Right Choice

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Man is a rational animal. Often, he has to  make choices. Two factors that  help us in this task  are human reason  and divine wisdom.  As they work in opposite directions, every  choice that we   make  will bear the signs of this internal conflict.  But when it  comes to the  all-important issue of  life and death, we find that  human reason and  divine  wisdom converge in a  single point. This  is why  man upholds the  value of   life everywhere. Unlike many other issues, here there is no contradiction between what God commanded and what we  believe.

If someone asked you   about your choice vis-à-vis life and death even the most  miserable man on earth would select life. This has been the pattern  visible throughout history. But this pattern is now changing.  The  number of  people  opting  death over life  is on the  increase.

Do you want to live or to die?  The question touches your  very existence, both here  on earth and   hereafter. It is a question that each one of us has to answer. And the choice is yours. No compulsion, no coercion. It is your decision. What is your choice? To live or to  die?

God’s choice was clear. It was life, it is life and it will be life  forever. ‘I call  heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live’ (Deut 30:19). God the Father had the  memory of Adam and Eve choosing death over life, in spite of  His stern warning against it. He does not want a repeat of history and His words are  unequivocal, that we should  choose life.

Jesus teaches us  that  he came to  give us life  in its fullness. ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (Jn 10:10). Jesus, the Tree of Eternal Life, calls us to   get our names enrolled in the Book of Life. Christian life is a  witness to this  firm commitment to life. But  sadly, today Christians  are rapidly  losing interest in life.  When the Church teaches that  human life  should be  respected and protected from the  moment of conception through the  moment of  its natural cessation, many countries  who boast of their Christian  heritage, enact laws that  curtail the  very right to life.

Assisted death is a euphemism for  helping someone to  suicide. Now  look at the list of countries where euthanasia or assisted death is   legally permitted.  Belgium, Luxemburg, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Columbia, United States, Australia and New Zealand.  These are   countries  who chose   death over life. People from the U.K and France  where this  facility is  not available  travel to Switzerland to  get killed.  We have seen people  migrating to other countries to earn a living. Here people  travel across national boundaries to ‘earn a death’.  It is difficult to believe, but  the truth is that   assisted deaths contribute to 1.50% of all deaths registered in  Switzerland.  In Canada it stands at 1.90%.

New Zealand has a total population of   5.1 million which is  less than the population of New York City. New Zealand is a secular country where Christians constitute  38% of the population. An interesting fact is that the number of persons  claiming that they do not  follow any religion is  steadily increasing in the country. Their numbers stood at 35% in 2006 which  rose to  42% in 2013  and then to 49% in 2018.

This island nation legalized  assisted death in  November 2021. New Zealand Parliament voted in favor of the bill legalizing   assisted death with  69 members voting in favor and  51 against. This  decision was  confirmed by a  popular referendum  which saw 65% of the population approving the legalization of  assisted death. Next  seven months  saw 400 New Zealanders apply for this  ‘attractive offer to die’. Of them  143 persons had already gone with the wind of  death   by undergoing assisted death.

New Zealand is just an example. Countries that once boasted about  Christian ethics and values as the founding principles of their nations, are fast drifting away from  basic Christian  teachings. They are constructing super highways to death and at the same time making the  road to life still narrower.

Tell me, where do you stand in this crucial battle between life and death?  Embracing death instead of  life  has only one meaning; Replacing God with Satan!

Catechism of the  Church  discusses the issues of  euthanasia and  suicide under  the fifth commandment.  Both are  morally  unacceptable. Helping another person  to die is nothing but  abetment to suicide. It is  indirect  homicide and the blood of that  person will fall on those who  help him die. Before making  your choice on assisted death, read carefully, not the statute that  permits it, but the  eternal law of  God. ‘For your own lifeblood I will surely require  a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a  reckoning for  human life’ (Gen9:5-6).  The final book of the Holy Bible tells us that this reckoning will happen  on the last day when  murderers  will be  denied  entry into the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Assisted death is a misnomer. It is collaboration with devil to commit murder. If you really want to assist somebody, then  do it while they are alive and continue it till his natural death.

Let us pray; O Lord God, Lord of life and death, grant us the grace to choose life and reject  death. Give us the  strength to make our choice  final and irrevocable.

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