by Charles J. Chaput

About the author: Charles J. Chaput, a member of the Order of Friars Minor, Capuchins, is the archbishop of Denver.

See if this story sounds familiar: A happily married couple—she is a pianist; he a rising scientist—have their love suddenly tested by a decline in the wife’s health. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she falls victim to a steady loss of muscle control and paralysis. The desperate husband uses all his professional skills to save her. But ultimately he must watch her deteriorate in hideous pain. The wife worries that she will soon no longer be “a person anymore—just a lump of flesh—and a torture” for her husband. She begs her husband to kill her before that happens. And eventually, worn down, the...