Day 292: Respect for Human Life (2258-2262)

• It’s Day 292!!

• ARTICLE 5: THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

• The foundation for this is that the last seven Commandments are about the dignity of the human person

• Every taking of an innocent human life is against the Fifth Commandment

• RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE

• THE WITNESS OF SACRED HISTORY

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you and we glorify your name. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask that you be glorified. We ask that you be known and loved throughout this world. We ask that you please help us. Help us to recognize in our brothers and sisters, those among us, a dignity, the dignity that comes from you, the worth and value that comes from you. Lord God, help us to always treat each other with that respect. Help us to always treat each other with that dignity, and help us always to be examples then of those who walk in this world, bearing your name, and seeing your light in others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2258 says, “‘Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.’”

• The heart and soul of this whole thing is that the dignity of the human person comes DIRECTLY FROM GOD

• That is the groundwork of every other Commandment 4-10

• Human life is sacred and it extends always and everywhere to all time for all people

• Paragraph 2261 says, “Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: ‘Do not slay the innocent and the righteous.’ The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.”

• The commandment in Exodus and Deuteronomy is “You shall not kill”

• So what does that mean?

• Does it mean you shall not kill animals?

• What does that have to do if there is a just war?

• What does that mean when it comes to the just use of the death penalty?

• The word that is used in Exodus and Deuteronomy, both in the Hebrew original as well as the Greek translation, is a word that specifically means MURDER

• “Kill” is taking an innocent human being’s life

• The Old Testament Law has not passed away and is still enforced right now

• We may NEVER, for any reason, take an innocent human life

• The Law has been expanded because it is a Law of love

• It does not take a ton of love to obey the commandment, “You shall not murder an innocent human being”

• Matthew 5:21-22 says, “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill: and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.”

• Paragraph 2262 says, “In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recalls the commandment, ‘You shall not kill,’ and adds to it the proscription of anger, hatred, and vengeance. Going further, Christ asks his disciples to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies. He did not defend himself and told Peter to leave his sword in its sheath.”

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about C.S. Lewis and Mere Christianity…

• C.S. Lewis said, “In fact, to love our enemies is perhaps the most challenging command that Jesus gives us.”

• We have to begin wrapping our hearts around that truth

• Yes, we are called to avoid murder

• That is the baseline

• Jesus calls us vastly higher than that

• Jesus calls us to avoid anger, hatred, and vengeance

• Anger on its own is simply an emotion

• Jesus is talking about a WILLED ANGER

• Emotions do not have moral value until we begin to CHOOSE them

• To feed your anger or hatred against your neighbor or to seek vengeance against your neighbor is to go directly against Christ’s command

• C.S. Lewis said, “Oh, I would like to see how you behave if it was your family that the Nazis had tortured, if it was your family that the Nazis had killed. I wonder what you would do if you needed to forgive them for destroying your life. So do I. I wonder as well. I don’t know how I would respond. I don’t know what I would do if I was in that situation where there was a person who was responsible for grave evil aginst me or against the people that I love the most. I don’t know what I would do, but I do know that Jesus has called me to love them somehow, somehow. How is that somehow? That somehow is to love them as I love myself. We must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves, to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, in this world or in another, be cured. In fact, to wish is good. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him, wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying that he is nice when he is not. I admit that this means loving people who have nothing lovable about them.”

• Isn’t that the heart of it?

• We are called to love ourselves

• Sometimes, there is very little that we find in ourselves that is lovable

• AND YET…

• We are called to love ourselves, which means to will our own good

• If I love my neighbor as myself…

• If I love my enemy as myself…

• That means that just like I recognize that there is plenty inside me that is wrecked and broken and not good, I continue to choose the good for me

• I continue to choose my own good which is to continue to love oneself

• So I will mercy for myself

• I desire mercy for me when I need mercy

• Because of that, I need to desire mercy for my enemy when they need mercy

• IT IS A MASSIVE CHALLENGE!!

• Romans Ch 5 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

• That is the love with which you and I have been loved

• Therefore, that is the love we have to bring into all of our relationships, which is a challenge

• It is IMPOSSIBLE without God’s Grace

• Sooner or later, if not already, we will have to love our enemies

• Sooner or later, if not already, there will be people who have hurt us and who have hated us that we are called to love and forgive

• We need that Grace

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…