Asymmetric Catholic

Tony Snow is the second broadcasting giant to pass away in as many months, after Tim Russert. One of the most important factors in determining how much respect a man should receive is his relationship to his family, especially his spouse. Like Russert, Tony Snow seems to have been a dedicated father and husband: R.I.P.

All of us will face physical problems. Indeed, all of us will die. Illness can lead one to despair because it negatively affects one's time on earth and forces one to ponder his demise.

Christianity teaches us to use our inevitable suffering to identify more closely with Christ's Passion ("offering it up"). Some even thank God for their suffering. Tony Snow didn't exactly say as much, but he did point out the "blessings" of his terrible illness:

Blessings arrive in unexpected packages—in my case, cancer.

Those of us with potentially fatal diseases—and there are millions in America today—find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.

I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this—because of it—God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.