"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
(Lk
10:27):"promote" life
75. God's commandments teach us the
way of life. The negative moral precepts, which declare that the choice of
certain actions is morally unacceptable, have an absolute value for human
freedom: they are valid always and everywhere, without exception. They make it
clear that the choice of certain ways of acting is radically incompatible with
the love of God and with the dignity of the person created in his image. Such
choices cannot be redeemed by the goodness of any intention or of any
consequence; they are irrevocably opposed to the bond between persons; they
contradict the fundamental decision to direct one's life to God. 99
In this sense, the negative moral precepts have an
extremely important positive function. The "no" which they
unconditionally require makes clear the absolute limit beneath which free
individuals cannot lower themselves. At the same time they indicate the minimum
which they must respect and from which they must start out in order to say
"yes" over and over again, a "yes" which will gradually
embrace the entire horizon of the good (cf. Mt
5:48). The commandments, in particular the negative moral precepts,
are the beginning and the first necessary stage of the journey towards freedom.
As Saint Augustine
writes, "the beginning of freedom is to be free from crimes... like
murder, adultery, fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege and so forth. Only when
one stops committing these crimes (and no Christian should commit them), one
begins to lift up one's head towards freedom. But this is only the beginning of
freedom, not perfect freedom".100
76. The commandment "You shall
not kill" thus establishes the point of departure for the start of true
freedom. It leads us to promote life actively, and to develop particular ways
of thinking and acting which serve life. In this way we exercise our
responsibility towards the persons entrusted to us and we show, in deeds and in
truth, our gratitude to God for the great gift of life (cf.
Ps 139:13-14).
The Creator has entrusted man's life to his
responsible concern, not to make arbitrary use of it, but to preserve it with
wisdom and to care for it with loving fidelity. The God of the Covenant has
entrusted the life of every individual to his or her fellow human beings,
brothers and sisters, according to the law of reciprocity in giving and
receiving, of self-giving and of the acceptance of others. In the fullness of
time, by taking flesh and giving his life for us, the Son of God showed what
heights and depths this law of reciprocity can reach. With the gift of his
Spirit, Christ gives new content and meaning to the law of reciprocity, to our
being entrusted to one another. The Spirit who builds up communion in love
creates between us a new fraternity and solidarity, a true reflection of the
mystery of mutual self-giving and receiving proper to the Most Holy Trinity.
The Spirit becomes the new law which gives strength to believers and awakens in
them a responsibility for sharing the gift of self and for accepting others, as
a sharing in the boundless love of Jesus Christ himself.
77. This new law also gives spirit
and shape to the commandment "You shall not kill". For the Christian
it involves an absolute imperative to respect, love and promote the life of
every brother and sister, in accordance with the requirements of God's
bountiful love in Jesus Christ. "He laid down his life for us; and we
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren"
(1 Jn 3:16).
The commandment "You shall not kill", even
in its more positive aspects of respecting, loving and promoting human life, is
binding on every individual human being. It resounds in the moral conscience of
everyone as an irrepressible echo of the original covenant of God the Creator
with mankind. It can be recognized by everyone through the light of reason and
it can be observed thanks to the mysterious working of the Spirit who, blowing
where he wills (cf. Jn 3:8), comes to and
involves every person living in this world.
It is therefore a service of love which we are all
committed to ensure to our neighbour, that his or her life may be always
defended and promoted, especially when it is weak or threatened. It is not only
a personal but a social concern which we must all foster: a concern to make
unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed society.
We are asked to love and honour the life of every man
and woman and to work with perseverance and courage so that our time, marked by
all too many signs of death, may at last witness the establishment of a new
culture of life, the fruit of the culture of truth and of love.
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