here will not take away all the pain,
but they may bring a little clarity and
comfort to people who have been faced
with suicide. To summarize:
• A person may take his or her own
life for good reasons, bad reasons,
or a mixture of both. We cannot
judge the inner motivations
involved in suicide, only the
outward appearances. Sometimes
what looks like suicide may have
a heroic motive hidden inside.
• The act of suicide is always wrong
and painful. It is an evil which
comes from hell, just like war
and disease. But this does not
mean that a person who commits
suicide is evil. The person who
commits suicide may be a victim
of forces entirely beyond his or
her control.
• Suicide is caused by the influence
of evil spirits who love to harm people. These spirits can cause suicidal
compulsions and temporary insanity. The individuals involved may or
may not be at fault in opening themselves up to evil spirits.
• Suicide is permitted for the sake of eternal good that can come to those
who are affected by it. Committing suicide does not prevent a person
from entering heaven, and may in fact help keep a person out of hell.
Good can also come from it to loved ones left behind.
• The quality of our life after death is based more on how we live our life
in this world than on how we die. A moment of death-bed repentance
will not make an angel of someone who has enjoyed a life of evil. And
one act of evil at the end of a person’s life, even committed deliberately,
will not destroy all a person’s good loves and intentions.
The Lord is infinitely loving and merciful, both to those who feel that love
and to those who feel isolated from it. All the evil that the Lord permits, and all
the blessings He provides, come from that infinite mercy which is constantly
seeking to lead each one of us to heaven as far as we are willing to go, each on
the unique path that is best for us.
Suicide can leave us
feeling that life is
extremely confusing,
complex and painful. It
will often seem to make
absolutely no sense
at all. The teachings
here will not take
away all the pain, but
they may bring a little
clarity and comfort to
people who have been
faced with suicide.
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