A common argument employed by advocates of assisted suicide, is that by ending one’s life, one avoids pointless suffering. Who wouldn’t want to avoid suffering? I think everyone would. But beyond this, faithful Christians differ greatly with advocates of assisted suicide over the assertion that suffering at the end of one’s life is pointless.

While Christian charity may motivate us to offer comfort and pain control for one in the midst of suffering, there are moral limits to what can be done. Ending suffering by ending someone’s life is a direct breech of the Fifth Commandment and therefore a grave sin, regardless of one’s intentions.

So what do we do with the unavoidable suffering that sometimes accompanies a person’s last days? As Christians, our response must always be informed by our faith.

We must never forget that Jesus Himself freely accepted the suffering that came to Him. If there was ever anyone on this earth who deserved to be free from suffering, it’s Him. We could make a similar claim about His mother, Mary. And yet, Scripture records the gruesome details of Jesus’ horrific suffering — and mentions that Mary herself would be “pierced with a sword.”

Theologically, we understand that sin is the ultimate cause of suffering. And yet the two persons who would have a claim to be exempted, suffered greatly.

This underscores the fact that, with our limited view, suffering will sometimes be mysterious, especially when it involves the innocent. Such examples elicit in us the question “Why?” — Why this? Why now? Why them?

I’m sure Christ’s followers who witnessed His suffering likely asked similar questions. The inability to answer this question fully leads some to question God’s existence. If the cross of Christ was the end of the story, we might be able to sympathize with that response. But the cross isn’t the end. Something comes after which, while not erasing Jesus’ pain, nevertheless changed the meaning of suffering itself, and revealed a deeper truth accessible to those with faith.

Faith in Jesus allows us to trust that there is an answer  to the question “Why?” even if it may not be fully known now.

But our faith also inspires another question which is much more helpful: “How?” How can I serve Him with this? How can I join my suffering to Christ’s?

These are questions that believers must ponder, because they recognize something invisible to atheistic and nihilistic eyes: suffering is not pointless — even if mysterious.

In God’s economy nothing is wasted or devoid of meaning — not even suffering. If it were not transformed by the cross, if His death was the end of the story, if there was nothing after this life, then those advocating for assisted suicide would have a point calling it pointless.

But if Christ’s suffering served a purpose and accomplished something, if there is something after this life, then we who “have been baptized into His death” can view suffering differently.

What if it’s our call to be reconciled to God or to detach ourselves from our own will in favor of God’s? What if it could be offered up for those family members who have left the faith? What if it is the greatest prayer we might ever pray? With God the possibilities are endless.

On the other side of this life, we will see what we cannot see now, and may even see the sufferings we offered to God as the greatest gifts we ever had the opportunity to give.

Perhaps it was this realization that inspired St. Paul to write: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the church.” (Col 1:24)

For the Christian, our faith reminds us, and reassures us, that no suffering, no matter how large or small is ever pointless.