Living
God’s will can prevent suicide
Death is a fact of life. In coping with the inevitable, we grapple especially
with the fact of lives ended too soon. Outpacing deaths by homicide and
by HIV/AIDS combined, the 1,404 suicide deaths in 2005 in Pennsylvania
made suicide one of the leading causes of mortality in our state.
No one holds fundraisers for research, enacts new public policies or hires
police officers to stem that toll. Yet a new public awareness campaign
seeks to reduce the number of completed suicides by shedding light on
this most preventable cause of death.
Feelingblue.org focuses attention on statistics compiled by the state
about suicide. A closer look into them reveals a surprise: The top percentage
of deaths by suicide does not consist of anguished teenagers in the flower
of their lives but white men between the ages of 40 and 50. Many men face
personal expectations not only to exceed their father’s achievements,
but also high cultural expectations to be recognized as leaders in business,
politics or the arts. When a man realizes that he never will become vice-president
of the firm, a senator, artistic genius or well known for any public achievement,
a crisis of spirit often sets in.
While some men fall into a depression that may end in an attempt at suicide,
most deal with their personal crisis. Eventually they reach a point of
acceptance of themselves and their state in life. They may find, as they
reflect on Sacred Scripture, that the path to life is found in accepting
God’s will for one’s vocation. On that path lies true happiness.
It is a path not without suffering.
Jesus, our model and guide, accepted God’s will without reservation.
In suffering until death on the cross, Jesus won eternal life for all.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that while the taking of
one’s life is contrary to the just love of self, and to love for
the living God, hope remains even for someone who completes suicide. “We
should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken
their own lives,” says the Catechism. “By ways known to Him
alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance.”
Through the community of the Church on earth, we pray for and reach out
to our brothers and sisters in distress to show them that the path to
peace lies in acceptance of one’s vocation in life. In every life
there are crosses, yet more numerous joys. As the medieval poet Dante,
no stranger to personal crosses, himself, said about the gift of accepting
God’s will in our lives: “In His will is our peace.”