Jesus
said to his disciples: "Love one another even as I have loved you."1
2196
In response to the question about the first of the commandments, Jesus says:
"The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength.' the second is this, 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than
these."2
The
apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has
fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall
not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment,
are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the
law."3
THE
FOURTH COMMANDMENT
Honor
your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the
Lord your God gives you.4
He
was obedient to them.5 ( Lk 2:51.)
The
Lord Jesus himself recalled the force of this "commandment of God."6 ( Mk 7:8-13.) The Apostle teaches: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is
right. 'Honor your father and mother,' (This is the first commandment with a
promise.) 'that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the
earth."'7
2197
The fourth commandment opens the second table of the Decalogue. It shows us the
order of charity. God has willed that, after him, we should honor our parents
to whom we owe life and who have handed on to us the knowledge of God. We are
obliged to honor and respect all those whom God, for our good, has vested with
his authority.
2198
This commandment is expressed in positive terms of duties to be fulfilled. It
introduces the subsequent commandments which are concerned with particular
respect for life, marriage, earthly goods, and speech. It constitutes one of
the foundations of the social doctrine of the Church.
2199
The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship
to their father and mother because this relationship is the most universal. It
likewise concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family.
It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors.
Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to
employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who
administer or govern it. This commandment includes and presupposes the duties
of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all
who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons.
2200
Observing the fourth commandment brings its reward: "Honor your father and
your mother, that your days may belong in the land which the LORD your God
gives you."8 ( Ex 20:12; ⇒ Deut 5:16.) Respecting this commandment provides, along with spiritual
fruits, temporal fruits of peace and prosperity. Conversely, failure to observe
it brings great harm to communities and to individuals.
I.
The Family in God's Plan
The
nature of the family
2201
The conjugal community is established upon the consent of the spouses. Marriage
and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation
and education of children. the love of the spouses and the begetting of
children create among members of the same family personal relationships and
primordial responsibilities.
2202
A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a
family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which
has an obligation to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference
point by which the different forms of family relationships are to be evaluated.
2203
In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with
its fundamental constitution. Its members are persons equal in dignity. For the
common good of its members and of society, the family necessarily has manifold
responsibilities, rights, and duties.
The
Christian family
2204
"The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of
ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic
church."9 ( FC 21; cf. LG 11.) It is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it assumes
singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament.10 ( Cf. ⇒ Eph 5:21b: 4; ⇒ Col 3:18-21; ⇒ 1 Pet 3:1-7.)
2205
The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and an image of the
communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and
education of children, it reflects the Father's work of creation. It is called
to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading
of the Word of God strengthen it in charity. the Christian family has an
evangelizing and missionary task.
2206
The relationships within the family bring an affinity of feelings, affections, and interests, arising above all from the members' respect for one another. the
family is a privileged community called to achieve a "sharing of thought
and common deliberation by the spouses as well as their eager cooperation as
parents in the children's upbringing."11
II.
The Family and Society
2207
The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in
which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of
life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family
constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within
society. the family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn
moral values, begin to honor God and make good use of freedom. Family life is
an initiation into life in society.
2208
The family should live in such a way that its members learn to care and take
responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor.
There are many families who are at times incapable of providing this help. It
devolves then on other persons, other families, and, in a subsidiary way,
society to provide for their needs: "Religion that is pure and undefiled
before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their
affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."12
2209
The family must be helped and defended by appropriate social measures. Where
families cannot fulfill their responsibilities, other social bodies have the
duty of helping them and of supporting the institution of the family. Following
the principle of subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp
the family's prerogatives or interfere in its life.
2210
The importance of the family for the life and well-being of society13 ( Cf. GS 47 # 1.) entails a
particular responsibility for society to support and strengthen marriage and
the family. Civil authority should consider it a grave duty "to
acknowledge the true nature of marriage and the family, to protect and foster
them, to safeguard public morality, and promote domestic prosperity."14
2211
The political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to
ensure especially:
-
the freedom to establish a family, have children and bring them up in keeping
with the family's own moral and religious convictions;
-
the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the
family;
-
the freedom to profess one's faith, to hand it on, and raise one's children in
it, with the necessary means and institutions;
-
the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing,
and the right to emigrate;
-
in keeping with the country's institutions, the right to medical care,
assistance for the aged, and family benefits;
-
the protection of security and health, especially with respect to dangers like
drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.;
-
the freedom to form associations with other families and so to have
representation before civil authority.15
2212
The fourth commandment illuminates other relationships in society. In our
brothers and sisters, we see the children of our parents; in our cousins, the
descendants of our ancestors; in our fellow citizens, the children of our
country; in the baptized, the children of our mother the Church; in every human
person, a son or daughter of the One who wants to be called "our
Father." In this way, our relationships with our neighbors are recognized
as personal in character. the neighbor is not a "unit" in the human
collective; he is "someone" who by his known origins deserves particular
attention and respect.
2213
Human communities are made up of persons. Governing them well is not limited to
guaranteeing rights and fulfilling duties such as honoring contracts. Right
relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and
citizens, presuppose a natural goodwill in keeping with the dignity of human
persons concerned for justice and fraternity.
III.
The Duties of Family Members
The
duties of children
2214
The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood;16 ( Cf. Eph 314.
) this is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. the respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother17 ( Cf. ⇒ Prov 1:8; ⇒ Tob 4:3-4.) is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is required by God's commandment.18
) this is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. the respect of children, whether minors or adults, for their father and mother17 ( Cf. ⇒ Prov 1:8; ⇒ Tob 4:3-4.) is nourished by the natural affection born of the bond uniting them. It is required by God's commandment.18
2215
Respect for parents (filial piety) derives from gratitude toward those who, by
the gift of life, their love and their work, have brought their children into
the world and enabled them to grow in stature, wisdom, and grace. "With
all your heart honor your father and do not forget the birth pangs of your
mother. Remember that through your parents you were born; what can you give
back to them that equals their gift to you?"19
2216
Filial respect is shown by true docility and obedience. "My son, keep your
father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching.... When you walk,
they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you
awake, they will talk with you."20 ( Prov 6:20-22.) "A wise son hears his father's
instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke."21
2217
As long as a child lives at home with his parents, the child should obey his
parents in all that they ask of him when it is for his good or that of the
family. "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the
Lord."22 ( Col 3:20; Cf. ⇒ Eph 6:1.) Children should also obey the reasonable directions of their
teachers and all to whom their parents have entrusted them. But if a child is
convinced in conscience that it would be morally wrong to obey a particular
order, he must not do so.
As
they grow up, children should continue to respect their parents. They should
anticipate their wishes, willingly seek their advice, and accept their just
admonitions. Obedience toward parents ceases with the emancipation of the
children; not so respect, which is always owed to them. This respect has its
roots in the fear of God, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
2218
The fourth commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward
their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral
support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus
recalls this duty of gratitude.23
For
the Lord honored the father above the children, and he confirmed the right of
the mother over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and
whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honors
his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be
heard. Whoever glorifies his father will have a long life, and whoever obeys the
Lord will refresh his mother.24
O
son, help your father in his old age and do not grieve him as long as he
lives; even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your
strength do not despise him.... Whoever forsakes his father is like a
blasphemer, and whoever angers his mother is cursed by the Lord.25
2219
Filial respect promotes harmony in all of family life; it also concerns
relationships between brothers and sisters. Respect toward parents fills the
home with light and warmth. "Grandchildren are the crown of the
aged."26 ( Prov 17:6.) "With all humility and meekness, with patience, [support]
one another in charity."27 ( Eph 4:2. )
2220
For Christians, a special gratitude is due to those from whom they have received
the gift of faith, the grace of Baptism, and life in the Church. These may
include parents, grandparents, other members of the family, pastors,
catechists, and other teachers or friends. "I am reminded of your sincere
faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice
and now, I am sure, dwells in you."28
The
duties of parents
2221
The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of
children but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual
formation. "The role of parents in education is of such importance that it
is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute."29 ( GE 3.) The right and
the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.30
2222
Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human
persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they
educate their children to fulfill God's law.
2223
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They
bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness,
forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. the
home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an
apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery - the
preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to
subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to interior and
spiritual ones."31 ( CA 36 # 2.) Parents have a grave responsibility to give a good
example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to
their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them:
He
who loves his son will not spare the rod.... He who disciplines his son will
profit by him.32
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.33
2224
The home is the natural environment for initiating a human being into
solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents should teach children to
avoid the compromising and degrading influences which threaten human societies.
2225
Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility
and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their
children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the
"first heralds" for their children. They should associate them from
their tenderest years with the life of the Church.34 ( LG 11 # 2.) Wholesome family life
can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living
faith and remain a support for it throughout one's life.
2226
Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest
years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in
faith by the witness of Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family
catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in
the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to
discover their vocation as children of God.35 ( Cf. LG 11.) The parish is the Eucharistic
community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a
privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents.
2227
Children, in turn, contribute to the growth in the holiness of their parents.36 ( Cf. GS 48 # 4.) Each
and everyone should be generous and tireless in forgiving one another for
offenses, quarrels, injustices, and neglect. Mutual affection suggests this.
the charity of Christ demands it.37
2228
Parents' respect and affection are expressed by the care and attention they
devote to bringing up their young children and providing for their physical and
spiritual needs. As the children grow up, the same respect and devotion lead
parents to educate them on the right use of their reason and freedom.
2229
As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have
the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own
convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the
duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian
educators.38 ( Cf. GE 6.) Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental
right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise.
2230
When they become adults, children have the right and duty to choose their
profession and state of life. They should assume their new responsibilities
within a trusting relationship with their parents, willingly asking and
receiving their advice and counsel. Parents should be careful not to exert
pressure on their children either in the choice of a profession or in that of a
spouse. This necessary restraint does not prevent them - quite the contrary
from giving their children judicious advice, particularly when they are
planning to start a family.
2231
Some forgo marriage in order to care for their parents or brothers and sisters,
to give themselves more completely to a profession, or to serve other honorable
ends. They can contribute greatly to the good of the human family.
IV.
The Family and the Kingdom
2232
Family ties are important but not absolute. Just as the child grows to maturity
and human and spiritual autonomy, so his unique vocation which comes from God
asserts itself more clearly and forcefully. Parents should respect this call
and encourage their children to follow it. They must be convinced that the
first vocation of the Christian is to follow Jesus: "He who loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me."39
2233
Becoming a disciple of Jesus means accepting the invitation to belong to God's
family, to live in conformity with His way of life: "For whoever does the
will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."40
Parents
should welcome and respect with joy and thanksgiving the Lord's call to one of
their children to follow him in virginity for the sake of the Kingdom in the
consecrated life or in priestly ministry.
V.
The Authorities In Civil Society
2234
God's fourth commandment also enjoins us to honor all who for our good have
received authority in society from God. It clarifies the duties of those who
exercise authority as well as those who benefit from it.
Duties
of civil authorities
2235
Those who exercise authority should do so as a service. "Whoever would be
great among you must be your servant."41 ( Mt 20:26.) The exercise of authority is
measured morally in terms of its divine origin, its reasonable nature, and its
specific object. No one can command or establish what is contrary to the dignity
of persons and the natural law.
2236
The exercise of authority is meant to give outward expression to a just
hierarchy of values in order to facilitate the exercise of freedom and
responsibility by all. Those in authority should practice distributive justice
wisely, taking account of the needs and contributions of each, with a view to
harmony and peace. They should take care that the regulations and measures they
adopt are not a source of temptation by setting personal interest against that
of the community.42
2237
Political authorities are obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the
human person. They will dispense justice humanely by respecting the rights of
everyone, especially of families and the disadvantaged.
The
political rights attached to citizenship can and should be granted according to
the requirements of the common good. They cannot be suspended by public
authorities without legitimate and proportionate reasons. Political rights are
meant to be exercised for the common good of the nation and the human
community.
The
duties of citizens
2238
Those subject to authority should regard those in authority as representatives
of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts:43 ( Cf. ⇒ Rom 13:1-2.) "Be subject for the
Lord's sake to every human institution.... Live as free men, yet without using
your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God."44 ( 1 Pet 2:13, ⇒ 16.
) Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and to the good of the community.
) Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and to the good of the community.
2239
It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to
the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. the
love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong
to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of
the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the
political community.
2240
Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it
morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend
one's country:
Pay
to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue
is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.45
[Christians]
reside in their own nations but as resident aliens. They participate in all
things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners.... They obey the
established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws.... So noble is the
position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert
it.46
The
Apostle exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all who
exercise authority, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly
and respectful in every way."47
2241
The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to
welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood
which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to
it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection
of those who receive him.
Political
authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible,
may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical
conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their
country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the
material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its
laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.
2242
The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil
authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the
fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing
obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an
upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving
God and serving the political community. "Render therefore to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."48 ( Mt 22:21.) "We must obey God rather than men":49
When
citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its
competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively
demanded of them by the common good, but it is legitimate for them to defend
their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this
authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel.50
2243
Armed resistance to oppression by political authority is not legitimate, unless
all the following conditions are met: 1) there is certain, grave, and prolonged
violation of fundamental rights; 2) all other means of redress have been
exhausted; 3) such resistance will not provoke worse disorders; 4) there is
well-founded hope of success; and 5) it is impossible reasonably to foresee any
better solution.
The
political community and the Church
2244
Every institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a vision of man and his
destiny, from which it derives the point of reference for its judgment, its
hierarchy of values, its line of conduct. Most societies have formed their
institutions in the recognition of a certain preeminence of man over things.
Only the divinely revealed religion has clearly recognized man's origin and
destiny in God, the Creator, and Redeemer. the Church invites political
authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against this inspired the truth about God and man:
Societies
not recognizing this vision or rejecting it in the name of their independence
from God are brought to seek their criteria and goal in themselves or to borrow
them from some ideology. Since they do not admit that one can defend an
objective criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to themselves an explicit
or implicit totalitarian power over man and his destiny, as history shows.51
2245
The Church, because of her commission and competence, is not to be confused in
any way with the political community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of
the transcendent character of the human person. "The Church respects and
encourages the political freedom and responsibility of the citizen."52
2246
It is a part of the Church's mission "to pass moral judgments even in
matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the
salvation of souls require it. the means, the only means, she may use are
those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according
to the diversity of times and circumstances."53
IN
BRIEF
2247
"Honor your father and your mother" (⇒ Deut 5:16; ⇒ Mk 7:10).
2248
According to the fourth commandment, God has willed that, after him, we should
honor our parents and those whom he has vested with authority for our good.
2249
The conjugal community is established upon the covenant and consent of the
spouses. Marriage and family are ordered to the good of the spouses, to the
procreation and the education of children.
2250
"The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian
society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life"
(GS 47 # 1).
2251
Children owe their parents respect, gratitude, just obedience, and assistance.
Filial respect fosters harmony in all of family life.
2252
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children in
the faith, prayer, and all the virtues. They have the duty to provide as far as
possible for the physical and spiritual needs of their children.
2253
Parents should respect and encourage their children's vocations. They should
remember and teach that the first calling of the Christian is to follow Jesus.
2254 A public authority is obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the human
person and the conditions for the exercise of his freedom.
2255
It is the duty of citizens to work with civil authority for building up society
in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom.
2256
Citizens are obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil
authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order. "We
must obey God rather than men" (⇒
Acts 5:29).
2257
Every society's judgments and conduct reflect a vision of man and his destiny.
Without the light the Gospel sheds on God and man, societies easily become
totalitarian.
GO TO:
SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
Thou shall honor your father and your mother
Thou shall not murder
Thou shall not commit adultery
Thou shall not steal
Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor
Thou shall not covet thy neighbors property
Thou shall not covet anything of thy neighbor
SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
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