Why Respect Life?

Dear Friends,
 
Today I would like to talk about Human Life and the End of Life decisions many of us will face.
 
Our Christian faith informs us that life is inherently good and a gift from God (Gen 1:31). In other words, human life is a sharing in God’s breath of life: “The life which God gives man . . . is a manifestation of God in the world, a sign of His presence, a trace of His glory” (Evangelium Vitae 35). Life can become the “place” where God manifests Himself, where we meet Him and enter into communion with Him” (EV 38).
 
Since life is a gift from God, it must be honored and treated with reverence and responsibility because man will be held accountable for what he has done with the gift he has been given. Man’s life on earth has “a relative character” because it is not an ultimate but a “pen-ultimate” reality. However, “it remains a sacred reality entrusted to us to be preserved with a sense of responsibility and brought to perfection in love and in the gift of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters” (EV 2).
 
Life is entrusted to man as a treasure which must not be squandered, as a talent which must be used well. Man must render an account of it to his Master (cf. Matt 25:14-30; Lk. 19:12-27). Since God is the source and sustainer of human life, He alone is the Lord of this life; it belongs to Him. Therefore, man does not have the authority to do whatever he wishes with his life: “Man is not the master of life, nor is he the master of death. In life and in death, he has to entrust himself completely to the ‘good pleasure of the Most High, to His loving plan’” (EV 52).
 
The value of human life is illustrated by Christ’s willingness to assume a human nature and to carry out the work of redemption as a human being and for the sake of humanity. In this way Christ shows us that life ordered to the beatific vision when we share “fellowship with God in knowledge and love of Him” (EV 38).
 
Thus, the ultimate end of human life is a life in communion with the Triune God. Our relationship with God and our participation in His eternal life begins here and now while we are on earth. During human life, in its earthly state, eternal life already begins to grow. Therefore, “. . . all the aspects and stages of human life achieve their full significance” based on our eternal life “which consists in communion with the Father” (EV 1).
 
However, new medical and technological advances make both taking life and preserving life far easier than in previous generations. Many begin to weigh options/decisions at the end of life whether to prolong life at all costs or end it with “mercy killing” or euthanasia.
 
To be clear, our Christian faith claims that human beings do not have absolute power over life. We have a duty to preserve our life and to use it for the glory of God. Based on this reality:
   
Nutrition is typically considered an ordinary means of care and in principle, there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water. However, nutrition and hydration can “become morally optional when they would be 'excessively burdensome for the patient or [would] cause significant physical discomfort'” (ERD, # 58).
 
On the other hand, a patient may forgo so-called “aggressive medical treatment,” because they are by now disproportionate to any expected results or because they impose an excessive burden on the patient and his family (EV 65).
 
“One can in conscience refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to the sick person in similar cases is not interrupted” (Ibid). This act is distinct from euthanasia which consists of “an action or omission which of itself and by intention causes death, with the purpose of eliminating all suffering.” Euthanasia is an intrinsic evil and a “grave violation of the law of God” (Ibid.).
 
To forgo “extraordinary or disproportionate means is not the equivalent of suicide or euthanasia; it rather expresses acceptance of the human condition in the face of death” (Ibid.).
 
This means that one may have to endure some tremendous pain. Then, how should one manage the pain? “While praise may be due to the person who voluntarily accepts suffering by forgoing treatment with painkillers in order to remain fully lucid and, if a believer, to share consciously in the Lord’s Passion, such “heroic behavior cannot be considered the duty to everyone” (Ibid.).
 
Pain medication can be received even if it results in “decreased consciousness and a shortening of life.” However, the dying person should not, unless for a “serious reason,” be deprived of consciousness so that they might “satisfy their moral and family duties” and “be able to prepare in a fully conscious way for their definitive meeting with God” (Ibid.).
 
With these basic understandings, families or patients will prepare better to face the end of life decisions. Patients, with the advice of their family members and medical professionals, should have the free will to decide, based on their conscience, what is the correct moral decision to be made in terms of their medical treatment so long as it is not contrary to Church teaching (cf. ERD # 59).
 
Considering their suffering and death, patients should be given spiritual support and provided with the necessary Sacraments in order to prepare for death (cf. ERD # 55). The patient should be helped to accept death as an act of obedience to God, who is the Lord of life and death (virtue of faith). The patient should be encouraged to willfully unite his/her suffering with the redemptive suffering of Christ for the good of their own souls as well as for the good of others (virtue of charity). Finally, the patient should be helped to appreciate the Christian hope of eternal life that is the result of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ (virtue of hope). In the face of suffering and death, the patient needs the compassion, support, and sympathy from the Church, medical personnel, and his/her family members and friends.
 
In conclusion, the Catholic Church believes all human life is a gift from God and inherently valuable. Therefore, we have a duty to preserve our life and to live it in a way that glorifies God. Ultimately our life finds its final end in communion with the Triune God. This “eternal life” in communion with God begins during our earthly lives as we strive to grow in the perfection of love and to enter into an ever-deeper relationship with God. As our earthly lives near completion, we are still required to use the ordinary means necessary to preserve our lives, even in spite of severe suffering, because we are not the lord of our lives and so we are not the master of life and death. These trying and burdensome moments at the end of our lives though can be extremely fruitful as they can prepare us for our encounter with God after death and because these moments of suffering can be willfully accepted and united with Christ’s redemptive suffering for the world. Therefore, we should help all the dying to understand and embrace the importance of the final moments of their lives. Finally, since our earthly life is not our ultimate end, we don’t have an obligation to unnecessarily prolong our earthly lives through using medical treatments that may be excessively burdensome and/or may not have reasonable hope to prolong our lives. This point is nicely echoed by the Church’s document, “Declaration on Euthanasia,” which states “Life is a gift of God, and on the other hand unavoidable; it is necessary, therefore, that we, without in any way hastening death, should be able to accept it with full responsibility and dignity.” 
 
 
May us all respect and live a better life with God and with others. 
 
Sincerely yours,
 
Rev. Anthony Huong Le
Parochial Administrator
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church

 
P.S. You are invited to join us, St Catherine of Siena Parish Community, for the 15th Annual Walk For Life in San Francisco January 26, 2019.