Posted on 11/03/2014 2:19:24 PM PST by NYer
With the sad and scandalous news out of Oregon last night of Brittany Maynard’s state sanctioned suicide, thoughts turn toward the eternal consequences of such actions. The Internet and social media com boxes are full of praise and condolences for the terminally ill young woman and her grieving family. Many have offered their personal belief that Brittany is now in heaven with God who understands (and apparently condones) her decision. Even among professing Catholics there has been an incredible disconnect between what we are called to believe and what some “want” to believe.
As word of her suicide was released over a weekend when Catholics celebrated both the Church Triumphant (All Saints Day) and the Church Suffering (All Souls Day), it is even more distressing to see so many either oblivious to, or outright dismissive of, foundational truths such as mortal sin, the existence of Purgatory, the sin of presumption, praying for the dead and even the possibility of eternal damnation.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, regarding suicide, instructs:
Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.
Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.
If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives. (CCC 2280-2283)
In addition to the most recently promulgated Catechism, however, we can also turn to the brilliant work of Fr. Francis Spirago, The Catechism Explained: An Exhaustive Explanation of the Catholic Religion, from 1899. Regarding suicide, Fr. Spirago states:
“Suicides are generally men (or women) who are devoid of religious beliefs, who have got into trouble or committed some great sin, and who despair of God’s mercy and assistance; they are sometimes not accountable for their actions, and consequently not to be blamed for them.
“King Saul lost all hope when he was grievously wounded and surrounded by his enemies; he then cast himself on his sword (1 Kings xxi.)…Judas, in despair at the enormity of his crime, went and hanged himself (Matt. xxvii. 5). How often we read of people destroying themselves because they have lost their all at the gambling table, or because they have ruined their character by embezzling money, or because they cannot obtain the object of their illicit passion.
“But often madness, or overtaxed nerves, cause men to take their own lives without knowing what they do. Let us beware, therefore, how we hastily judge and condemn them.
“The prevalence of suicide is however principally and generally to be ascribed to the lack of religion, of a firm belief in a future life, of confidence in God’s willingness to aid the unfortunate and to pardon the repentant sinner. Experience teaches that as religion decreases in a land, the number of suicides increases…
“A man’s life is not his own, it belongs to God, Who takes it away at His will (Deut. xxxii. 39). Thus self-destruction is a presumptuous encroachment upon the divine rights, and shows contempt for God, by flinging back at Him His greatest gift to man, which is life…
“Far from being an heroic deed, it is a most cowardly act; real heroism is shown by bearing bravely the miseries of life…” (pp. 383-384)
In the coming days and weeks we can seek the good out of what is a truly tragic story. While the “death with dignity” movement will attempt to argue that suicide is something noble and good, we have both the opportunity and obligation to charitably instruct what our Catholic faith teaches.
Remind others that we who make up the Church Militant have a duty to offer prayers and masses for those poor souls suffering in Purgatory. We do not need to despair for Brittany Maynard and others who choose suicide; we must not presume to know their fate…whether it be heaven or hell. What we can do is pray. And we can catechize others so that they too can understand that suicide is never dignified and that it is God, and not man, who is the author of life.
So what if He wasn’t planning on giving her a miracle cure?? Maybe she decided to go ask G-d in person as to why she was afflicted. You can’t use your doctrinal reasons as to why she shouldn’t have killed herself. You’d have thought the Holy Spirit would have given her a heads up ....
Nope. Nada.
Having worked with the terminally ill and disabled, I would not go there. There is no way for an observer to comprehend the mental state of those facing death.
I find it reprehensible for anyone to attempt to judge this woman. I would not chose euthanasia because of my Catholic background. The theology of redemptive suffering is true. Everyone will met death on their own terms because one does not have the option to do otherwise.
What I object to most in this article is the judgmental, self-righteous tone.
“This woman was an attention whore...”
Words fail.
“It’s neither heroic or cowardly.”
It has to be one or the other: someone’s life was ended on purpose - not by nature, not by accident.
“It’s a personal decision, and unless she was a Catholic the church’s opinion is irrelevant.”
God’s opinion is never irrelevant and that’s what the Church is sharing. If self-murder and God’s opinion about it is irrelevant, then we are truly lost as a society.
With the sad and scandalous news out of Oregon last night of Brittany Maynard’s state sanctioned suicide, thoughts turn toward the eternal consequences of such actions.
I am not going to dump on this lady, the whole thing is really sad.
My sentiments, exactly.
___________________________________________________________
And my sentiments too.
I think she had second thoughts on making her decision public and said she changed her mind when she didn’t really change her mind. Kept her passing from being a freaking media circus w/ the sick and perverted media standing outside her door doing a countdown to her passing. Don’t know this...just think this as I read comments by her and her family.
Sad business and I hope no one in my family is ever put into such a position. Horrifying to contemplate.
“Right - better she become a vegetable for the last few weeks of her life.”
And you know for a fact that would have happened? And what if it did? Does that mean her life has no meaning simply because you can’t see it? Isn’t more likely that you’re suffering from myopia?
“Just to make the people around her feel good.”
Feelings have nothing to do with it. Everyone will feel lousy no matter what.
“How does anyone know what was going on in her mind?”
She told us - on video no less.
“It’s easy to condemn her from others perspective.”
How about from God’s perspective? Does He condone suicide?
It has to be one or the other: someone’s life was ended on purpose - not by nature, not by accident.
No, it doesn't have to be one or the other...
Since G-d created everything then He also created the tumor in her brain. You’re condemning her based on your belief system not hers. Maybe she decided to go see G-d and ask Him why? Ever thought of that? Your belief system demands she suffer.
That is moral relativism, best defined by Pope Benedict XVI, commenting on (Eph 4: 14).
How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.
Ping to post #8.
This woman was pressured into taking her own life and manipulated by those who are pushing an agenda. They want to eliminate all suTffering. Very nice, but very unrealistic. The push for mercy killing is utterly pagan. Christians and all reasonable people must oppose it.
Ping to my post #30.
Yep. It’s an emotion button pusher for some but I would hope that we could respect the person even if we denounce the choice.
Lets hope you don’t get a brain tumor or die a horrible death. It’s always different when it’s actually YOU.
I agree. The callousness of so many - even on this board - towards such a brazen act is a symptom of our evil age.
We must not judge her - judgment is for God alone. But why did she not fight bravely to the end in hopes of a cure or a relapse of her disease? Did she not want to spend whatever time she had left with her husband and family?
Also troubling is the fact that she sought publicity for herself and became a "poster child" for an ungodly cause (euthanasia).
It is disappointing that some on this thread apparently do not realize that by accepting what this young woman did we are just a few short steps away from places like the Netherlands, where thousands (over 4,000 last year - and Holland is a small country) are euthanized each year.
The Daily Mail reports: "One in thirty deaths in Holland are now from euthanasia," and: "Mobile death squads to kill sick and elderly in their own homes leads to surge in suicide rates in the Netherlands."
No doubt some here will applaud knowing that so many are being "relieved of their suffering" each year, and are no longer a financial burden upon society.
Not sure why you are asking me to give that information to you since you yourself said you love the Baltimore Catechism. That means you know the answer to that question already, no?
What I would like to know is why JPII’s catechism fails to be as clear about the fact that suicide is a mortal sin. It is just one more example of Modernism in New Church.
I kinda find her as liar she didn’t check out 12 midnight November 1
What a liar
I just being catty here
I hope MY GOD will grant her Grace and acceptance into heaven. If not, then that god is not one I wish to worship.
As for your personal judgment of her, I'm sure your bible has something to say about that despite how you may wish to interpret it..........
“No, it doesn’t have to be one or the other...”
Yes, it does. Again, SOMEONE’S LIFE WAS DELIBERATELY TAKEN. It was, in fact, a self-murder. That only can be cowardly. What would have been heroic would have been to deal with what was given no matter how hard rather than kill oneself because things had become difficult and painful. It might be easier said than done, but heroism always is. Cowardliness is always just as easily done as said.
“Since G-d created everything then He also created the tumor in her brain.”
No. The Fall of Man created disease which afflicts man.
“You’re condemning her based on your belief system not hers.”
I didn’t condemn anyone to hell nor do I want the power to do so. Notice I never ONCE said she was in Hell. This idiot assumed the exact opposite, however: http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2014/11/evangelical_catholic_bishop_is.html
I do have a right, however, to point out what is right and what is wrong. Self-murder is wrong. And it has nothing to do with a “belief system”. Natural Law has no room for self-murder either.
“Maybe she decided to go see G-d and ask Him why?”
What? Are you serious? I guess we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it, right? We now have to murder ourselves to find out why God allows illnesses after the Fall? Are you serious?
“Ever thought of that?”
Nope. I only have rational thoughts. Thus, what you just proposed could not possibly enter my mind because it makes no sense whatsoever. It’s not even remotely a logical thought.
“Your belief system demands she suffer.”
No. GOD says we all suffer. Suffering is part of life. There’s no way to avoid all suffering in life. And there’s no reason to avoid suffering by murdering ourselves. It’s better to make sense of the suffering than to render oneself insensible trying to avoid the logically unavoidable.
Thank God He doesn’t have your view or else we all would suffer forever with no end, no relief, no redemption, no salvation, and no point.
Just pray that you are not judged the way you judge others. According to your belief system.
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