During his weekly catechesis, Pope Francis continued to explain the Ten commandments. This time focusing on the fifth command “You shall not kill.”
He said there are different ways of “killing” a person than just physical. “Anger, insult, scorn and indifference toward others can kill” the unseen spirit within a person.
The pope stressed the importance of doing the opposite of what Cain did to his brother Abel in the Old Testament.
He said everyone is “each other’s keepers, protectors and guardians.” The commandment not to kill is a call to love and mercy to live according to the life of Christ.
Pope Francis concluded by reminding people life is a gift from God and Christ resurrected to restore everyone back to life.
SUMMARY OF POPE'S CATECHESIS
Dear brothers and sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on the Ten Commandments, we turn now to the fifth: “You shall not kill,” which reveals how precious human life is in God’s eyes; we are made in his image out of his infinitive love for us.
However, we learn that there are other ways of “killing” a person: anger, insult, scorn and indifference towards others can kill, perhaps not their physical bodies, but rather the unseen spirit within them.
Although the opposite of killing might seem to be not killing, that is only a first step towards loving. We need to do the opposite of what Cain did to Abel: we are each other’s keepers, protectors and guardians. For this we need Christ’s love and mercy.
The commandment not to kill is a call to love and to mercy, a call to live according to the life of the Lord Jesus, who gave us life by rising to life; this life is the Father’s gift to each of us.
