Day 293: Legitimate Defense (2263-2267)

• It’s Day 293!!

• LEGITIMATE DEFENSE

• Is there ever a time when it is legitimate to defend yourself?

• If you are a Christian, when are you able to defend yourself?

• Keep in mind that we have the mind of Christ, not just the way of the world

• The way of the world says, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”

• We are called, as Christians, to have clearer vision than that

• We are called, as Christians, to have bigger hearts than that

• At the same time, is there room for legitimate defense?

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, send us your Holy Spirit. Send your Holy Spirit so that we can see the way you see, that we can view the world and others the way you view the world and others. Help us to have accurate vision. Help us to have clear vision. Not only that, Lord God, give us hearts like yours, hearts that love what you love, hearts that hate what you hate. Lord God, give us courageous hearts and also prudent hearts that can be discerning, that can recognize when is the time to lay down one’s life and when is the time to stand, when is the time to defend the people who need defending. Lord, give us discerning minds and discerning hearts. Help us to know when you are calling us to be martyrs. Help us to know when you are calling us to be soldiers. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2263 says, “The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. ‘The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor…The one is intended, the other is not.’”

• The principle of double effect was coined by St. Thomas Aquinas

• The goal is not to kill someone

• The goal is to preserve my own life or the life of someone around me

• Paragraph 2264 says, “Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow: If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful; whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful…Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s own life than of another’s.”

• You have the RIGHT to defend yourself

• Paragraph 2265 says, “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”

• If this aggressor is coming against just you, you can choose to be a martyr (I’m not going to write down all of what Fr. Mike says here, but that is the gist)

• BUT…

• Not when it comes to when other people who you are responsible for are in danger too

• This could be the father who has to protect his family

• Part of a father’s duty is to protect his children

• When it comes to those who hold authority in civil society, they can take up arms 

• For example, the police

• Paragraph 2266 says, “The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people’s rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and the duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people’s safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.”

• Justice is the primary aim of punishment

• A correctional facility is actually meant to be remedial in some way, shape, or form

• In countries like the United States, correctional facilities can take criminals and make them hardened criminals by treating them very inhumanely

• The Church is proposing the PRINCIPLE

• The POLICY that implements the principle is up to the Catholics in the world who are in the world responsible for shaping policy

• The first aim of punishment is that it is the right and duty of the civil authority to inflict punishment on those who have broken the law and have harmed the common good

• The punishment must correspond to the crime

• The primary aim of punishment is justice

• Punishment should be remedial/a correction

• These are the elements of the PRINCIPLE

• So what are the policies?

• That is up to the Catholics in the world to figure out how to do best

• How can we best implement these principles in a way that actually is just and remedial?

• Historically and Scripturally speaking, the death penalty has been part of what we have inherited from Scripture and in tradition

• Society must be able to protect itself for the common good

• That is one of the reasons why the death penalty has been accepted for much of Judeo-Christian history

• Why?

• The goal of punishment is justice

• THe ultimate goal is, if possible, remedial correction

• To whatever extent a society can do this, they would keep those criminals alive

• Not to punish them further but to provide an opportunity for repentance

• What if there was someone like the Joker?

• Batman keeps throwing the Joker into Arkham Asylum

• The Joker keeps breaking out and killing more people

• Batman throws him back in Arkham

• Rinse and repeat

• It’s been demonstrated in this case that the Joker can’t be held in prison

• Or think of a country where it is easy to break out of prison 

• There are repeat criminals who continue to break out of jail and go on more rampages and killing sprees

• In those cases, capital punishment would be just

• Why?

• Because the goal is to protect the common good and the innocent

• If a society is unable to protect the innocent through incarceration, there would be room for capital punishment

• Paragraph 2267 says, “Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

• In the long-standing tradition of the Church, the death penalty has been admissible for all these reasons of necessity

• At THIS moment, the Church teaches that the world around us has changed so much that it is NO LONGER ADMISSIBLE because it is NO LONGER NECESSARY

• If you want further insight into this, you can watch Catechism Answers with Dr. Scott Sollom https://www.youtube.com/live/Wzy63iLFFjU?si=ZFjJSVdBYhCv-p77&t=829 

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

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

• I cannot WAIT…