Our choice should be to live each day with dignity

Friday, Nov. 14, 2014

The recent decision by Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, to end her life via physician-assisted suicide in Oregon has brought the discussion of “death with dignity” once again to the forefront. My first response is to offer my deep sympathy and prayers for her and her family as they mourn the loss of their wife, daughter and friend. I can never truly know the trials she and her family faced as she struggled through her diagnosis and symptoms. But along with those sincere condolences, two overarching questions form in my mind: How is choosing to kill oneself a means of preserving our human dignity? And, is there less dignity in choosing to hold onto life?

While God gives us free will, he also entrusts us with the gift of life. Choosing to take one’s own life is incompatible with preserving our human dignity. I agree with Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Ore., who responded to Ms. Maynard by stating that “Killing oneself eliminates the freedom enjoyed in earthly life. True autonomy and true freedom come only when we accept death as a force beyond our control.”

Indeed, life is a gift from God and our role is to accept that gift with gratitude. We must live it fully, trusting that it has worth and dignity even in the most difficult of times. To end my life intentionally is to deny that God can still work in me and in my circumstances; it is an affront to the giver of the gift, God himself, even though we empathize with those whose illness brings them to make such tortuous decisions.

I have attended many people over the years who departed this earthly life and were able to die at peace with the Lord. Was it messy and painful? Yes, but death is a human process and one that respects that dying is about the sacred moment when God calls you home. During our earthly existence, we have the opportunity to experience all the highs and lows, celebrations and lamentations, successes and failures that make up our individual journey. Is this journey free from suffering? Of course not. But there is dignity in living our unique life and recognizing that every moment is precious and worth living.  

In fact, we Catholics believe that death is part of life and that we are destined to be one with God for all eternity. Thus, death is one part, an integral part, of the journey we call life. We believe that through our suffering we prepare ourselves to be drawn ever closer to God. Our human dignity is not dependent on determining how we die, but in the nature of how we live.

Our society, and more importantly our Catholic community, must devote more attention to providing love, compassion and proper assistance to those dealing with the burden of intolerable pain and suffering.  We need to assure them of their worth and allay their fears over the dying process. Those who argue for physician-assisted suicide often cite alleviating pain and suffering as the reason for their cause, but if pain control and other support are properly administered, those near death can focus on their life’s meaning rather than a perceived meaninglessness. Facing this last stage of our time on earth is one of the most important things we will do and having a loving, faith-driven community around us will make the suffering bearable. We Catholics must make it clear that choosing assisted suicide does not promote true freedom; instead, it devalues human life. 

I am appalled by the social media polls asking whether assisted suicide should be permitted, as though popular opinion should decide who lives and who dies. Believing that less robust physical lives hold diminished value provides a rationale to suggest that we should end a life because it has no purpose. We as Catholics know that is false reasoning. All life has purpose. People who request to die are vulnerable; they need our care and protection. We must affirm that their life has meaning; that despite the condition of their body they themselves are not diminished. It is not difficult to conceive that if we approve assisted suicide, then the next step will be consenting to take the lives of those who are disabled or dependent on others for their well-being, simply because they are not productive in a way our society values. We cannot discount any one of these children of God. Their lives have dignity and meaning in his eyes as well as our own.

All too often our society teaches us that suffering is bad, and that we should avoid it at all costs. There is a pill for every pain under the sun and when there isn’t, some, sadly, turn to assisted suicide. Yet, Jesus teaches us that the cross leads to the resurrection. Pain is part of life. Properly understood, it serves as a catalyst for growth and a path to eternal life. This is what Fr. Ron Rolheiser calls “paschal death:” namely, a death that leads to new life in Christ who is risen from the dead. Death will come to us all. Seen through the eyes of faith, it is going to resemble birth, for so it is. We should not hasten this journey. It will occur in all its fullness in God’s good time.