Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Murder is the unjust killing of a human being by one ormore private individuals. Murder is a very grave sin againstcommutative justice. In the necessary killing of plants and animalswhich we use for food, there is no offense. Only in the unjustkilling of a human being is the sin of murder committed.
2. The execution, by public authority, of a person guiltyof heinous crime, is not murder. Such an execution is no mere actof vengeance; it is the removal from the community, by competentauthority, of one whose crime shows him to be a menace thatseriously threatens the common good. As a man must sometimes havearm or leg amputated to save his life, so the body of the communitymust amputate seriously diseased members that threaten the wholegroup and its common life.
3. No private individual, or group of individuals, mayjustifiably take upon themselves the task of ridding the communityof criminals by process of execution. Killings by such agencies aresimply murders. Only the justly constituted public authority canlawfully inflict the death penalty.
4. Clerics must have no part in any killing. This is sobecause (a) they are to follow Christ closely in all they do, andChrist suffered without striking back or inflicting death onanyone; (b) they are the ministers of the New Law which appoints nodeath penalty.
5. Suicide, or self-murder, is a heinous sin against God,against nature, and against the community. To kill privately,whether the victim be oneself or another, is to usurp God'splace and power, for God alone is master of life and death. Ourlife is given us, not to own and to dispose of as we choose, but touse for God's glory and our own salvation.
6. It is never lawful, even by public authority, to killan innocent person, no matter what benefit may accrue to thecommunity from his death.
7. If, in defending oneself against a murderous and unjustattack, one kills the assailant, there is no murder, but blamelessself-defense. Nor is there murder in the necessary and officialacts of those authoritatively set to guard or defend the commongood, such as policemen and soldiers.
8. A person who kills another by accident is without guilt if,when the fatal accident occurs, he is performing a lawful actionand exercising due care.
"The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary consists in hearing the word of God and living by it."
R. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP
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"God has no need of men."
St Philip Neri
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"Lord, take from me everything that hinders me from going to You. give me all that will lead me to You. Take me from myself and give me to Yourself."
St Nicholas Flue
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