Posts this month
- April 2025 PDF Issue
- The Man Whom the Whole Church Accepts as Pope, Is the Pope
- The “New” SSPX Promotes Praying in Conciliar Churches during the “Holy Year”
- Warning about Lifenews.com: It Promotes Heresy
- Lesson #44: Temperaments – Choleric Temperament – a Choleric’s Spiritual Combat – Part IX
Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition
We Must Never, Ever Tell a Lie
To tell a lie is always evil and sinful. No end ever justifies a sinful means. Even if we were to suppose that a person had the very highest of all motives – which is to promote the glory of God – that would still never justify a lie.
Here is the very striking way in which St. Thomas Aquinas, greatest Doctor of the Catholic Church, teaches this truth:
A lie must be shunned to such an extent that, even if it seemed that the lie would increase the glory of God, we should still not tell a lie.[1]
Let us consider an example: Suppose a pagan were on his deathbed with only minutes to live. Suppose also that we happen to know that he would convert to the Catholic Faith and agree to baptism if we were to tell him a small (so-called) “harmless” lie, such as that the dog he loved would go to heaven. We can never justify even such a (so-called) “white” lie even to save his soul.
[1] Here is the Latin:
Adeo enim vitanda sunt mendacia, ut etiam si cedere videantur ad landem Dei, non sunt dicenda.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Lectures on St. John’s Gospel, ch.13, lecture #3, section #1776.
Catholic Candle note: To assist parents in homeschooling, we call your attention to a new Traditional Catholic homeschool which is now accessible worldwide. Here is some information about this homeschool:
Angelic Doctor Academy
We would like to introduce Angelic Doctor Academy, a Traditional Catholic homeschool for grades 9 – 12 (lower grades coming soon). We think Traditional Catholics will appreciate our unique and militantly Traditional Catholic curriculum. We have written many new textbooks because we saw the problems in many books commonly used, whether they were history, science, or in other disciplines. We think Catholic parents – especially busy mothers – will appreciate our unique grading system in which we correct everything, including handwritten essays. This allows the parents to concentrate on teaching, explaining, and keeping order. Please visit https://www.ada.school to learn more. Mention that you are a Catholic Candle subscriber for a 10% discount on materials. Thank you!