“Better a poor man strong and robust, than a rich man with wasted frame. More precious than gold is health and well-being, contentment of spirit than coral. No treasure greater than a healthy body; no happiness, than a joyful heart! Preferable is death to a bitter life, unending sleep to constant illness. Dainties set before one who cannot eat are like the offerings placed before a tomb. What good is an offering to an idol that can neither taste nor smell? So it is with the afflicted man who groans at the good things his eyes behold!”
“Hold the physician in honor, for he is essential to you, and God it was who established his profession. From God the doctor has his wisdom…His knowledge makes the doctor distinguished…[But God] endows men with the knowledge to glory in His mighty works, through which the doctor eases pain and the druggist prepares his medicines; thus God's creative work continues without cease in its efficacy on the… earth…[The doctor] beseeches God that his diagnosis may be correct and his treatment bring about a cure.”
(Sirach 38:1–3, 6–8, 14)
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
While not intending to argue with the sacred author [!] – who wrote shortly before the notion of an afterlife was developed in Jewish thought – we could respond to this common sentiment he expresses that death is preferable to a miserable existence or that health is the “be all and end all” of human life (e.g. as it was for Descartes) by saying with Germain Grisez, that although health is a real good, “an element of true human well-being,” it is “not the whole of it. Human well-being includes intellectual knowledge, acquired skills, moral virtues, harmonious relationships, and God's supernatural gifts – none of which pertains to health.” Germain Grisez, “Health Care as Part of a Christian's Vocation,” in Issues for a Catholic Bioethic, ed. Luke Gormally, (London: The Linacre Centre, 1999), 153, emphasis added. With regard to Sirach's eschatology the notion of “Sheol remains the same vague shadow-world which his [Old Testament] predecessors had depicted, in which the shades of just and wicked mingle in one common lot of suspended existence. If it is referred to sometimes as a place of ‘rest’ (22: 11; 38: 23; 39: 11), and even perhaps ‘eternal rest’ (30: 17, text uncertain), this is said in no positive sense, but only expresses the truism that with death the curtain comes down on the present life with its inevitable lot of ‘anger, envy, trouble and unrest’ (40: 5, see vv 1-6…). Compared with this primitive next-world view the [so-called] Expanded Text [of Sirach] represents a remarkable doctrinal advance…” KearnsC., O.P., “Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach,” in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, eds. Rev. Reginald C. Fuller, et al. (London: Thomas Nelson, 1969, 1975), 545.
2.
See the following articles on life, health, and healing in the Bible: André-Alphonse Viard and Jacques Guillet, “Life,” in Dictionary of Biblical Theology, updated 2nd ed., ed. Xavier Léon-Dufour (1973; Boston: The Word Among Us/St. Paul Books & Media, 1988), 313-316; Howard Clark Lee, “Medicine and Healing,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary 4, eds. David Noel Freedman, et al. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 659-664; HarrisonR.K.“Healing, Health,” in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, ed. ButtrickGeorge Arthur (New York: Abingdon Press, 1962), 542–547.
3.
Joseph Fitzmyer notes that the Greek word dynameis (“mighty deeds”) better expresses “the activity of Jesus in curing and exorcising than the Latin-derived, commonly-used expression ‘miracles,’ because in most instances the emphasis in the New Testament falls not on the wondrous aspect of Jesus' deeds, but on the manifestation of the power that was his.” JosephA., FitzmyerS.J.Luke the Theologian: Aspects of His Teaching (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), 146. The emphasis on the wondrous, however, was a common feature of pagan miracle stories.
4.
This fact explains my focus on Luke's gospel. “The main points of the impressive traditional witness come to this: the author of the third gospel is [Luke], a companion of St Paul and a doctor…It follows that [Luke] is also the author of [Acts] for [Luke] and [Acts] are demonstrably two volumes of the one work.” W.J. Harrington, O.P., “St Luke,” in Fuller, A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, 986.
5.
See also e.g. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1503 which speaks of Christ as “the physician the sick have need of” (cf. Mk 2: 17).
6.
“Jesus' healing is a manifestation of the kingdom which develops gradually to its ultimate fulfillment ([Lk] 13: 18-21).” Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S., Luke (New Testament Message), vol. 5 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1980), p. 182. “The miracle was not primarily an external proof of the coming of the kingdom…but one of the means by which the kingdom came.” BrownRaymond E., An Introduction to New Testament Christology (New York: Paulist Press, 1994), p. 64.
7.
Fitzmyer argues that while Luke has added an apologetic element to the miracle stories (see Acts 2: 22), he does not conclude from them the divinity of Jesus. For Luke, “Jesus is rather God's attested agent…‘Lord and Christ’ ([Acts] 2: 36).” See Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., A Christological Catechism: New Testament Answers (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), p. 35. For a compelling contrary perspective willing to conclude from the miracles proof of the divinity of Jesus, see René Latourelle, The Miracles of Jesus and the Theology of Miracles (New York: Paulist Press, 1988). In his summary of the functions of miracles (of which he lists five), Latourelle argues that in the Bible they are regarded chiefly “as manifestations of the power and love of God the Savior. Then, when seen in the context specifically of the prophetic prediction of the Messiah and His reign, they signify that the prophesied kingdom has come at last and that Jesus of Nazareth is the awaited Messiah; the miracles fulfill the Scriptures. Third, when considered in the light of a lengthy tradition that regards miracles as one of the principal criteria by which the authenticity of a divine mission is judged, they certify that Christ is God's envoy and that His words are true; they signify in addition that He is the Son of God, since His miracles guarantee the truthfulness of this claim which is central to His message. The miracles show that God is present and active in Christ; the glory of God is His and marks His very being.” (p. 293). I omit the last two purposes that Latourelle lists.
8.
FitzmyerCf.A Christological Catechism, p. 38.
9.
TannehillRobert C.Luke (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1996), p. 150.
10.
“Jesus' miracles were not simply kind deeds done to aid individuals; they were concrete ways of proclaiming and effecting God's triumph over the powers of evil in the final hour.” John Meier, “Jesus,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, eds. RaymondE., BrownS.S. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), p. 1321. See also Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life; 1995), no. 50, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html; and the brief but worthwhile section, “Healing Miracles of Jesus,” in Norman M. Ford, The Prenatal Person: Ethics from Conception to Birth (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 36-37. The Catechism of the Catholic Church too, in its treatment of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, says Jesus' healings “announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through His Passover” (no. 1505). Although the New Testament shares with Judaism the belief that sin is the ultimate cause of sickness and disease, “there is hesitation to ascribe the immediate cause of illness in every case to personal sin, as in the case of the man born blind where Jesus states that his blindness is neither the result of sin nor that of his parents (Jn 9: 2-3).” Peter Lynch, The Church's Story: A History of Pastoral Care and Vision (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2005), p. 27.
11.
TannehillLuke, p. 106.
12.
Sr. Carol Taylor, the director of the Georgetown University Medical Center's Center for Clinical Bioethics writes: “It's amazing to pay attention to the way Jesus put himself in service of others in everyday encounters. He used touch and speech [and we might add even His own spittle]. He didn't arrive on the scene purporting to know what someone needed; He always asked. He was never grandiose, and He almost always healed one person at a time.” Quoted in TuckerJohn H., “CUA Honors Six Outstanding Alumni,”CUA Magazine18.3 (Fall 2006): 23. This is the alumni magazine of The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
13.
BenedictM., AshleyO.P., and KevinD., O'RourkeO.P.Ethics of Health Care: An Introductory Textbook, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002), p. 34.
14.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, 4th ed. (Washington, D.C.: U.S.C.C.B., 2001), p. 4.
15.
The Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, Charter for Health Care Workers (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1995), no. 3.
16.
See Charter for Health Care Workers
17.
Charter for Health Care Workers, no. 4.
18.
Charter for Health Care Workers, See also no. 1.
19.
See Charter for Health Care Workers, no. 5.
20.
The remaining parts of this talk draw largely from material published in an essay of mine titled, “The Catholic Physician in a Biotech World: Resisting the Danger of Perfection,”Ethics & Medics: The Bulletin of the NCBC on Moral Issues in the Health and Life Sciences26 (February 2001): 1–3. I have revised, expanded, and adapted the material for this talk.
21.
The current chairman is Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D., a Catholic whose own voluminous writings in bioethics are a source of great wisdom. See, e.g., PellegrinoEdmund D., and ThomasmaDavid C., Christian Virtues in Medical Practice (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1996).
22.
KassLeon“Aldous Huxley:Brave New World,” First Things (March 2000): 51.
23.
Brave New World,” First Things
24.
Brave New World,” First Things, p. 52, emphasis added.
25.
See GormallyLuke“Medicine as a Profession and the Meaning of Health as Its Goal,” in Issues for a Catholic Bioethic, ed. GormallyLuke (London: The Linacre Centre, 1999), pp. 173–183, who argues for the recognition of “somatic health as the central, controlling goal of medicine” (p. 181). And for further discussion of the nature of medicine, see e.g. Robert Sokolowski, “The Art and Science of Medicine,” in Robert Sokolowski, Christian Faith & Human Understanding: Studies on the Eucharist, Trinity, and the Human Person (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2006), pp. 237-249. For a sound discussion of how to understand health, see Germain Grisez, The Way of the Lord Jesus, vol. 2, Living a Christian Life (Franciscan Press, 1993), pp. 519-521. For how one can reasonably go about protecting and promoting one's health as a responsibility within the framework of one's personal vocation, see pp. 521-524.
26.
Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, Charter for Health Care Workers, no. 1.
27.
See DanielP., SulmasyO.F.M.A Balm for Gilead: Meditations on Spirituality and the Healing Arts (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2006) on the spirituality of the health care professional. Sulmasy is also a physician.
28.
Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, Charter for Health Care Workers, no. 3.
Veritatis Splendor, The pope draws our attention in paragraph no. 13 to the “commandments of the Law the Lord recalls to the young man. They are some of the commandments belonging to the so-called ‘second tablet’ of the Decalogue, the summary (cf. Rom 13: 8-10) and foundation of which is the commandment of love of neighbor:' You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Mt 19: 19; cf. Mk 12: 31). In this commandment we find a precise expression of the singular dignity of the human person, ‘the only creature that God has wanted for its own sake’” (cf. Gaudium et Spes, no. 24).
33.
Cf. FinnisJohnAquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory (Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 168–170.
34.
See e.g. the six essays that compose chapter eight (“Managed Care”) in A Primer for Health Care Ethics: Essays for a Pluralistic Society, Second Edition, ed. Kevin O'Rourke, O.P. (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2000), pp. 239–269, which deal with some of these pressures.
35.
Kass“Aldous Huxley,” p. 51.
36.
Kass“Aldous Huxley,” p. 51.
37.
In “Aldous Huxley,”, Kass writes: “Leading the triumphal procession [to a Baconian technological utopia] is modern medicine, the epitome of compassionate humanitarianism, becoming every day ever more powerful in its battle against disease, decay, and death, thanks especially to the astonishing achievements in biomedical science and technology – achievements for which we must surely be grateful“ (p. 51, emphasis added).
38.
Cf. the Chorus from T.S. Eliot, “The Rock,” Stanza VI, 1934.
39.
KassLeon“The Moral Meaning of Genetic Technology,”Commentary (September 1999): 32–38. This essay, under the title, “The Age of Genetic Technology Arrives,” is published as chapter four of Leon Kass, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics (Encounter Books, 2002), pp. 119-139, at p. 132. I cite from the book version of the essay. The essay can also be found online at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1139/MR1139.appf.pdf.
40.
KassLeon“The Moral Meaning of Genetic Technology,”Commentary (September 1999): 32–38. This essay, under the title, “The Age of Genetic Technology Arrives,” is published as chapter four of Leon Kass, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics (Encounter Books, 2002), pp. 119-139, at p. 132. I cite from the book version of the essay. The essay can also be found online at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1139/MR1139.appf.pdf.
41.
Commentary, p. 135.
42.
See also Yuval Levin, “The Moral Challenge of Modern Science,” available at: http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/14/levin.htm. This article appears also in the print edition of The New Atlantis (Fall 2006).
43.
On the “culture of life,” see especially John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae.
