’ve felt badly about this, since I’d blogged on the family’s stuggles in the past. This story just broke my heart. Honestly, I have always felt as though, despite the …
Jonathon, do you know if there is a Cause for Tolkien? There ought to be. I’m a Christian because of him.
I don’t know for certain. But there ought to be.
It’s interesting to me to consider what Tolkien’s place will be as a Catholic author in the future – I think he’ll be one of the giants.