Posted on 02/26/2011 8:53:21 PM PST by Salvation
For Christians, this teaching takes on even greater depth because our Lord entered this world and our own human condition. Our Lord knew the joy and pain, success and failure, pleasure and suffering, happiness and sorrow that come in this life; yet, He also showed us how to live this life in the love of God and trusting in His will. Moreover, Jesus suffered, died, and rose to free us from sin and give us the promise of everlasting life. Through our baptism, we share a new life in the Lord. St. Paul reminds us, "You have been purchased, and at a price. So glorify God in your body" (I Corinthians 6:20).
Therefore, we must be mindful that the preservation of our life — body and soul — is not something discretionary but obligatory. We must preserve and nourish both our physical and spiritual life. The Catechism asserts, "Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of" (#2280).
With this foundation in mind, we can see why suicide has traditionally be considered a gravely wrong moral action, i.e. a mortal sin. Our Holy Father affirmed this position in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (#66). (Please note that suicide is distinguished from the sacrifice of one's life for God or another, as in the cases of martyrdom, or of offering one's life or risking it to save another person.)
The intentional taking of one's own life is wrong for several reasons: First, in the most basic sense, each human being naturally seeks to his preserve life. To take our own life defies our natural instinct to live.
Second, suicide violates a genuine love for oneself and one's neighbor-- family, friends, neighbors, and even acquaintances. Other people need us and depend upon us in ways we may not even know. When I as a priest have had to comfort the family of a suicide victim, I hope that the person somehow realizes how much he really was loved and needed. I also feel sad that this poor troubled person faced something so seemingly unbearable, insurmountable, or agonizing that he chose to withdraw from the love of God and others, and kill himself.
Finally, suicide defies the love we owe God. Sure, we all face the tough times, hardships, and sufferings. However, we are called to place ourselves in the hands of God who will never abandon us, but see us safely through this life. The words of the "Our Father" — "thy will be done" — must be real for us. To commit suicide is to reject His "lordship" in our life.
Therefore, objectively, suicide is a mortal sin. (Moreover, to help someone commit suicide is also a mortal sin.) Here though we must remember that for a sin to be mortal and cost someone salvation, the objective action (in this case the taking of one's own life) must be grave or serious matter; the person must have an informed intellect (know that this is wrong); and the person must give full consent of the will (intend to commit this action). In the case of suicide, a person may not have given full consent of the will. Fear, force, ignorance, habit, passion, and psychological problems can impede the exercise of the will so that a person may not be fully responsible or even responsible at all for an action. Here again the Catechism states, "Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide" (#2282). This qualification does not make suicide a right action in any circumstance; however, it does make us realize that the person may not be totally culpable for the action because of various circumstances or personal conditions.
Only God can read the depths of our soul. Only He knows how much we love Him and how responsible we are for our actions. We leave the judgment then to Him alone. The Catechism offers words of great hope: "We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to Him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives" (#2283). Therefore, we do offer the Mass for the repose of the soul of a suicide victim, invoking God's tender love and mercy, and His healing grace for the grieving loved ones.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Saunders, Rev. William. "The Sin of Suicide ." Arlington Catholic Herald.
This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald.
THE AUTHOR
Father William Saunders is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Sterling, Virginia. The above article is a "Straight Answers" column he wrote for the Arlington Catholic Herald. Father Saunders is also the author of Straight Answers, a book based on 100 of his columns and published by Cathedral Press in Baltimore.
Someone asked about this tonight. So here goes.....please talk with a minister or a priest. Please
Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.
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 to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.
If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.
He also does not have a clue about the kind of pain that typically drives a person to suicide.
I had to identify the body of a relative who had committed suicide. A gruesome task, but it had to be done.
I hope you are not trying to read his mind.
Okay, guilty as charged.
But I’ll put it this way: The article does not sound to me as if it were written by someone who really understands the kind of pain that typically drives a person to commit suicide.
I am not a catholic, but a born again Christian and I really enjoyed this posting. thank you.
“I also feel sad that this poor troubled person faced something so seemingly unbearable, insurmountable, or agonizing that he chose to withdraw from the love of God and others, and kill himself”
Seems to me that he does!
>>Someone asked about this tonight. So here goes.....please talk with a minister or a priest. Please<<
Indeed! The most precious gift God gave us is life. We are admonished not to discard His gifts.
And it is unfair — to the survivors. Everyone ends up losing, malaise is visited on everyone and God’s judgment will be most terrible.
To date, I know of only one suicide (and even then I might be remembering incorrectly) on FR. Thank God the Conservative philosophy is based on the infinite dignity of the Human Soul. Sadly, the liberal philosophy sees the human soul as an artifact of their banal minds and of little value. These are the people we need to pray for.
A very sad thing to have to do...but only God knows what drove the person to it. Mental illness is a real thing and the reader of hearts is the only Judge..
>>I had to identify the body of a relative who had committed suicide. A gruesome task, but it had to be done.<<
Something new for my prayers — that I never have to do that.
I really hope this doesn’t affect you permanently. I am not sure it would not stay with me for quite some time.
Thanks, so much.
It’s tough to have someone ask about suicide.
I found an article about being complicit in assisted suicide too. And I can’t accept that either.
God has a plan for us. If it involves suffering here on earth — won’t that mean more rewards in heaven?
I’m not Roman Catholic, but a Reformed Protestant, and I am not so sure that we should easily go the “mental illness/depression” route. Scripture is clear that things like suicide (ie. self murder) are sins that come clearly from the heart.
**And it is unfair — to the survivors. Everyone ends up losing, malaise is visited on everyone and God’s judgment will be most terrible.**
I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I know the guilt, terror, puzzlement, and horror that I would inflict on others through suicide would not be a pretty picture at all.
Hopefully people will consider that aspect before they succumb to the temptation to take their own life.
God is always so good. God is waiting to forgive this person or any person....just talk to a priest or minister.
It was over 20 years ago, but only a couple years after my husband’s death, so at that time it was quite traumatic.
It hasn’t affected me long term. Thanks for your prayers.
With all due respect, Father William Saunders does not know despair.
How can this come from the heart when a person can be so totured by some inner demons that they cannot think rationally? I had this happen in my own family just 28 dags ago. Nobody but God knows why!
totured = tortured
P.S. Your prayers, others’ prayers, as much as I sincerely appreciate them, and my prayers as well, have done nothing, sorry to say.
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