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SUNDAY EDITION
A WEEKLY EDITION OF THE BLOG FEATURING CHRISTIAN NEWS AND OPINION
A Page of Opinion and Commentary #1
SUNDAY EDITION TO TACKLE CONTROVERSY AND OPINION
My normal blog posting consists of commentary on the daily Scripture readings at the daily Mass. Beginning today, and every Sunday, I will include a blog entry called Sunday Edition which will feature one or two news stories as reported by reliable Catholic news sources and commentaries on those stories. Readers are encouraged to use the comment facility of Blogger to share their opinions of the story. Comments will be moderated to ensure that they are on point and the language used is "safe for work" and is courteous in nature. So let's get started.
Euthanasia Coming To A Hospice Near You
Mercy is a wonderful word but something goes wrong with it when you add to it the word killing. More and more a movement to offer physician-assisted suicide is taking root in the garden of God we call earth. As you know, the Church rightfully states that we are to take care of each other from birth to natural death. Among those of us who are still reasonably healthy and not under doctor's care for the end stage of a terminal disease, we cannot know what the pains of such an existence might be like. I have watched my mother and my father take their last breaths and I could see what the terminal disease did to their psyche. I did not detect fear in either of them and in my father's case him and my stepmother became closer during those final months. When the time came, dad was placed under the care of hospice and they kept him comfortable and without much pain until he took and expelled his final breath. My father was never more alive than when he was with Pat as they cared for one another as they aged. They deserved every day that was possible to share life with one another.
But what is wrong with Euthanasia. Certainly, there comes a time when the pain gets too painful to bear any longer or the inconvenience if having to depend on others seems to rob a person of dignity, shouldn't the alternative of assisted suicide be offered to such a person? Don't we all own our lives and our bodies and have the final say as to our fate? Alas, our fate is a common one, death comes to us all and we fear it so because we do not know what comes after it. Well, we do not own our bodies and we do not have the right to injure ourselves in any way that would bring about our death sooner than God intended. We cannot create a life as unique as the person that lies on the deathbed so we cannot be the ones to decide if their life is to continue or not. Quality of life is often a reason why Euthanasia is suggested. How can we judge the quality of one's life when the vast majority of who we are and what we are are in the mind and the soul, places hidden from our view?
There was a very successful program that provided a merciful death to those that were suffering. Now, they may not have been actually on their deathbed but they were seen to be using us resources that could be better used by the healthy. The Nazi T4 program gassed the mentally ill, mentally challenged, the lame, the disfigured and anyone else that could be served under the generous guidelines of the Eugenics Department of the Reich.
But the ardent supporters of euthanasia are not saying that we should imitate this program, that it is voluntary and up to the one who knows best, the patient. Perhaps at the outset, the matter is between doctor and patient, it is evil either way. But I don't believe that it will stay as a private matter. Already there are government reports that state that the last months of life are the most expensive as far as the end of life care goes. Once the government (any government, not just ours) starts analyzing costs, it will have some number driven bureaucrat point out that if a person with such and such a disease is given a merciful death x amount of dollars would be spent each year. Voluntary euthanasia is a slippery slope and at the bottom of the slope is mandated end of life measures for all. My father was proud that he served in World War II and with his colleagues defeated the forces of evil that would have brought such darkness into the world. Would they have fought so bravely if they knew we were on the road to embracing our very own T4 program? God is the master of life and death and we need to leave these decisions to Him and we need to care for each other as if we were caring for Christ Himself.
--------------------------READERS PLEASE NOTE---------------------
Sunday Edition is written to elicit thoughtful contemplation of issues that are important to Christian people, especially Catholic Christians. Comments, pro, and con are invited. Comments are moderated and comments that violate politeness will be not be shown.
©2018 Michael J. Spoula and Galloping Goose Studios. Permission is granted to distribute this work under the Creative Commons clause provided a link back to this page is included.
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