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| Death: Our Birth into Eternal life
Fr. Joseph Baker |
The following article is the first in a series that will appear in the Catholic Herald to offer catechesis and formation concerning end of life decisions, dying, death, funerals, and burial of the dead from the Catholic perspective.
Making health care decisions at the end of life can be a daunting experience.
Whether it be our own life or that of a loved one, navigating the medical, emotional, family, and religious dynamics is often very challenging.
What can make this process easier is to think ahead of time about the values and principles that play a role in making these decisions.
As Bishop Hying mentioned in a recent edition of the Catholic Herald, this article begins a series focused on questions surrounding end of life issues.
For Catholics, the best starting point is the four guiding values we use to approach end of life health care decisions — namely, the sanctity of human life, the stewardship we have been given over our lives, the anthropology of the human person, and the eternal destiny we all share.
Starting the conversation
The sanctity of human life is the starting point for any conversation about the end of life.
Every human life has incomparable and inviolable worth.
Unlike the rest of creation, we are made in the image and likeness of God.
As our Catechism teaches us, “the dignity of the human person is rooted in the fact that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God” (#1700).
Our souls have an inestimable value that cannot be compared with the rest of God’s creation.
Furthermore, that worth can never be diminished; it is inviolable. Nothing we do or anything that happens to us, even old age or sickness, can tarnish the sanctity of our life.
Even though it may be painful to watch a loved one decline, we must remember that a person never becomes a “vegetable.”
While we might lose some of our physical abilities, and while our memory might fade, our life retains its value.
Having been given this sacred gift, we are entrusted with a reality that we must preserve with a sense of responsibility.
God calls us to serve as stewards of our own lives. As St. John Paul II reminds us in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae: “Man’s life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of this life: man cannot do with it as he wills” (39).
Here we see an ethical component that needs to be respected.
Each of us has the duty to care for his or her own health and, when necessary, to seek appropriate care from others.
That being said, this duty is not absolute. Especially at the end of life, we need not try everything. Prudence is required.
At a certain point, we can and should allow death to occur.
As Catholics, we don’t need to avoid death at all costs.
By his dying, Christ has conquered death, and so we have nothing to fear.
A corporeal and spiritual reality
To be good stewards, it is imperative to recognize that the human person is both a corporeal and a spiritual reality.
We are not merely our body, nor are we merely our soul. We are a union of the two.
Especially when our bodies become old and worn down, we might be tempted to despise them.
But to be human is to have a body. As the Second Vatican Council reinforced: “Man is not allowed to despise his bodily life, rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day” (Gaudium et Spes, 14).
For its part, the soul is the animating principle, which gives us the ability, among other things, to love, to be free, to be creative, and to understand.
For its part, the body manifests the presence of the soul, which, among other things, allows us to learn, to express our love, and to interact with the world around us.
For Catholics, the phenomenon of death is quite simply understood as the separation of the soul from the body.
Therefore, as death approaches, it is essential that our decisions address the whole person — i.e., the physical, psychological, and spiritual needs we all have. Making health care decisions at the end of life is not primarily a “medical problem.”
Our eternal destiny
On the contrary, the primary concern at the end of life is our eternal destiny.
Death is not the ultimate horizon of our existence, and life here on earth is not the final chapter.
Rather, death is merely the end of earthly life. Death marks the end of our earthly pilgrimage.
With a firm faith in the resurrection, and its promise of eternal life, we all face the reality of death as a part of life.
Human life, given by God and entrusted to us, has an eternal destiny.
Because of this, we are encouraged to prepare ourselves for death.
In a special way, those nearing death should be provided spiritual support as well as the opportunity to receive the sacraments in order to prepare well for death.
That being said, Anointing of the Sick is not only for those who are at the point of death, but is meant for any of the faithful who are in danger of death from sickness or old age.
For those who are seriously ill, God wants to bestow a special grace through this sacrament so that, in a time of anxiety, they do not become broken in spirit, or, under the pressure of temptation, weaken their faith.
Through Anointing of the Sick, the sick are united with the Passion of Christ which saves, helps, and strengthens them.
The Holy Spirit gives recipients the gifts of peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that come with their condition.
Today, society does not like to discuss death or the natural implications of the dying process.
As Catholics, we believe that the end of life is just as special, as precious, and as miraculous as every other stage.
The more we think about it ahead of time, the more we discuss it with our pastors and loved ones, the better prepared we will be for the time that each one of us will eventually face.
Fr. Joseph Baker is the ethicist for the Diocese of Madison and the pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish in Dane and Lodi.