Week 17: The Ten Commandments: Part II (¶2052-557)

Fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and mother.”

1. Positive command: Respect authority.

a. Family life is an image of the Trinitarian communion and a reflection of God’s work of creation (¶2205).

2. Two dimensions: (1) respect for parents/family, and (2) respect for civil authority
3. Question: What is the relation between the family and society? Where do the rights of parents end and the rights of children begin? What is the justification for and the limits of “civil disobedience”?

Fifth Commandment: “You shall not kill.”

1. Positive command: Respect life.

a. Respecting life and peace is an imitation of Christ’s own life of nonviolence (¶2262) and a reflection of Christ as the “Prince of Peace” (¶2305).

2. Three dimensions:

a. Respect for life: personal and civil defense, abortion, euthanasia, suicide
b. Human dignity: physical health, scientific research, the problem of terror and torture
c. Safeguarding peace: necessity of peace and avoidance of war, Just War theory

3. Questions: Is there any killing which is justified according to the Church? Why does the Church reject abortion? Is the use of science and technology morally neutral? Why or why not? What does the Catholic faith have to say to the issue of using torture on those deemed to be enemies of the state? What qualifies as a “justified” war? What is the nature of peace?

Sixth Commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.”

1. Positive command: Practice chastity (or, respect the human body).

a. Chastity and conjugal fidelity is an imitation of the Creator’s generosity and fecundity (¶2335).

2. Dimensions of chastity: ordered toward right human relations, moral virtue of temperance, dignity and integrity of the human person, conjugal fidelity and fecundity
3. Questions: What is chastity? What forms can it take? What is the Church’s stance on homosexuality? Why is birth control “intrinsically evil”? Why does the Church take a position against artificial insemination if fecundity (childbearing) is the proper “end of marriage”?

Seventh Commandment: “You shall not steal.”

1. Positive command: Respect the goods of others, and so respect the common good.

a. The stewardship of the common good is a reflection of God’s providential stewardship over creation, and our preferential love of the poor is an imitation of God’s own compassion in Christ for the least of his brethren (¶2402, 2417, 2427, 2448).

2. Dimensions of the common good: universal “destination” of the goods of creation, protection of private property, protection of the environment, protection of social relationships and economic justice, protection of the poor
3. Guidelines in the social teaching of the Church:

a. relationships should not be determined entirely by economic factors;
b. profit must not be the final norm and end of economic activity;
c. the disordered desire for money is the cause of many social disorders; and
d. individual rights must not be subordinated to a collective.

4. Questions: What does the Church mean by the “universal destination of goods”? Why is environmental protection part of this commandment? How does the social doctrine of the Church view Western capitalism? What is the spiritual value in human labor? Why does the Church command “works of mercy”?

Eighth Commandment: “You shall not bear false witness.”

1. Positive command: Respect the truth.

a. Honoring the truth is an image of God as the source of all truth (¶2465).
b. Jesus Christ is the “truth” (John 14:6); Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44).

2. Questions: Why is lying an act of violence? What kind of threat does mass media pose to a respect for the truth? Why is art treated more fully here in the command against lying than in the first commandment against graven images?

Ninth Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.”

1. Positive command: Purify your heart (of lust for the flesh).

a. Purification of the heart is an imitation of Christ’s own purity of heart in obedience to the Father.

2. Dimensions of purity: charity, chastity, and truth/orthodoxy (¶2518); purity of intention and purity of vision; prayer and modesty (¶2520-22)
3. Questions: What is concupiscence? What is modesty? What is the relationship between purity and vision?

Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s.”

1. Positive command: Purify your heart (of lust for the goods of another).
2. Dimensions of purity: rejection of greed, avarice, and envy; pursuit of the desires of the Spirit; and poverty of heart
3. Questions: Why does St. Augustine call envy “the diabolical sin”? Why is “poverty of heart” a requirement of entrance into the Kingdom of heaven?

Week 16: The Ten Commandments: Part I (¶2052-557)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
—Matthew 22:37-40

The Decalogue in Rhyme: Two Versions

Thou no God shall have but Me.
Before no idol bow thy knee.
Take not the name of God in vain,
Nor the Sabbath day profane.
Give thy parents honor due.
Take heed that thou no murder do.
Abstain from words and deeds unclean.
Steal not, for thou of God art seen.
Tell not a willful lie, nor love it.
What is thy neighbor’s, do not covet.

Thou shalt have no more gods but me.
Before no idol bend thy knee.
Take not the name of God in vain.
Dare not the Sabbath day profane,
Give both thy parents honor due.
Take heed that thou no murder do.
Abstain from words and deeds unclean.
Steal not, though thou be poor and mean.
Make not a wilful lie, nor love it.
What is thy neighbor’s dare not covet.


A “Decalogue” on the Decalogue

1. The Decalogue is a gift of God (¶2059).
2. The Decalogue forms the appropriate response to the covenant initiated by God (¶2062).
3. The Decalogue forms an organic whole (¶2069).
4. The Decalogue is both natural and revealed (¶2071).
5. The Decalogue is not abolished but fulfilled in the “law of Christ” (¶2053).
6. The Decalogue is fulfilled in the law of love (¶2055).
7. The Decalogue is fulfilled in the context of a relationship with God (¶2063).
8. The Decalogue defines the truth of free human existence in the image of God (¶2085).
9. The Decalogue contains a set of grave and permanent obligations (¶2072).
10. The Decalogue is only fulfilled by God’s grace (¶2074, 2082).


Questions for Discussion

1. What are some idols or false gods which you see as prevalent today? What aspects of our culture present temptations to serve something or someone other than the Lord?
2. How is the Lord’s name taken in vain today? How can we show proper respect for the Lord’s name?
3. How do we honor the Sabbath day in a world of constant work? What can we do to open up a space for contemplation and rest?
4. Have you experienced doubt or despair or indifference, and what brought you toward faith and hope and love?

Week 15: The Christian in the World: Social and Moral LIfe (¶1877-2051)

The human person is a social creature who lives before God as a member of various communities: the family, the state, various voluntary associations and institutions, and most importantly, the Church. God calls us to love God and to love our neighbors. We fulfill the latter by working for the common good, which involves pursuing the virtues, following the way of charity, obeying the authorities, employing one’s talents in a spirit of generosity, rectifying any injustices and inequalities, and living in solidarity with others. We find the basic outline of this new moral life in God’s law. In order to fulfill the law in our own lives, we depend upon God’s justifying and sanctifying grace, communicated to us by the Holy Spirit.

1. Law and Grace

(a) Different forms of the Law:

a. Eternal law: the eternal Truth of God
b. Natural law: rational moral sense (conscience)
c. Revealed law: Old and New Law (Decalogue and Sermon on the Mount)
d. Civil and ecclesiastical law (institutional law): legal code, precepts, etc.

(b) Grace

a. The grace of preparation
b. The grace of faith/response
c. The grace of participation
d. The grace of sanctification/deification
e. The grace of the sacraments
f. The grace of charisms
g. The grace of state or ministerial office

(c) Justification

a. Justification is a grace of the Holy Spirit which has both a negative and positive character:

i. negatively, it separates us from sin, while
ii. positively, it communicates God’s righteousness to us, the righteousness merited for us by the Passion of Christ

b. Justification thus involves the sanctification of the human person, since justification establishes the basis for a new life in the Spirit
c. Justification is conferred in Baptism, which establishes the basis for free human cooperation with the grace of God

(d) Human works and merit

a. Human works cannot merit the initial grace of conversion, which is a free gift of the Holy Spirit—given because God has freely chosen to involve humanity in his work of grace
b. Moved by the Spirit, human works merit the graces of sanctification and eternal life
c. All merit has its source and basis in the love of Christ
d. Our spiritual progress toward holiness is grounded in our mystical and sacramental union with Christ and the Holy Trinity

2. The Precepts of the Church

(a) First precept: attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days, while resting from labor
(b) Second precept: confess your sins at least once a year
(c) Third precept: receive the Eucharist at least during the Easter season
(d) Fourth precept: observe the days of fasting and abstinence
(e) Fifth precept: provide for the needs of the Church

3. Themes associated with our social and moral life

(a) charity/love
(b) freedom
(c) common good
(d) nature and grace