(LifeSiteNews) – Suicide rates are up in most Western countries and the number of young people killing themselves is especially alarming. The reason behind that is primarily a lack of meaning that so many suffer from in our postmodern world. The solution to that problem is a return to Christ.
The case of a 23-year-old Belgian woman who submitted to euthanasia six years after she survived an Islamic terrorist attack is immensely tragic. The terrorist attack did not kill her but giving up hope for a better future did. And in our secular post-modern world, this is sadly very understandable.
If you do not believe that there is a God, you lack an objective higher purpose. If you think that life is about the maximization of pleasure, suicide is a reasonable response if life seems hopeless and without joy. Superficial distractions and short moments of pleasure only work for so long; at some point, if people cannot answer the question of the ultimate meaning of their life, they are likely to despair.
It is understandable that young people are committing suicide as they have been taught, implicitly or explicitly, that life is ultimately meaningless.
I had times in my life when the heavy burden of suffering and sin seemed too much for me to bear. But every time I felt overwhelmed and hopeless, I reminded myself that Christ died for my sins and that my suffering need not be in vain. I can offer up my suffering for God and the conversion of sinners, and I know that God will wipe away every tear once we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
To have this ultimate, objective meaning can carry someone through the worst tribulations, as the lives of the saints prove.
When we suffer greatly from sickness, for example, we can think about the life of St. Therese of Lisieux and how she suffered joyfully for Christ. Praying the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, we can unite our pain with the great sufferings of our Lord and Savior. The Catholic faith offers so much spiritual consolation; Catholics have a huge advantage over non-believers in that way.
If I was still an agnostic or atheist, I might have considered suicide myself in times of suffering and hopelessness. Why bother, after all, if we are just a collection of atoms moving around in space, without an ultimate end? Fortunately, there is an ultimate end to life, and it is serving the Triune God.
Counseling, psychotherapy, and especially loving families and friends are no doubt important tools to prevent suicide. However, only conversion to Christ, to the logos, the true meaning of the world and our lives, will ultimately save society from the epidemic of hopelessness and suicide.
Let us, therefore, pray, fast, and offer up our sufferings for the conversion of souls, so that they may find meaning in Christ in order to endure the tribulations that life inevitably entails.
