In my writings for this month's Spiritual Ponderings, I desire to tackle two closely related topics. Those topics are euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. In my ten plus years of priesthood, I have discovered that the world of medical ethics is a very confusing place. Sometimes when we think that we are doing a good and loving thing we are in all reality acting out of fear and misplaced sense of compassion. As a guide, therefore, on our journey through this difficult topic, I have decided to turn to F. Michael Gloth, IIII M.D. and his article "Physician-Assisted-Suicide: The Wrong Approach to End of Life Care." I came across this article while searching the United States Catholic Conference of Bishop's website. Quotes from his article will be in bold and my commentary will be in ordinary type. For the full article feel free to go to my website www.mayjesuschristbepraised.com or the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops? website www.usccb.org .

Advocates of physician-assisted suicide try to obscure its real nature by avoiding references to euthanasia and homicide. Suicide is not advocated, except where it is cloaked as a medical procedure with the qualifier "physician-assisted." Yet, the arguments supporting physician-assisted suicide apply equally to suicide without a physician's assistance, as well as to euthanasia and homicide. Adding the term "physician-assisted" makes it no less suicide, and no less murder ? although admittedly it sounds more benign.

About ten years ago, I was listening to a priest preach a wonderful homily about absolute truth. He began by telling everyone that we were going to take a vote and this vote was going to be important because if the majority agreed with him then pizza would no longer be fattening and we all could eat as much pizza as we desired without gaining weight.. He therefore asked everyone in the place to raise their hands and shout if they felt pizza should no longer be fattening. The whole place raised their hands and shouted in agreement. The priest therefore concluded that pizza from that moment on would no longer be fattening because we have just voted on it. At last the priest regretted to inform us that just because we voted on something that vote did not make it true. He went onto say people can vote and say abortion is moral but it isn't. Suicide is the taken of a human life and physician assisted suicide is murder and there is nothing we can do to change that.

Some people are afraid to become that definitive on moral grounds for they fear that this means that they are someone they know are going to hell. They may for example have had an older brother commit suicide and cannot bring themselves to think of their brother as being in hell. The good news is that they don't have to but this is not because suicide was a moral choice but rather it has everything to do with God's mercy. Another way of saying it is that we all do bad things but that does not make us bad. We should however never try to make an immoral thing sound moral for it leads others down the wrong path and can rob us of our true hope.

The confusion engendered by the lack of clear and accurate media reporting is not the only reason, of course. Many today measure the value of life in strictly utilitarian terms. Seeing diminished value in lives that are no longer robust, they conclude that physician-assisted suicide is a rational choice.

Utilitarian philosophy is the history of ideas is the groundwork for Marxism, socialism, and communism. The premise is quite simple. A person or item has value as much as I can use it for my benefit. This is so totally opposite of Catholic teaching which declares that each human being has innate dignity that is not based on what he or she does but rather simply because each person is made in the image and likeness of God. John Paul II went so far to say that the opposite of love is not hate but rather objectification ? turning someone into an object and using them for your own selfish desires. The primary question a Christian should ask "Is it a loving thing to do?" We must also remember that love is not a feeling but rather wanting what is best for the other person.

St. Paul describes love in the Christian sense as follows: "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Am I making this decision in a patient manner or am I making in a rush? Am I truly doing a kind thing or am I trying to alleviate my own pain? Am I making this decision based on hope our out of despair? The only rational choice is the loving choice.

*F. Michael Gloth, III, MD, FACP, AGSF, CMD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director, Outpatient Services, for the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.