Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(Genesis 9:1-13; Mark 8:27-33)
Today’s first reading authorizes capital punishment in cases
of murder. What other conclusion can be drawn
from God’s statement to Noah that if someone sheds the blood of another, the
killer’s blood will be shed? Yet the
Church has come to prohibit capital punishment.
What going on?
Nothing in the gospels annuls God’s declaration to Noah. The New Testament letters presume capital
punishment and acknowledge the state’s authority to administer it. The prohibition has resulted from the need to
shore up human dignity in recent times.
The carnage of twentieth century wars, the arbitrary killing in procured
abortions, and the inequitable way the death penalty is adjudicated has
necessitated the call for a prudential halt in executions.
Perhaps someday the Church will reconsider its
position. We might hope and pray
not. Our motive is not the continuance
of violence demanding a sign against it.
Rather we want to see a more peaceful society showing how capital
punishment may be permissible but is also counterproductive.
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