27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thou Shall Not Kill

95% of the time, as this, my Pastor's Notes have to be written & submitted weeks before the actual weekend in which it is published due to print deadlines & my own schedule. So it's admittedly not the best outlet for our immediate 24 hr. news cycle world. I say this, because a few weeks ago, I was “criticized” (to use their word) for having Pastor Notes about Immigration when a number of tragic & senseless shootings had happened (recently… seemingly always). The tragic school shooting during School Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, a school shooting in Denver on the same day as assassination of Charlie Kirk (and honestly, whatever senseless shootings happen in the interim between my authoring this and its eventual publication).

The recent shootings are indeed heartbreaking & incomprehensible. All such shootings are indeed heartbreaking & incomprehensible. As killing, murders & assassination are pretty universally & immediately acknowledged as wrong in the eyes of God & man, it seems less catechesis is needed in such areas where innate human dignity is undermined & disregarded than others. Yet, maybe my critic is right. Maybe some catechesis on the Sanctity of Life is required. So, also from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2258 "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."

2261 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 every one, always and everywhere.

2268 The fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely sinful… Infanticide, fratricide, parricide, and the murder of a spouse are especially grave crimes.

2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person. [i.e. Intentional abortion is morally unacceptable.]

2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.

2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies… Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.

2302 …Our Lord asked for peace of heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral. Anger is a desire for revenge… If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin.

2307 The fifth commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life. Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war.

Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.

Holy Family, Open to & Protecting the Sanctity of Life, Pray for us.

~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries