A local radio station recently asked if I would agree to an interview regarding the state of the Holy Father’s health and the process for electing a new pope. I declined.
I do not think the gentleman who called had bad intent – the Holy Father’s health is a topic of natural interest, and folks are always fascinated by a papal election. However, if we focus on the future election of his successor, we will miss the profound witness of this stage of his life: the holy Christian witness of those in their senior years, the courageous Christian witness of those who suffer with Christ.
There is an assumption inherent in casual speculation about the “next” pope that once one is ill or aged, the fruitfulness of his or her life is somehow diminished. In the particular case of Pope John Paul II, the assumption is thus that he is past his ministerial prime. However, a pope is not a C.E.O. – he is successor to Peter, first of the Apostles, a witness to Christ in every experience, and in every stage, of his own life.
We have much to learn from observing and listening to the Holy Father in his 85th year. His witness challenges us to reflect on the role of suffering and aging in our lives and the lives of those around us. Do we somehow look “beyond” them – or even ignore them – as if their time is past, as if there is nothing more for them to contribute? If it is we who are aged or ill, do we assume that we are past the age and state of health for “growing in wisdom and grace?”
The pope commented on March 20 that patients in what is commonly called “persistent vegetative state” (PVS) should be given food and water, even if supplied artificially, since those are ordinary means of preserving life.
Patients in the “vegetative” state have sleep/wake cycles and thus are not comatose, but they give no sign of awareness of themselves or their surroundings. The Holy Father’s point is that to deprive these persons of food and fluids, even though they cannot feed themselves, is to deprive them of the ordinary, basic things they need and deserve for living. To withhold food and fluids from persons in PVS would be a kind of euthanasia by omission.
In framing his remarks, the Holy Father first commented on the term “persistent vegetative state.” He wrote that no human being ever descends to the status of a vegetable or animal. “Even our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the clinical condition of a ’vegetative state’ retain their human dignity in all its fullness. The loving gaze of God the Father continues to fall upon them, acknowledging them as his sons and daughters, especially in need of help.”
It is a striking and crucial point that a human person, no matter his or her age or state of health, will never be a vegetable or simply “vegetate.” Human life is always human life, even if physically impaired by serious disease or advanced years. A human person at every age and in any illness bears God-given dignity as a child made in his image and likeness.
Illness and age do not extinguish the extraordinary power of a single human life to witness mightily to the mystery of God. One does not have to speak to be a witness. One does not have to run a race to show the capability of the human body. One does not have to be “productive” in a functionary sense to have worth. Illness and age do not make one less human or less valuable.
In a sense, illness and age take us to the edge of our faith because they can be mysterious and even confounding to us; but in another, more important, sense, they take us to faith’s center.
The Lord Jesus bore our infirmities and endured our suffering on the cross. When Jesus first predicted his suffering, Peter could not believe that suffering could somehow be part of God’s plan. Later, at the Transfiguration, Peter wanted to remain looking “beyond” the present moment toward Jesus’ heavenly glory, his preference being to ignore what Jesus had told him. But Jesus knew it was crucial that his followers learn the fullness of his mystery – suffering, death, and resurrection out of love for us.
Those who suffer are close to Jesus and share his suffering, and through him their suffering bears fruit for the world. They share the dignity of the Lord himself. Who of us would dare say that suffering made him of less worth than he would have been had he not suffered for us? Think of the power that comes to those who join their suffering to his.
John Paul II’s wise and holy witness of suffering and advanced age is important to our generation – as a reminder that every moment of life is sacred to God, from conception to natural death, and that God’s grace is ever at work. Every human person, imbued with God’s own dignity, can proclaim his wisdom – even if they are not conscious of doing so! God shows the breadth of his fatherly care in Pope John Paul’s untiring faithfulness to Christ and his unstoppable witness to hope.
In fact, the sick and elderly proclaim God’s wisdom in a way the healthy and young cannot. They can show us the fullness of God’s mystery, his mercy, his healing, and his triumph — and evoke from us depths of love that reveal his compassionate face.
Do you have an intention for Bishop Sartain’s prayer? If so, send it to him c/o Bishop Sartain’s Prayer List, Diocese of Little Rock, 2500 North Tyler St., P.O. Box 7239, Little Rock AR 72217.
