The Fifth Commandment.
Which is the Fifth Commandment?
_Thou shalt not kill._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God, that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor
in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need._
1. You all know what it means to kill. It means to take our own life or
the life of our neighbor, our fellow-man. This is what God forbids in
this commandment. _God is the Giver of all life._ He alone, therefore,
has the right to take it away. God made man in His image. How dare we
destroy the image of God! Our neighbor's life should be _sacred_ to us.
God will punish him who takes his neighbor's life. _"Whoso sheddeth
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God
made He man."_ Gen. 9,6. Remember _Cain_ and _Judas._
2. God forbids still more in this commandment. Our Catechism explains it
by saying: _"We should fear and love God that we may not hurt ... our
neighbor in his body."_ In the story of the good Samaritan we learn what
this means. The man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among
thieves (robbers), who wounded him and, leaving him half dead, departed.
Luke 10,30. These robbers hurt the Jew in his body, they brought his
life into danger. But for the Samaritan he certainly would have died.
The life of our neighbor may be hurt in other ways. Pharaoh of Egypt
endangered the lives of the Israelites by compelling them to do labor
that was too hard for them. We should not wound our neighbor in his
body, or in any other way bring his life or health into danger and thus
shorten his life.
3. _We should not harm our neighbor in his body,_ that is we should not
by spiteful words or wicked deeds embitter his life and in this way
shorten it. Remember how Joseph's brothers embittered his life by
selling him into slavery, how they embittered the life of their father
by telling him that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal They made
life a burden both to their brother and to their father.
4. _We should fear and love God that we may ... help and befriend our
neighbor in every bodily need._ Our neighbor is in bodily need when he
is in danger of losing his life and health. Look again at the story of
the good Samaritan. There you will learn what it means to help and
befriend our neighbor in his bodily need. The poor Jew fell among
robbers, who stripped him of his raiment, wounded him and carelessly
departed, though that poor man was nearly dead. The Jew certainly was in
bodily need, being in great danger of losing his life. A Samaritan
passed, and, seeing this poor man, he took compassion on him. He went up
to him and helped him. He bound up his wounds, set him on his own beast
brought him to an inn, and took care of him. He helped the poor Jew in
his bodily need and saved his life.--But the good Samaritan did more.
The next day, not being able to stay any longer with his afflicted
brother, he gave money to the host of the inn, and asked him to take
care of the wounded Jew in his stead after his departure; he even
promised to give the innkeeper more money if it should be necessary. The
good Samaritan befriended the Jew, he acted as a friend to him. Not only
did he save him from death, he also assisted him until he was no longer
in bodily need. _"Go, and do thou likewise,"_ our Lord says.--That
Jew, like all the Jews at that time, most probably, was an enemy of the
Samaritans. The Samaritan knew that, and still he helped and befriended
him. We should help and befriend not only our relatives and friends, or
those who are able and willing to repay us and help us when we are in
need, but also our enemies, those who hate and despitefully use us, _"If
thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink,"_ Rom.
12,20. _"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you."_ Matt. 5,44.
5. The Samaritan _took compassion_ on the Jew, therefore he helped him.
The compassion, or pity, was in his heart. All our good works and all
our sins issue from the heart. _We should watch over our hearts, over
our thoughts._ No anger and hate against our neighbor should be in our
hearts. And even if our neighbor does us wrong, if he injures and
insults us, we should not revenge ourselves, but love our brother.
_"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."_ 1 John 3,15.--We should
always be kind, merciful, and forgiving to our neighbor, even to our
enemy. _"Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy."_ Matt.
5,7. And above all, we should _fear and love God,_ then we shall help
and befriend our neighbor, him whom God has made in His image.