The Introduction to the Ten

Commandments and On the First

three Commandments

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Introduction to the Ten
Commandments
Three months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites came to Mount Sinai. Here God called
Moses up to the mountain and commanded him to tell the people that if they
remained faithful to the Lord, He would continue to protect them, and would make
them a chosen people. God also commanded the people to prepare themselves for
two whole days, so as to be ready for the third day. On the morning of the third day,
it began to thunder and lighten; a thick cloud covered the mountain, and the top of
Mount Sinai seemed to be on fire. Then came the sound of a trumpet that grew
louder and louder until the people trembled with fear. When Moses had led the
people to the foot of the mountain, God spoke thus:

1) I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
2) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3) Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day.
4) Honour thy father and thy mother.
5) Thou shalt not kill.
6) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7) Thou shalt not steal.
8) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
9) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife.
10) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods.

The Israelites, who were trembling with fear,

promised to do all that God commanded. Afterward,
Moses went up to the mountain again and stayed
there for forty days and forty nights, conversing with
God, who gave him two stone tablets, on which were
written the Ten Commandments.

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 What are the two greatest commandments?

1) Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole
soul, with thy whole strength, and with thy whole mind.
2) Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Why are these two commandments considered the greatest?

These are the two greatest commandments because Jesus gave them to us directly,
but quoting them from the Old Testament

What is so important about these two Commandments?

The importance of these two commandments is that they contain all ten of the
commandments within them.

How do these two commandments contain all ten of the Commandments?

● By loving God and our neighbour, we could not break any of the other ten
commandments.
● The ten Commandments, in fact, help us to achieve these two commandments
of loving God and loving our neighbour.
● The first three of the ten Commandments are directed toward teaching us to
love God.
● The last seven commandments are directed toward teaching us to love our
neighbour.
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 On the First Commandment
“I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt not have strange gods
before me.”
What does the first commandment mean?

This first commandment commands us to adore the one true God.

What does “strange gods” mean?

“Strange gods” mean anything that is not from the one true God and anything that is
not taught in our religion.

What must we do to obey the first commandment?

To obey the first commandment is to adore God.

We adore God by practising our faith, hope and charity by our prayers and sacrifices.

Do prayers and sacrifices increase our virtues

of Faith, Hope and Charity?

Yes, praying for faith, hope and charity is very

rewarding.

We must never forget that the Blessed Virgin

Mary is the shortest and quickest way to our
Lord Jesus. Praying the rosary, going to Mass
and through other prayers, we must always
ask Our Lady to intercede for us and ask our
Lord to increase these virtues.

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 What is Faith?

● Faith is to believe in the teachings of Jesus in the Holy Bible and the teaching from
the Saints confirmed by the Church.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who believe but have not yet seen.” To believe before
we understand something is very pleasing to God. We must have faith and then
understand, not understand then have faith.

● Faith is going out of our way to learn about the teachings of the Church.

We not only learn about the Christian religion for our own sake but so that others
may learn from us. Some ways to practise this is by joining a youth group, reading or
watching holy books and movies, and listening to the homily during Mass.

● Faith is preaching about God and His teachings when we can.

Jesus said "Whosoever shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my
Father who is in heaven." This is Jesus instructing us to profess our faith. We should
only preach what we know, that is why it is important to learn.

What is Hope?

Hope is our trust and belief in God’s mercy and know that he
will always forgive sins when we are sorry for them.

To have hope means:

● To get back up after you have fallen into sin.

● To go to confession and not delay when we have sinned.
● To change our bad habits and focus on the teachings of
God.
● To trust and know that prayer will overcome any
temptations.

What is Charity?

Charity is our Love for God. To love God includes to not offend Him by sin and to do
our best to overcome any temptations.

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 On the Second Commandment
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
What does the second commandment mean?

The second commandment commands us to keep the sacred name of “God” holy.

What does “vain” mean?

To do something in vain means to do that

which is:

● Without purpose
● Without respect
● Fruitless
● Without worth
● Without meaning
● Pointless
● Unsuccessful

What must we do to obey the second commandment?

To obey the second commandment, we must:

● Only use God’s name in prayer, meditation, teaching or religious discussions.

● Keep any Holy names and religious teachings away from normal conversations
with our neighbour that doesn’t involve God.
● Keep God’s name away from promises or jokes with our neighbour.

What is blasphemy?

Blasphemy is any word or action misusing, mocking, or attacking God and His Saints.

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 On the Third Commandment
“Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.”
What does the third commandment mean?

The third commandment commands us to keep holy the Lord’s day (and Holydays of
obligation) by giving our time, prayers and service to God.

How can we obey the third commandment?

To obey the third commandment, we must attend Mass on Sundays and give our full
attention to the priest and the Gospel readings.

We should avoid doing things on Sundays that will lead us into sin.

What are some good works recommended to

do on Sundays?

● Spending time with our family.

● Reading holy books or watching movies.
● Going to adoration.
● Praying the rosary or other prayers.

We do not need to spend the whole Sunday

doing these good works; however, we should
give some time to them to show our Love for
God.

What are Holydays of obligation?

Holydays of obligation is every Sunday and special feast days of the Church that we
must attend Mass on; otherwise we commit a mortal sin.

Is it a sin to do work on Sundays?

It is a sin to do unnecessary work on Sundays such as unnecessary shopping in a mall.

However, work that is necessary is not a sin such as doctors, going out to restaurants,
ambulance, police and even your homework from school.

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On the Last Seven
Commandments

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 On the Fourth Commandment
“Honour thy father and thy mother.”

What does the fourth commandment mean?

The fourth commandment commands us to honour, love and obey our parents.

What does “honour” mean?

To honour is to show our highest respect.

Are we bound to honour and obey others than our parents?

Yes, we are bound to obey our bishops, priests, teachers, laws and any other
superiors of ours.

What must we do to obey the fourth commandment?

● We must obey their commands.

● We must always show respect.
● We must love and pray for them.

When is the only time we may not honour our

father or mother?

The only time we should not obey the

commands of our father, mother or other
superiors is when the command leads us into
sin.

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 Our superiors are not above God and God never permits sin, even when it is
commanded through our superiors.

On the Fifth Commandment

“Thou shalt not kill.”
What does the fifth commandment mean?

The fourth commandment commands that we must not take away the life of any
human being.

Does this commandment have any other meaning than to “not kill”?

Yes, this commandment also commands us to not wilfully fight, have anger, seek
revenge or be a bad example for others.

What must we do to obey the fifth commandment?

● We must love our neighbour.

● We must seek only peace with our neighbour.
● We must respect our neighbour.
● We must pray and preach to our neighbour.
● We must take care of our own health.

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 On the Sixth Commandment
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
What does the sixth commandment mean?

The sixth commandment commands us to keep our thoughts, eyes, ears and mouth
pure at all times.

What must we do to obey the sixth commandment?

● We must watch movies or TV with supervision of our parents.

● We must play video or board games suitable for our age.
● We must listen to good music that does not have bad language.
● We must use good language in our speech.
● We must walk away or stop anyone using bad language.

What is possible to happen if we watch too much TV, YouTube, or spend too much
time playing on our iPad?

Too much time spent on these things can lead to bad advertisements that we have no
control over.

What must we do when a bad advertisement

pops up on our Tv or iPad?

When a bad advertisements pops up on our TV

or iPad, we must notify our parents right away
so that we do not sin and we are obeying God.

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 On the Seventh Commandment
“Thou shalt not steal.”
What does the seventh commandment mean?

The seventh commandment commands us to give to people what belongs to them

and to respect property that is not ours.

How can we obey this commandment?

● When we borrow something from others, we must return it in the same

condition as we took it.
● If we have kept something by accident, we must return it to the owner when
we can.
● If we cannot return something from damaging it or other reasons, we must
pay back with money or give the same amount of money to the poor.

Do we break the seventh commandment if we take something that someone

else has stolen?

Yes, it is breaking the seventh commandment if we knowingly take or even

borrow something that has been stolen by someone else.

What should we do with things that we have found?

If we have found a lost item at school or

in any public place we must try and find
its rightful owner. For example, if you
have found a pair of reading glasses at
school, you can return it to a teacher and
he or she can place them in the lost items
box.

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 On the Eighth Commandment
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”
What does the eighth commandment mean?

The eighth commandment commands us to speak the truth in all things and to
respect the reputation of everyone.

What is a lie?

A lie is a sin committed by knowingly saying what is untrue with the intention of
misleading others.

How can we obey this commandment?

● We must always say the truth.

● We must not assume the sins of others.
● We must not speak of other people behind their back especially if they are
lies.
● We must always keep our promises that we have made with others.

When are you allowed to tell someone about the fault of a neighbour?

It is only allowed to tell the faults of a neighbour when it is to warn someone of that
person or to make his parents or superiors aware of his actions.

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 On the Ninth Commandment
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.”
What does the ninth commandment mean?

The ninth commandment commands us to not think of our neighbour in any kind of
bad way.

How can we obey this commandment?

We must always keep our thoughts and speech of other people, pure.

On the Tenth Commandment

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.”
What does the ninth commandment mean?

The ninth commandment commands us to not to take what does not belong to us.
Also, to not wish bad of others having something that we would like to have.

How must we obey this commandment?

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● We must be happy with what we have.
● We must be happy for others and for their success.

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