Q. At the time when Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, was the original intent of the Fifth Commandment to be a proscription against murder? — P.C., California.
A. We would say yes. Beginning with the murder of Abel by his brother Cain long before Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, God had told His Chosen People to avoid the willful killing of innocent persons.
In the account of this first murder, says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2259), “God declares the wickedness of this fratricide: ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand’” (Gen. 4:10-11).
A few chapters later, God warned Noah about man’s murderous violence: “For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life./ If anyone sheds the blood of man,/ by man shall his blood be shed;/ For in the image of God/ has man been made” (Gen. 9:5-6).
This built-in respect for human life was explained by the Catechism (n. 2258):
“ ‘Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from the beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being’” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction, Donum Vitae, intro. 5).
Noting that the Book of Exodus also prohibited the slaying of “the innocent and the just” (23:7), the Catechism says that “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” (n. 2261).
Q. Does the Church say anything about risky behavior? That is, risky behavior not undertaken for reasons such as military service, to save another person’s life, etc. Is it wrong to play football, walk tightropes, or other similar activities? Love the column! — C.B., via e-mail.
A. The Church has not said anything specifically about the activities you mentioned, or about such things as skydiving or going up in a hot-air balloon, which recently resulted in the deaths of 19 people when the balloon crashed, but common sense and Church tradition suggest that since our bodies were given to us by God, we are expected to care for them through appropriate health measures and by not exposing them to potential physical harm.
“If morality requires respect for the life of the body,” says the Catechism, “it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects the neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports. By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships” (n. 2289).
The Catechism also promotes the virtue of temperance, which “disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air” (n. 2290).
You asked about football, which is a very violent sport where its participants are encouraged to punish their opponents physically. My wife and I discouraged our sons from playing football to spare them from injury, and that was 30 years ago when there wasn’t as much evidence as there is today about serious brain trauma resulting from repeated head collisions and concussions. The virtue of prudence should inspire us to protect our bodies and those of the ones we love by avoiding risky behavior and activities.
Q. In the enclosed pages from a book about the life of Anne Catherine Emmerich, there are repeated references to “planetary spirits.” Have you ever encountered anything about them? — J.L., New York.
A. The pages talk about a vision in which Anne Catherine saw “planetary spirits” who were “teasing and tormenting the poor souls [in Purgatory], reproaching them, trying to make them impatient, etc.” In another vision, she saw “a fantastic, odd-looking church being built,” but “nothing was brought from above; all came from the earth and the dark regions, all was built up by the planetary spirits.” There was “nothing holy” about this church, she said, and “innumerable planetary spirits” labored at building it.
Then she saw “a figure saying in mocking terms: ‘Build it as solidly as you please, we shall overturn it!’ — I went into a large hall in the city in which a hideous ceremony, a horrible, deceitful comedy was being enacted. The hall was draped in black, and a man wearing a star on his breast was put into a coffin and taken out again. It seemed to be a threat of what would happen to him. In the midst of it all I saw the devil under a thousand forms. — All was dark as night. It was horrible!”
We have never heard of “planetary spirits,” but perhaps St. John was talking about them when he urged us to “test the spirits to see whether they believe in God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3).
Q. I have a question that I am sure concerns many Catholics. What should our response be to an unmarried but openly cohabiting couple (of opposite or same sex) who invites us to an important social function? Usually these are close friends or family members. My thinking is that our attendance at these events, even family events they are hosting, appears to affirm their immoral relationship. Along this line, if they should come for an overnight visit in our home, I do not think we can have them share a room. And what about family members or close friends who have divorced and remarried (without an annulment)? Should we be guests in their home or invite them as a couple to family events? This is a very common and awkward situation, but I want to know what is right — J.G., via e-mail.
A. You are right that this is a very common and awkward situation for faithful Catholics, particularly when there are so many persons living in sin and seemingly unconcerned about the state of their souls. We have long recommended not attending weddings and receptions involving couples in sinful relationships since your presence would indicate either approval of or at least indifference to an objectively immoral situation. And we have advised not allowing couples, whether civilly married or cohabiting, to share a room in one’s house if they are staying overnight.
As for participating with these couples in family get-togethers or social functions, can we make a distinction between events that would celebrate an immoral relationship, which we should not attend, and those get-togethers involving birthdays, anniversaries, or even sacramental receptions? We have attended birthday parties and Baptisms for children of parents who are not married. The couple knows how we feel about their relationship, but we went to support our grandchildren.
Yes, it is bizarre that those living publicly in sin would still have their children receive their sacraments and promise to raise them Catholic (even while not attending church faithfully), and that’s what our presence was supporting, not the lifestyle of the parents. Would refusal to attend a Baptism, or a First Communion, push the cohabiting couple further away from reconciliation with the Church? Or would it be better to attend and hope and pray for the best? We don’t know for certain.
However, the advice of Pope St. John Paul II is still worth considering, namely, to “make tactful and respectful contact with the couples concerned, and enlighten them patiently, correct them charitably, and show them the witness of Christian family life in such a way as to smooth the path for them to regularize their situation” (Familiaris Consortio, n. 81).
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