Fourth in a series of reflections on Catholic teaching regarding health and end-of-life issues.

There is truly no question about what God thinks of us. Each of us is of incomparable value to him, and he loves each of us with infinite love. Even when we turn away from him in sin, even when we ignore him, even if we are ignorant of him, he loves us. In fact, he loved us into being by his creative act in the mutual love of our parents.
When God created us he also destined us for eternal life. In a real sense, eternity began for us at the moment of our conception. Although we speak of “this life” and “the next life,” even now we are part of eternity, and by grace God shares the gifts of eternity with us. The liturgy sometimes refers to this as a “foretaste” of eternal life.
Our bodies, though subject to death, are also destined for eternity. Their intricate workings are a sign of both God’s creativity and our destiny. As a physician friend once told me, “The human body is always striving to live.” When wracked by illness, for example, the body does everything possible to overcome it.
At the same time, as I have been discussing the past several weeks, human life is subject to suffering, illnesses which cannot be cured, and to the aging process which inevitably and naturally leads to death. Human suffering is difficult both for the one who bears it and for loved ones who witness it. Illness and suffering never make a person less worthwhile, however; they do not reduce the “quality” or “value” of one’s life. Through the cross of his Son, God has gone to the ultimate length to tell us of our value to him; he wants us to know what he thinks of us and how we should treat one another.
“For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:1-8)
St. Paul makes it clear that God’s love has no conditions as human love sometimes does (“perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die”), nor is it based on our worthiness. Rather, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
I have tried to point out in the past several weeks how Church teaching guides us in the stewardship, care and healing of our bodies. At times we face difficult decisions regarding health care and the dying process, and in those times, too, the Church offers sound guidance.
Church teaching is not based, however, on a subjective concept of “quality of life” but on the dignity and sanctity of life as created and redeemed by God. The prayer and consideration we give to weighty decisions regarding health care always have as their basis the sanctity and God-given dignity of life. We treat those who suffer in a way that is in keeping with the dignity they possess as a gift from God — the dignity illness or suffering cannot erase. We owe them our love, comfort and companionship.
The term “quality of life” can be problematic because it is open to interpretations which might unwittingly attribute a certain “value” to one life and not another. History is full of tragic examples of cultures that sanctioned judgments regarding the worth of a life to be made on the basis of illness, mental or physical incapacity, age or sex. Even when Church teaching speaks of the “burdens” which accompany human suffering, we never imply that a person who suffers is a burden. Illness is burdensome, and some medical treatments can be unnecessarily burdensome, but the suffering person is never a burden; he or she always retains God-given dignity and deserves to be treated in a way that befits that dignity.
Christian faith also reminds us that there is a crucial spiritual dimension to suffering, one that joins us to the Lord Jesus on the cross. Through Christ, our suffering can be not only a source of blessing to us — it can also be a source of fruitfulness for others, a spiritual gift we offer on their behalf.
Suffering can be so great that a person feels desperate, even hopeless. Pope John Paul II referred to this experience when he wrote in “The Gospel of Life”:
“The request which arises from the human heart in the supreme confrontation with suffering and death, especially when faced with the temptation to give up in utter desperation, is above all a request for companionship, sympathy and support in the time of trial. It is a plea for help to keep on hoping when all human hopes fail.” (no. 67)
There is a hope in every human heart that is stronger and more fulfilling that even the hope of physical healing: the hope for eternal life. This hope is not the product of our imagination or wishful thinking — it is built into us as an intimation of our destiny. Suffering can strain or cloud that hope, but the love, compassion and companionship of others can sustain and revive it.
Do you have an intention for Bishop Sartain’s prayer? If so, send it to him at Bishop Sartain’s Prayer List, Diocese of Little Rock, 2500 North Tyler St., P.O. Box 7239, Little Rock, AR 72217.