Christopher Wendt: Good evening, everyone. Good evening to all guests and all members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima.
I’m so excited because I am here in Fatima. I’ve wanted to come to Fatima my entire life. I’m here with my family in this holy place where Our Lady appeared and gave us the message of penance that we are still called to live out and embrace for poor sinners.
Tonight’s broadcast is going to be on the Eighth Commandment. It is pre-recorded, and His Excellency will teach us about the Eighth Commandment.
Our next broadcast in July will be a question-and-answer session, so you can begin sending in your questions. Without further ado, I am going to turn it over to His Excellency so that he can lead us in prayer.
Know and be assured that I will be praying for all of you and praying for the hastening of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Bishop Schneider: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Today, we will speak about the Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
We learn from these words of the Letter of Saint James: “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. The tongue is indeed a little member and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire, what a great wood it kindleth.” James 3:5-6.
From these words, we learn two truths. The first is that sins of the tongue are very prevalent. This is confirmed by the words of the prophet: “Every man is a liar,” so that it would almost seem as if these were the only sins which extend to all mankind.
The other truth is that the tongue is the source of innumerable evils through the fault of the evil speaker. Many people have often lost their property, their reputation, their life, and the salvation of either the injured person or the person who inflicts the injury.
There are two parts to this commandment. The first forbids us to bear false witness. The other commands us to lay aside all dissimulation and deceit, and to measure our words and actions by the standard of truth, a duty of which the Apostle admonishes the Ephesians in these words: “Doing the truth in charity, let us grow up in all things in Him.”
Then there is the negative part of this commandment. Regarding the prohibitory part of this commandment, although by false testimony is understood whatever is positively but falsely affirmed of anyone, whether for or against him, whether in a public court or elsewhere, yet the commandment especially prohibits that species of false testimony which is given under oath in a court of justice. For a witness swears by God, and the words of a person thus giving evidence and invoking the divine name have very great weight and possess the strongest claim to credibility.
Therefore, because such testimony is especially dangerous, it is specifically prohibited. Even the judge himself cannot reject the testimony of sworn witnesses unless they are excluded by exceptions made in the law, or unless their dishonesty and malice are notorious.
Then there are the words “against thy neighbor.” According to the interpretation of Christ the Lord, our neighbor is anyone who needs our assistance, whether bound to us by ties of kinship or not, whether a fellow citizen or a stranger, a friend or an enemy. It is wrong to think that one may give false evidence against an enemy, since by the command of God our Lord, we are bound to love even our enemies.
Moreover, as every man is bound to love himself and is thus, in some sense, his own neighbor, it is unlawful for anyone to bear false witness against himself.
This is the doctrine of Saint Augustine, who says to those who do not understand this precept properly: “It might seem lawful to give false testimony against oneself because the words ‘against thy neighbor’ are added in the commandment. But let no one who bears false testimony against himself think that he has not violated this commandment, for the standard of loving our neighbor is the love which we cherish toward ourselves.”
False testimony in favor of a neighbor is also forbidden. If we are forbidden to injure our neighbor by false testimony, it should not be inferred that the contrary is lawful, and that we may help by perjury those who are bound to us by ties of kinship or religion. It is never permitted to have recourse to lies or deception, much less to perjury. Hence, Saint Augustine, in his book On Lying, teaches from the words of the Apostle that a lie, although uttered in false praise of anyone, is to be numbered among false testimonies.
It also frequently happens that by favoring one party, we injure the other. False testimony is certainly the cause of misleading the judge, who, yielding to such evidence, is sometimes obliged to decide against justice and to the injury of the innocent.
Sometimes, too, it happens that the successful party, who by means of perjured witnesses has won his case and escaped with impunity, exults in his iniquitous victory and soon becomes accustomed to the practice of corrupting and suborning false witnesses, by whose aid he hopes to obtain whatever he wishes.
To the witness himself, it must be most grievous that his falsehood and perjury are known to the person whom he has aided and abetted by his perjury. Yet, encouraged by the success that follows his crime, he becomes every day more accustomed to wickedness and audacity.
Thou shalt not bear false witness. All falsehoods in lawsuits are forbidden. This precept prohibits deceit, lying, and perjury on the part of witnesses. The same prohibition also extends to plaintiffs, defendants, prosecutors, representatives, procurators, and advocates, in a word, to all who take any part in lawsuits. False testimony outside of court is also forbidden.
Finally, God prohibits all testimony that may inflict injury or injustice, whether it concerns legal evidence or not. In the Book of Leviticus, where the commandments are repeated, we read: “Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie. Neither shall any man deceive his neighbor.”
To none, therefore, can it be a matter of doubt that this commandment condemns lies of every sort. The words of David explicitly declare this: “Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie.” This commandment forbids detraction. This commandment forbids not only false testimony but also the detestable vice and practice of detraction, which is the source of innumerable and calamitous evils.
The vicious habit of secretly revealing and calumniating a person’s character is frequently condemned in Sacred Scripture. Saint James the Apostle says, “Do not detract from one another, my brethren.” Holy Scripture abounds not only with precepts on this subject but also with examples that reveal the enormity of this crime.
A man, by a crime of his own invention, so incensed Ahasuerus the king against the Jews that he ordered the destruction of the entire Jewish race.
Sacred history contains many other examples of the same kind, which priests should recall in order to deter the faithful from such iniquity.
There are various kinds of detraction. To understand well the nature of the sin of detraction, we must know that a person’s reputation is injured not only by calumny, but also by exaggerating the faults of others. He who publicizes the secret sin of a person at an unnecessary time or place, or before persons who have no right to know of it, is also rightly regarded as a detractor, an evil speaker.
If this revelation seriously injures the reputation of another, it is a grave matter. Of all forms of calumny, the worst is that which is directed against Catholic doctrine and its teachers. Persons who praise and promote error, false doctrine, and heresy are guilty of a similar crime.
Nor should those be separated from the ranks of evil speakers, or from their guilt, who instead of reproving the detractor, lend a willing ear and cheerful assent to the calumniator and reviler.
As we read in Saint Jerome and Saint Bernard, it is not easy to decide which is more guilty, the detractor or the listener. For if there were no listeners, there would be no detractors. To the same category belong those who cunningly foment divisions and stir up quarrels, who take malicious pleasure in sowing discord, severing by fiction and falsehood the closest friendships and the dearest social ties, and impelling people toward endless hatred and even deadly conflict. The Lord expresses His detestation of such persons in these words: “Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people.” Many of the advisers of King Saul were of this sort. They strove to alienate the king’s affection from David and to arouse his enmity against him.
This commandment forbids flattery. Among the transgressors of this commandment are to be numbered flatterers and sycophants, who by flattery and insincere praise gain the hearing and good will of those whose favor, mercy, money, or honors they seek. They call good evil and evil good, as the prophet says.
David admonishes us to reject such characters: “The just man shall correct me in mercy and shall reprove me, but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head.”
This class of persons does not, it is true, speak ill of their neighbor, but they greatly injure him, since by praising his sins they cause him to continue in vice to the end of his life. Of this kind of flattery, the most pernicious is that which aims at the injury and ruin of others. Thus King Saul, when he sought to expose David to the sword and fury of the Philistines in order to bring about his death, addressed him in these flattering words: “Behold my eldest daughter Merab. Her will I give thee to wife. Only be a valiant man and fight the battles of the Lord.”
In the same way, the Jews insidiously addressed Our Lord: “Master, we know that Thou art a true speaker and teachest the way of God in truth.”
Still more pernicious is the language sometimes used by friends and relatives toward a person suffering from a mortal illness and standing at the point of death. They assure him that there is no danger of dying, tell him to be of good spirits, discourage him from going to confession as though the very thought would fill him with sadness, and finally withdraw his attention from all concern for the dangers that confront him in the last and most critical hour of his life.
A common example of such behavior is found in the famous French musical phrase, “Everything is going very well, Madame la Marquise.” In spite of the burning castle, everything is supposedly going very well.
This commandment forbids lies of all kinds. In a word, lies of every sort are prohibited, especially those that cause grave injury to anyone. Most impious of all is a lie uttered against religion or the Catholic faith. To deceive by a jocose or officious lie, even though it may seem to help or harm no one, is nevertheless altogether unworthy. Thus, the Apostle admonishes us: “Putting away lying, speak ye the truth.”
This practice creates a tendency toward frequent and serious lying. From jocose lying, people acquire the habit of falsehood, lose their reputation for truthfulness, and ultimately find it necessary, in order to gain belief, to have recourse to continual swearing.
This commandment forbids hypocrisy. Finally, this first part of the commandment prohibits dissimulation. It is sinful not only to speak deceitfully, but also to act deceitfully. Actions, as well as words, are signs of what is in our minds. Hence, our Lord, rebuking the Pharisees, repeatedly called them hypocrites. The Pharisees frequently called them hypocrites. So far, regarding the negative part, which is the first part of this commandment.
Now, let us look at the positive part of this commandment.
Judges must pass sentence according to law, justice, and truth. Its nature and purpose require that trials be conducted on principles of strict justice and according to law. It requires that no one usurp judicial powers or lawful authority. It requires that no one pass sentence without sufficient knowledge of the cause and the case.
This commandment also requires that the innocent not be condemned, nor the guilty acquitted, and that decisions not be influenced by money or favor, hatred, or love. For so Moses admonished the elders whom he had constituted judges of the people: “Judge that which is just, whether he be one of your countrymen or a stranger. There shall be no difference of persons. You shall hear the little as well as the great. Neither shall you respect any man’s person, because it is the judgment of God.”
Witnesses must give testimony truthfully. Concerning an accused person who is conscious of his own guilt, God commands him to confess the truth. If he is interrogated judicially, by that confession, he in some sort bears witness to and proclaims the praise and glory of God.
Hence the words of Saint Augustine: “He who conceals the truth and he who utters falsehood are both guilty, the one because he is unwilling to render a service, the other because he has the will to do an injury.”
We are not, however, at all times obliged to disclose the truth. But when, in a court of justice, a witness is lawfully interrogated by the judge, he is emphatically bound to tell the whole truth.
Here, however, witnesses should be most circumspect, lest, trusting too much to memory, they affirm as certain what they have not fully ascertained. Lawyers and plaintiffs must be guided by a love of justice. Attorneys, counsel, plaintiffs, and prosecutors remain to be treated.
The former should not refuse to contribute their services and legal assistance. Attorneys and counsel should not defend an unjust cause, prolong lawsuits by trickery, or encourage them for the sake of gain.
As to remuneration for their services and labors, let them be guided by the principles of justice and equity. Plaintiffs and prosecutors, on their side, are to be warned not to be led by the influence of love, hatred, or any other undue motive into exposing anyone to danger through unjust charges.
All must speak truthfully and with clarity. To all conscientious persons is addressed the divine command that in all their intercourse with society, and in every conversation, they should speak the truth at all times from the sincerity of their hearts, and that they should utter nothing injurious to the reputation of another, not even of those by whom they know they have been injured and persecuted. For they should always remember that between themselves and others there exists such a close social bond that they are all members of the same body.
Inducements to truthfulness in Sacred Scripture. The devil is called the father of lies, for he stood not in the truth. “He is a liar and the father of lies.” But more wicked still, as the Apostle Saint James says, is that with the same tongue by which we bless God, we curse men who are made after the image and likeness of God, so that out of the same fountain flow sweet and bitter water.
The tongue, which was before employed in giving praise and glory to God, afterwards, as far as it is able, by lying, treats God with ignominy and dishonor.
Hence, liars are excluded from participation in the blessedness and beatitude of Heaven. To David, asking, “Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle?”, the Holy Spirit answers: “He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue.”
Lying is also attended with this very great evil, that it is an almost incurable disease. Since the guilt of the calumniator cannot be pardoned unless satisfaction is made to the person who has been calumniated, let no one indulge the hope of obtaining pardon for calumnies or detractions until the injury has been repaired. Not only in private and familiar conversation, but also in society at large, the evil consequences of lying are widespread.
By duplicity and lying, good faith and truth, which form the closest links of human society, are dissolved, and confusion ensues, and men seem to differ in nothing from demons.
Then let us look at the plea of revenge. Those who lay the blame of their own falsehood on others, who first deceived them by lies, are to be taught the unlawfulness of avenging their own wrongs, and that evil is not to be rendered for evil, but rather that evil is to be overcome by good. Even if it were lawful to return evil for evil, it would not be in our interest to harm ourselves to get revenge. The man who seeks revenge by uttering falsehood inflicts very serious injury on himself.
Then come the pleas of frailty, habit, and bad example. Those who plead human frailty are to be taught that it is a duty of religion to implore the divine assistance and not to yield to human infirmity. Those who excuse themselves by habit are to be admonished to endeavor to acquire the contrary habit of speaking the truth and not the lie, particularly as those who sin habitually are more guilty than others. Then comes the plea of convenience, amusement, and advantage, concerning those who defend their conduct by saying that to speak the truth is often attended with inconvenience. We should answer that such an excuse is an accusation, not a defense, since it is the duty of a Christian to suffer any inconvenience rather than utter a falsehood.
St. Thomas Aquinas gives us the following summary of this commandment. The Lord has forbidden anyone to injure his neighbor by deed. Now He forbids us to injure them also by word: Thou shalt not bear false witness against the neighbor. This may occur in two ways, either in a court of justice or in an ordinary conversation.
In the court, it may happen in three ways, according to the three persons who may violate this commandment in court. The first person is the plaintiff who makes a false accusation. It is not only wrong to speak falsely, but also to conceal the truth. The second person is the witness who testifies by lying. The third person is the judge who sins by giving an unjust sentence.
There are ways of violating this commandment in ordinary conversation. One may violate this commandment in the following ways. The first is by detraction. Hateful are the detractors. Here it indicates that nothing is so dear to man as his good name. A good name is better than great riches, says the Book of Proverbs, but detractors take away these good names. Therefore, if detractors do not restore this reputation, they cannot be saved.
Secondly, one may break this precept by willingly listening to detractors. One should not listen deliberately to such things, but ought to turn away, showing a sad and stern countenance.
Thirdly, gossipers break this precept when they repeat whatever they hear.
Fourthly, those who speak honeyed words, the flatterers. The prophet Isaiah says, “They that call thee blessed, the same shall deceive thee”.
Then there are the special effects of telling lies. The prohibition of this commandment includes every form of falsehood. There are four reasons for this. The first is that lying likens one to the devil, because a liar is the son of the devil.
Now we know that a man’s speech betrays from what region and country he comes. Even so, some men are of the devil’s kind and are called sons of the devil, because they are liars, since the devil is a liar and the father of lies. Thus, when the devil said to Eve in paradise, “No, you shall not die the death,” he lied. But on the contrary, others are the children of God. God is the truth, and they are those who speak the truth, children of God.
The second reason is that lying induces the ruin of society. Men live together in society, and this is soon rendered impossible if they do not speak the truth to one another. St. Paul says, “Wherefore, putting away lying, speak the truth every man with his neighbor, for we are members one of another”. (Ephesians 4:25)
The third reason is that the liar loses his reputation for truth. He who is accustomed to telling lies is not believed even when he speaks the truth.
The fourth reason is that a liar kills his soul, as says the Book of Wisdom: “The mouth that belies kills the soul.” Accordingly, it is clear that lying is a mortal sin. Although it must be known that some lies may be a venial sin, it is a mortal sin, for instance, to lie in matters of faith. This concerns professors, bishops, and preachers, and is the gravest of all kinds of lies regarding matters of faith. St. Peter writes in his second epistle, “There shall be among you lying teachers who shall bring in sects of perdition.” Then there are those who lie to wrong their neighbor. These two kinds of lies, therefore, are mortal sins.
There are some who lie for their own advantage, and this occurs in a variety of ways. Sometimes it is out of humility. This may be the case in confession, about which Saint Augustine says, just as one must avoid concealing what he has committed, so also he must not mention what he has not committed. In the Book of Job, we read, “Has God any need of your lie?” And again, in the Book of Sirach, there is one that humbles himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit, and there is one that humbles himself exceedingly with a great lowness.
There are others who tell lies out of shame, namely when one tells a falsehood, believing that he is telling the truth, and on becoming aware of it, he is ashamed to retract.
Other people lie for desired results, as when they wish to gain or avoid something. The prophet Isaiah says, “We have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.” And again, the Book of Proverbs, “He that trusts in lies feeds the winds.”
Finally, there are some who lie to benefit another, that is, when they wish to free someone from death or danger or some other loss. This must be avoided, as Saint Augustine tells us, quoting the Book of Ecclesiastes, “Use not every kind of word against a person, and do not accustom your mouth to a lie against your soul.” But others lie only out of vanity, and these too must never be done, lest the habit of such lead us to mortal sin.
Concluding, we can say about the eighth commandment that the Fathers of the Church see these parts of sins committed in the world, especially the sins of the tongue. Saint Augustine says that the sins of the tongue are more or less a third part of all sins committed by man.
Saint Augustine also says that silence is the best preventive of sins of the tongue. He who knows how to keep silence will speak wisely, and the Book of Proverbs says, “In the multitude of words there shall not want sin.”
While all the organs of the senses are open to sight, God has enclosed the tongue behind a double wall, the lips and the teeth, double walls to warn us to be circumspect in our speech. You should be as careful in choosing the words you speak as in selecting the food you eat.
Holy Scripture compares the tongue to a sharp knife, because we ought to be as cautious in our use of it as the surgeon in the use of his knife when he has to perform an operation on the human body. We should speak with all the more deliberation because what is once said cannot be as if it had not been said. We can no more recall the words we have spoken than we can recall the arrow we have let fly from the bow.
Our Lord says, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.”
If you hear the misdeeds of another spoken of, endeavor to show that he did not act from a bad motive. If that is impossible, then make excuses for the act on the plea of violent temptation, action, ignorance, or human frailty, and thus at any rate mitigate the harshness of the judgment passed on it, or one may mention something to the credit of the person in question. This way, Saint Teresa invariably practiced, and no one dared in her presence to utter a word of detraction.
So be very cautious, be very cautious in speaking of our neighbor, lest unawares we may blight his whole future. So let us be very careful in speaking, and let us, with God’s grace, always observe this eighth commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not lie.
Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison! Kyrie Eleison! Lord Jesus Christ.
You are the Good Shepherd! With Your almighty hand, You guide Your pilgrim Church through the storms of each age.
Adorn the Holy See with holy popes who neither fear the powerful of this world nor compromise with the spirit of the age, but preserve, strengthen, and defend the Catholic Faith unto the shedding of their blood, and observe, protect, and hand on the venerable liturgy of the Roman Church.
O Lord, return to us through holy popes who, inflamed with the zeal of the Apostles, proclaim to the whole world: “Salvation is found in no other than in Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they should be saved” (see Acts 4:10-12).
Through an era of holy popes, may the Holy See, which is home to all who promote the Catholic and Apostolic Faith, always shine as the cathedra of truth for the whole world. Hear us, O Lord, and through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us holy Popes, grant us many holy Popes! Have mercy on us and hear us! Amen.
Et benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen.
Praise be Jesus Christ!