Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being

The Church has always taught us that we are not owners of our lives, God is, so we can not commit suicide.

“Suicide

“Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him.
It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life.
We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls.
We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us.
It is not ours to dispose of.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church § 2280).

Suicide is contrary to love of God

So suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just work of love of self. Self-extermination also offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks fellowship with loved ones from family and society. Often, the family may become destitute with the death of the father or mother. Above all, self-destruction is contrary to love for the living God.

The practice of suicide becomes even more serious if it is used as an example, especially for young people, to justify that life has no meaning and, therefore, they can eliminate it. A pagan mentality, whose only meaning to life is pleasure; and when this is not possible, you may want to delete it. To cooperate with the self-destruction of one is also grave. Unfortunately, some atheist philosophers proposed and still propose this practice of self-extermination before a life they consider an absurd and meaningless. Human life, however poor and weak it may be, is a beautiful gift from God, taught the late Pope John Paul II, and in no way can be eliminated by the person.

Unfortunately, today there are “clinics to kill” in countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, where “assisted suicide” is legal. Then the person arrives at these clinics and leaves dead. It is a grave offense against God and society! In the United States someone who was called “Doctor Death” just died, he invented a machine for the person to commit suicide “painlessly”.

Voters in Zurich, Switzerland, rejected, in 2010, in a referendum, proposals for vetoing assisted suicide and “suicide tourism”, which is the arrival of foreigners in search of death. Assisted suicide has been permitted in Zurich since 1941. Foreign terminally ill go to the European country to commit suicide, taking advantage of the rules of the place, one of the most liberal in the world.(Folha de São Paulo, 16/5/2011). But the Church recognizes that suicide motivations can be complex.

We can not say that he who committed suicide is condemned by God. Previously, many thought so, but the Church does not confirm this. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “serious psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of trial, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the suicide” (CCC § 2282).

Factors that may lead to self-destruction

We know that a serious time of depression, despair, prolonged anxiety, among others, can weaken psychically the person so severely, she can seek refuge in death, even without the desire itself. Therefore, the Church recommends praying for the soul of a suicide without despair of their salvation.

Our Catechism makes clear that: “Do not despair of the salvation of those who were killed.God can, in ways known to him alone, give them occasion of a salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who attempted to take his own life “(CCC § 2283).

The important thing, then, is not to despair with the suicide death of a loved one, but offer God for her prayers and especially the Holy Mass for the salvation and repose of his soul.

In the biography of St. John Vianney, there is a very interesting fact. The saint celebrated Mass and noticed a lady dressed in black crying in the background the church; her husband had committed suicide some days earlier At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, the saint went to meet her and told her: “You can stop crying, her husband was saved, he is in Purgatory. Pray for his soul. “ When she wanted to know how the saint replied, “Do you remember that in the month of May, you prayed to Our Lady, and he, from time to time, prayed with you? So he was saved, Our Lady got him the grace of repentance at the last moment of life. “