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Thank you for
your email. You ask two questions, both of them hard to answer,
but I will try my best. The first is about the little boy
with severe disabilities, and whether or not his parents should
make the decision to stop feeding him, and so eventually relieve
him of his misery. I want to make several points. The first
is that life is precious, sacred, and a gift from God. One
of our most serious tasks in life is to protect life, and
enhance the quality of life of all people. Sometimes, we think
the best way of helping someone to live is by helping them
to die this obviously doesnt make sense.
You are obviously concerned about the pain
this boy is suffering, and that shows you are compassionate.
But there can be a danger here. If we begin making decisions
about who should live and who should die, depending on how
much pain they are in, and how much quality of life they have,
we are becoming judges of human life taking on a role that
belongs only to God. We should, of course, give all our efforts
to helping people like this boy to live as well as they can,
free from pain, until the time comes for them to die naturally.
And sometimes, the pain we are talking about
is our own: when we find it difficult to cope with someones
illness, for example, we say they should be helped to die.
But were not only concerned about them, but about our own
inability to cope. We want to cope with our feelings by removing
the person who is causing them. This is natural, but is not
the answer.
We do not understand the mystery of suffering,
pain and death. We know they were not part of Gods original
creation, but they do destroy life. Jesus teaches that there
is life beyond suffering, pain and death, and invites us to
share that life. He didnt avoid these hard realities, but
passed through them. Likewise, we cant avoid them, but know
that beyond them lies happiness and peace. We can help other
people towards the fullness of life Jesus promised, but only
in heaven will that fullness of life be complete.
I hope this is of some help to you, Dan.
With Best Wishes,
Fr Ed
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