FIFTH COMMANDMENT
190. The fifth commandment is: Do not kill.
191. In the fifth commandment we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves and to forgive our enemies.
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Forgiveness of the offenses
The fifth commandment tells us to forgive our enemies and love all in a good way.
Forgiveness of enemies consists in not loving them evil and giving them the common signs of friendship.
Jesus has said: Forgive and you will be forgiven; by the same measure with which you measure, you will be measured.
To give us an example, He, being on the Cross, forgave those who mocked Him, saying: "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they do!"
Let us therefore forgive with all our heart; let us do good to those who do evil to us, and thus we shall attain divine mercy.
192. In the fifth commandment it is forbidden to cause harm to one’s body or soul.
193. Sins mortally against the fifth commandment: he who kills or severely wounds another [the embryo or foetus in the mother’s womb is someone other than her, with a soul given by God, if fertilization was natural]; he who takes his own life; he who challenges, accepts or cooperates to duel; he who gets drunk, eats things gravely harmful to his health, or without just cause puts his life in danger; he who desires death for himself or his neighbor, or some other serious evil, or has hatred for him, or causes scandal, and he who curses himself or another.
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The fifth commandment: "Do not kill," forbids doing evil to oneself or to another, in works, words, or desire.
Therefore, it forbids murder, suicide, quarrel, duel, injury, beatings, insults, imprecations and scandal.
The fifth commandment not only forbids killing, but everything that leads to this crime, such as violent disputes or altercations, insulting words, anger, hatred, revenge and envy.
It is not so easy to keep this commandment well.
God alone is the owner of our health and life and that of our neighbor; therefore, only He can dispose of them freely.
Murder is killing another.
Abortion, deliberately sought, is always a very serious sin.
It is lawful to kill another:
1o In case of self-defense, if there is no other means.
2o When fighting in a fair war.
3º To a criminal, by order of public authority.
Only public authority (never private) can punish a criminal with death.
Suicide is to give oneself death, deliberately
Never and for no reason is it lawful to take one’s own life directly.
The suicidal is a cowardly deserter who flees from the battle of life; he has no courage to endure adversities.
Suicide is a horrendous crime.
Only madness or irreligion can induce to commit it.
The suicidal, in order to be free from temporal penalties, falls into the eternal ones of hell.
[A pregnant woman who kills her child in her womb for not wanting to bear the pregnancy, also chooses hell eternally for not bearing the discomfort of pregnancy, she can confess if she is sorry (something that a suicidal person cannot) but must do severe penance in this world, tells us Our Lady of the Roses, www.tldm.org)
Saint Mother Therese of Calcutta once walked the streets of New York with a banner: "don’t kill him, give him to me," she gave them up for adoption. ]
It is worse an hour of hell than many years of sorrows, the most terrible, in this world.
The good Christian, to remedy his sorrows, turns not to suicide, but to fervent prayer, asking God to free him from them or give him strength to suffer patiently.
He who suffers and dies resigned as God wills, is the brave soldier who dies on the battlefield: his soul will gird the crown of eternal glory.
It is lawful, and an act of heroism, to expose oneself to death for a just cause: for example, to assist the infested sick, to give the lifeguard to other in case of shipwreck, etc.
There is an obligation to use ordinary means to maintain health.
Those who risk losing health or life without cause, sin; those who indulge in gluttony by eating and drinking excessively, etc, sin.
[Amusement parks are bad because we get used to putting our lives at risk for fun, we misshape our minds. We think nothing is going to happen, but many amusement parks in the world have had fatal accidents. Our Lady of the Roses tells us: "no cinema, theater, tv or thematic parks". ]
Drunkenness, this detestable vice makes man an abject being.
It upsets his reason, resembling the brutes.
Shortens his life.
It ruins his interests.
It exposes him to commit any crime.
It destroys the peace of home.
It produces countless evils.
Quarrel, it is the fight without premeditation.
Duel, is a combat with deadly weapons, between two people who have previously agreed to fix the time, place and weapons to fight.
The duel, made by private authority, is always illicit, even to the military.
Duel done by public authority may be lawful in the same sense as war.
Those who kill in duel are more criminals and murderers than those who kill in quarrel.
Duel is an unjust and barbaric action, and therefore cannot repair honor.
There is excommunication for anyone who voluntarily takes part in a duel, even as a doctor or spectator, who has gone on purpose.
Violent disputes or altercations. They almost always originate in things of no importance and often end in insults and fights.
In the discussions, each one must defend his opinion without acrimony and with Christian charity.
194. To curse is to ask for himself, or for another, some evil.
195. Cursing is a mortal sin, if it is with a desire for serious evil.
They are seriously guilty:
1 Those who curse with desire for a serious evil.
2 Even without such desire, the parents and superiors who curse in front of their inferior ones, for reason of scandal.
Wishing death to oneself is not generally a mortal sin, because one desires it so as not to suffer so much; it is usually a lack of patience.
One can legitimately wish death:
1 Never to offend God again.
2 To be able to see God and enjoy the infinite delights of heaven.
3 In order not to suffer the miseries of this life, nevertheless resigning himself to the will of God.
Scandal is to give the neighbor, with some saying, deed or guilty omission, opportunity to sin.
He who commits a sin of scandal steals from Jesus Christ the souls that have cost Him His blood and life.
The Divine Redeemer said: "Woe to him for whom the scandal comes! It would have been better if they threw him into the depths of the sea!
He who has harmed his neighbor, physically or spiritually, must, if he can, repair the harm he caused.