{"id":602,"date":"2014-11-26T11:28:43","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T11:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=602"},"modified":"2014-11-26T11:28:43","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T11:28:43","slug":"making-sense-of-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/making-sense-of-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Sense of Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tragic choice of Brittany Maynard for (physician-assisted) suicide (here are Brittany Maynard\u2019s first<\/a> and second<\/a> videos)\u00a0and of the response of Raleigh (NC) seminarian Phillip Johnson (see his open letter,\u00a0\u201cDear Brittany: Our Lives Are Worth Living, Even With Brain Cancer\u201d<\/a>) draw into sharp relief two different views about how to handle suffering at the end of life. Both had aggressive forms of brain cancer. Both were terrified, as anyone would be, of passing through a horribly debilitating state before death and of the effect on their loved ones of seeing them in that state.<\/p>\n

\"ignatius<\/a>While it is important to give well-founded arguments against physician-assisted suicide, it is equally important to give a thoughtful, nuanced response to the problem and mystery of suffering as we encounter it in our society today. In an effort to consider this topic from a Christian perspe\"saint-thomas-more-00\"<\/a>ctive, I have introduced into my bioethics courses readings by and about saints on the problem of suffering and death.\u00a0One such book is On Christian Dying<\/em><\/a> by Matthew Levering. Reading through this book, one notices that some saints willingly\u2014even eagerly\u2014embrace suffering, that other saints strive mightily to avoid it, and that in each case, suffering is a very personal experience.<\/p>\n

For example, consider the very different experiences of two martyrs: Saint Ignatius of Antioch and Saint Thomas More. St. Ignatius sounds positively gleeful that his execution might mark for him an \u201causpicious beginning\u201d to eternal life \u201cif only I obtain the grace of taking due possession of my inheritance without hindrance.\u201d He writes the Christians in Rome not<\/em> to intervene with Roman authorities to commute his sentence. Rather he asks \u201csuffer me to be the fruit of wild beasts, which are the means of my making my way to God\u201d (On Christian Dying<\/em> 2-3).<\/p>\n

Yet St. Ignatius\u2019s letter to the Christians in Rome acknowledges the evil of his suffering, as when he refers to his guards as \u201cwild beasts\u2026 who prove themselves the more malevolent for the kindnesses shown to them\u201d (On Christian Dying<\/em> 3). His words even suggest his own fear of a slow, agonizing death when he hopes that the lions finish him quickly: \u201cBetter still, coax the wild beasts to become my tomb and to leave no part of my person behind: once I have fallen asleep, I do not wish to be a burden to anyone. Then only shall I be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ when the world will not see even my body\u201d (On Christian Dying<\/em> 3). But does St. Ignatius seem a bit too eager<\/em> to die? Perhaps he fails to appreciate the goodness of remaining in this earthly life. Or perhaps his eagerness is explained by the fact that he is a bishop and recognizes the need to set a perfect example of the willingness to accept martyrdom rather than\u00a0abandon his faith to escape persecution.<\/p>\n

St. Thomas More was also motivated by the need to set a faithful example for his fellow Christians, but he hardly displayed St. Ignatius\u2019s eagerness to be a martyr. More was sentenced to death for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII\u2019s supremacy over the Church of England and spent the days before his execution in the tower of London, where he wrestled with his own fear and sorrow by meditating on Christ\u2019s final hours. He writes to console himself and to edify anyone who might later read his writings. He earnestly did not want to die, observed that Jesus didn\u2019t either, and struggled to share Christ\u2019s willingness for self-sacrifice. More takes Jesus\u2019s fear as \u201cevidence\u201d that fear and avoidance of death is entirely natural and proper to human beings.<\/p>\n

As averse as he is to suffering death at the hands of his executioners, More never accepts sin to avoid death. Rather, he recalls Saint Paul\u2019s comforting words to the Corinthians: \u201cGod is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.\u201d (1 Corinthians<\/em> 10:13) Then he wrote, \u201c[W]hen things have come to the point of a hand-to-hand combat with the prince of this world, the devil, and his cruel underlings, and if there is no way left to withdraw without disgracing the cause, then I would think that a man ought to cast away fear and I would direct him to be completely calm, confident, and hopeful.\u201d (On Christian Dying<\/em> 83)<\/p>\n

With these words Saint Thomas More brings us to one of the most difficult decisions a person can make, the decision to confront intense suffering without compromising moral integrity. He had to accept hopefully a different life than the one he had planned when tragedy was thrust upon him. In his weaker moments, being “completely calm, confident, and hopeful” was more aspiration than reality. But the way he died displayed a deep faith and a willingness to wrestle with the problem of suffering and death. I do not know what Britney Maynard’s faith commitments were and have no judgment to make about her existence now. At the same time, her videos do not express a grappling with the problem of suffering that each person must at some point confront. Perhaps she did. I hope so and would like to know what she thought. I do know the faith commitments of seminarian Philip Johnson. When his diagnosis dashed hopes and dreams, he did the hard, messy work of discerning new reasons to live. Thank you, Philip Johnson, for your example.<\/p>\n

Grattan Brown<\/strong> teaches Ministry to the Sick and Dying for Saint Joseph’s College Online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tragic choice of Brittany Maynard for (physician-assisted) suicide (here are Brittany Maynard\u2019s first and second videos)\u00a0and of the response of Raleigh (NC) seminarian Phillip Johnson (see his open letter,\u00a0\u201cDear Brittany: Our Lives Are Worth Living, Even With Brain Cancer\u201d) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21],"tags":[45,214,215,266,282],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moral-theology","category-saints","tag-brittany-maynard","tag-philip-johnson","tag-physician-assisted-suicide","tag-st-ignatius-of-antioch","tag-st-thomas-more"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}