YOUCAT Question n. 378 – Part II. Why is it not permissible to take one’s own life or the lives of others?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) God alone is Lord over life and death. Except in the case of
legitimate self-defense of oneself or another, no one may kill another human
being.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 2260)
The covenant between God and mankind is interwoven with reminders of God's gift
of human life and man's murderous violence: For your lifeblood I will surely
require a reckoning.... Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood
be shed; for God made man in his own image (Gen 9:5-6). The Old Testament
always considered blood a sacred sign of life (Cf. Lev 17:14). This teaching
remains necessary for all time. (CCC 2261) Scripture specifies the prohibition
contained in the fifth commandment: "Do not slay the innocent and the
righteous" (Ex 23:7). 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 everyone, always and everywhere.
Reflecting
and meditating
(Youcat comment) An attack on life is a sacrilege committed
against God. Human life is sacred; this means that it belongs to God; it is his
property. Even our own life is only entrusted to us. God himself has given us
the gift of life; only he may take it back from us. The Book of Exodus,
translated literally, says “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13).
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 2318) "In [God's] hand is the life of every living
thing and the breath of all mankind" (Job 12:10). (CCC 2319) Every human life, from the moment of conception until
death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in
the image and likeness of the living and holy God. (CCC 2320) The murder
of a human being is gravely contrary to the dignity of the person and the
holiness of the Creator.
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