THE TEN

COMMANDMENTS

STUDENT TEXTBOOK
 Cover Image: Artist unknown

This translation is based on the work belonging to La Escuela de la Fe

Los Diez Mandamientos

Translated by Althea Dawson Sidaway

.

Translation Copyright © CANELA USA 2018

The Catholic Association for the New Evangelisation in Latin America and Africa
265 Spithaler School Road, Evans City, PA 16033 USA
All rights reserved.
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CONTENTS

1) Introduction. The Commandments: Path of Love

2) 1: Love God Above All Else
3) 2: Respect for the Lord’s Name
4) 3: The Lord’s Day
5) 4: The Family in God’s Plan
6) 5: Life - A Gift from God
7) Sins Against the Fifth Commandment - Murder, Abortion,
Euthanasia, Suicide, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, War and
Scandal
8) 6 and 9: God’s Plan for Human Love
9) 6 and 9: The Virtue of Purity - Sins Against Love
10) 7 and 10: Do Not Steal or Covet Anything that is Not Yours
11) The Justice Within the 7th Commandment
12) 8: Respect, Protect, Proclaim the Truth
13) 8: Charity in Word and Thought
14) The Commandments of the Church
15) The Life of the New Self: Holiness
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Lesson 1
Introduction
The Commandments – Path of Love
« For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious
and remote for you.[…] No, it is something very near to you, already in
your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.»

Deuteronomy 30: 11, 14

The Ten Commandments (which sometimes go by the name of the Decalogue,

from the Greek δεκάλογος, pronounced dekalogos) are referred to as such in
Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 10:4.

The Commandments are the path which the Christian follows in order to
grow in his or her life of grace, corresponding in this way to the love of God
who loved us first. Because of this, the summary of the commandments is
very clear and simple: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of
you but to fear the Lord, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and
serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul”
(Deuteronomy 10:12), and Christ added, « I give you a new commandment:
love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. »
(John 13: 34, 35)

The Ten Commandments are to be interpreted in the light of the

commandment to love, the fullness of the Law (cf. CCC, 2055). How right St
Augustine was when he said, “Love, and do what you like”, since if you love
truly, all that you do will be done for the good.

Some people see the commandments as a list of forbidden things which

curtail their personal freedom. To this, Fr. Raniero Cantalamesa 1 responds:
“God’s commandments are a manifestation of His love and paternal solicitude
for mankind. “Be careful to observe what will give you life and prosperity”
(Deut 6:30, 30:15s): there is no other objective to the commandments. The
commandments are to be observed as a whole: we cannot observe some of the
commandments, while we break others2.
The Ten Commandments are as a compass which orients humans towards
the good, so that we are not led astray from the path of life, but are fulfilled
and authentically happy, without losing sight of God.

1 Preacher to the Papal Household, in his Commentary on the Readings from the Liturgy of
the Mass for the Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle B (Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1: 22-25;
John 2:13-25).
2 «The Decalogue forms a coherent whole. Each "word" refers to each of the others and to all

of them; they reciprocally condition one another. The two tables shed light on one another;
they form an organic unity. To transgress one commandment is to infringe all the others. One
cannot honor another person without blessing God his Creator. One cannot adore God without loving all
men, his creatures. The Decalogue brings man's religious and social life into unity. » (CCC # 2069)
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Characteristics of the Ten Commandments 3

 They are unalterable: they cannot be changed. Nobody can change

them since they were established by God and when He sets a norm, it
is so perfect that it cannot be changed. It would be a contradiction in
God.

 They are absolute: they do not permit any relativism or any kind of
situational ethics. What is ‘the dictatorship of relativism’, as Benedict
XVI referred to it when beginning his Pontificate? Relativism is the
doctrine which states that everything is relative and depends on each
person’s point of view. This viewpoint is unacceptable because there
are principles which are fundamental, undeniable and absolute. The
commandments cannot be cut back, lessened or reduced. Another
thing is to see if it [Sic.] is grave or venial matter.

 They are universal: meaning, they apply to all people. Nobody is

exempt from obeying them. They go for the man in the field and the
man in the city, for the educated and less educated, for the child and
the adult. Everyone is subject to them.

 They are current: they are for yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Although God revealed them over 3,500 years ago, they are still very
much in force, still current. They apply for me and for you, and will
never go out of fashion.

Why is it difficult to carry out the Commandments?

For one simple reason: because of original sin, we are inclined towards evil,
towards the easy, pleasurable, comfortable way out of things. The
Commandments certainly don’t encourage that sort of thing. The
commandments aim for what is most noble in us: to exceed, and scale the
peaks of perfection and happiness.

The Ten Commandments mark a trail for us to walk on in order to get to

true happiness and self-realization. The path is narrow, wearisome at times
and always uphill.

Moreover, each commandment counteracts the disordered tendencies which

we all carry within our hearts. These tendencies are offset and redirected so
that we can be better persons.

For example:

3CCC # 2072: “Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his
neighbor, the Ten Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations.
They are fundamentally immutable, and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can
dispense from them. The Ten Commandments are engraved by God in the human heart.”
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 The First Commandment: works against that curiosity which pushes

us to want to know the future, to possess material things, our rest,
enjoyment and gods. It directs our religious desire so that we don’t get
trapped by superstitions, magic, divining. It also set out for us that
God be our one Lord and God, the one in whom we believe, trust and
who we love.

 The Second Commandment: counteracts our inclination to swear

without need, without thinking, to take lightly our commitments and
promises made freely to the Lord, to say the Lord’s name mechanically
and disrespectfully, to commit blasphemy and protest against God
when things don’t go the way we hoped or when God puts us to the
test.

 The Third Commandment: counters our inclination towards laziness,

indolence, thanklessness and forgetfulness of God, of wanting to praise
God in our own way without having to go to Mass, for not knowing
what is celebrated in each Mass.

 The Fourth Commandment: counters our propensity for

ungratefulness towards the ones who gave us our life, who educated
us, as well as our tendency to be arrogant towards authority, the lack
of submission and humbleness. This goes for sons and daughters. For
mothers and fathers, this commandment arrests the extremes: either
letting our children get away with everything or making all of their
decision for them, without educating them in true freedom and
decision-making.

 The Fifth Commandment: counters our penchant for hatred, ill-will,

envy, criticism, egoism, revenge and violence.

 The Sixth Commandment: arrests our proclivity for sexuality devoid of

norms, limits, and the aim which God endowed sex with. God created
the sexual act as His gift so that husbands and wives, within a
mature, faithful and stable marriage, grow in love and bring forth
children into the world.

 The Seventh Commandment: prohibits our fondness for keeping what

us no tours, and for taking justice into our own hands. At the same
time, it helps regulate the right to private property.

 The Eighth Commandment: arrests our inclination to lie - whether

aware or not, to do things with minimum quality, to call attention to
ourselves in order to avoid greater problems, out of a sense of false
human respect, as well as our weakness to stick our noses into others’
secrets and lives and to make quick, partial judgments of others.
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 The Ninth Commandment: arrests our proclivity for impure thoughts,

for fantasizing about an impossible future, looking at and desiring a
man or woman who is not ours.

 The Tenth Commandment: apprehends our avaricious bent, our

attachment to worldly things, and our covetousness.

What are the fruits of obeying the Commandments?

 They make you free and release you from slavish ties.
 They cleanse your heart of ignoble desires.
 They let deliver to God what is His and to others what is theirs.
 They remove an unnecessary load from your soul so that you make
walk nimbly towards God
 They give you the keys to build the civilization of love, fidelity and
justice.
 They lead you a full human and Christian fulfillment.
 They give peace to the soul.
 They have us live fraternally with others.
 Above all, they are pleasing to God, your Father, Lord and Friend.

One thing must be made very clear: sin is in no way the center of Christian
life. For believers, they are what the obstacles are to the obstacle course
racer, or the board to the diver: something to be known and overcome. We
are not people who simply run from sin and hell. We are people who rise up
and walk towards Christ. He is the one we’re interested in. He is our center.

As we come to better understand the Ten Commandments, we should keep in

view our objective: to reach Christ and imitate him, become fulfilled as man
or woman and as Christians, reach our own potential and be happy. By
keeping these Commandments, we will make it to eternal life where God, our
Father awaits us to give us the reward of His presence for our having done
his will as he made manifest to us in them.

Pope John Paul II wrote the following in his encyclical, Veritatis splendor:

“The commandments of which Jesus reminds the young man are meant
to safeguard the good of the person, the image of God, by protecting
his goods. ``You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you
shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness'' are moral rules
formulated in terms of prohibitions. These negative precepts express
with particular force the ever urgent need to protect human life, the
communion of persons in marriage, private property, truthfulness and
people's good name.

“The commandments thus represent the basic condition for love of

neighbor; at the same time they are the proof of that love. They are
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the first necessary step on the journey towards freedom, its starting-point.
``The beginning of freedom,'' Saint Augustine writes, ``is to be free from
crimes... such as murder, adultery, fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege and
so forth. When once one is without these crimes (and every Christian
should be without them), one begins to lift up one's head towards
freedom. But this is only the beginning of freedom, not perfect
freedom....''” (# 13)
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Lesson 2
1) Love God Above All Else

To go deeper into the First Commandment, read the Catechism of the

Catholic Church, # 2084-2141.

«I, the Lord, am your God […] you shall not have other gods besides me»
(Exodus 20: 2-3; Deuteronomy 5: 6-7)

I. What does this First Commandment Involve?

1. Living the theological virtues: Faith, hope, and charity

Faith is the supernatural virtue by which we believe to be true all that God
has revealed.

The CCC (#2087) tells us of Faith: “Our moral life has its source in faith in
God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience of
faith" (Rom 1: 5; 16: 26) as our first obligation. He shows that "ignorance of
God" is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations. (Cf. Rom 1: 18-
32). Our duty toward God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him.”

Faith entails three duties:

 Knowing it: internalizing it. Knowledge is implicit to love, and love is

pre-requisite to imitation: nobody can love what they don’t know. It
means also knowing the fundamental truths which we can do by
following the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The truths of Faith which every Christian must seek knowledge of are:

 The fundamental dogma contained in the Credo.

 The essential practices for salvation: God’s Commandments and
the Church.
 What the human person must ask of God: the Our Father.
 The means necessary to receive grace: the Sacraments.

 Confessing it: manifesting it with words or gestures; through our own

actions in sync with what we believe; making it known through the
apostolate.

 Safeguarding it: by rejecting everything that opposes our faith, and

living our Christian commitments with faithfulness.

There are various ways of sinning against faith:

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 “Voluntary doubt: disregarding or refusing to hold as true what God

has revealed and the Church proposes for belief.” (Cf. CCC # 2088)

 “Involuntary doubt: refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in

overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety
aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to
spiritual blindness.” (Cf. CCC # 2088)

 “Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to

assent to it.” (Cf. CCC # 2089)

 “Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which

must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an
obstinate doubt concerning the same.” (Cf. CCC # 2089)

 “Apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith.” (Cf. CCC #

2089)

 “Schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of

communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” (Cf. CCC
# 2089)

Hope is the supernatural virtue – infused by God into the soul at the
moment of baptism – by which we have the firm confidence that God will
give us, through Jesus Christ’s merits, the grace we need on earth in order to
reach heaven.

The CCC paragraph 2090 tells us about hope: «When God reveals Himself
and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers.
He must hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him in return and
to act in conformity with the commandments of charity. Hope is the
confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is
also the fear of offending God's love and of incurring punishment.”

This Commandment also makes reference to sins against hope:

 “By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God,
for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is
contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his
promises - and to his mercy.” (CCC # 2091)

 There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his
own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on
high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping
to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).”
(CCC #2092)
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 Distrust: This is the most common form of sin against hope. If this
virtue is not completely lost, it becomes weakened and leads to fatigue
in the spiritual battle or despondency, pessimism or even
abandonment of the spiritual life.

Charity is the infused supernatural virtue by which we love God above all
else, and love others as ourselves through our love of God. Charity is the
most excellent of the virtues.4

Paragraph # 2093 of the CCC tells us of charity: “Faith in God's love

encompasses the call and the obligation to respond with sincere love to
divine charity. The first commandment enjoins us to love God above
everything and all creatures for him and because of him.” (Cf. Deut: 4-5)

“One can sin against God's love in various ways:

 Indifference is the neglect or refusal to reflect on divine charity; scorn

for
God’s charity and denial of its power.

 Ingratitude is the failure or refusal to acknowledge divine charity and

to return Him love for love.

 Lukewarmness is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love;

it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.

 Acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes
from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.

 Hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose

goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who
forbids sins and inflicts punishments.” (CCC #2094)

2. Worship

This First Commandment also involves worship: internal or external homage

of respect and love offered to God, the angels, the Virgin, the saints and the
blessed, through prayer or devotion, and by means of a set of liturgical rites
and celebrations.

The Christian worships through personal or communitary prayer and

through the celebration of the sacraments, at Mass, for example; or by
praying the Holy Rosary, going on pilgrimage, adoring God in the Most Holy
Sacrament of the Altar, or through praying a novena to a saint or a blessed.

4“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Cor. 13: 13; cfr
13: 8).
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We adore5 (latria) only God, since He alone is God, Creator and Lord of all.
Mary receives special veneration (hyperdulia) as the Mother of God, and in
recognition of the special protection which as our mother, she obtains for us
from God the graces which we most need. We venerate (dulia) the saints for
the greatness God has done in them and through them.
It must be made clear that when we pray to a saint and then obtain a special
grace, a miracle for example, the saint only interceded for us before God: God
is the one who granted us what we requested. God is the source of all gifts.
He saints are intercessors before God before all of us.

We must also remember that the most sublime worship of God is through our
full participation in the Eucharist, which is the center of Christian life.

It is in the Eucharist, especially in the celebration of Holy Mass, where we

give God our most beautiful, satisfactory, worthy worship, honoring God
Himself and His salvation of mankind.

3. Heroically Obey this Commandment

The testimony of the martyrs, who gave their life for Christ, comes to mind.

Consider the martyrdom of Saint Justine. Born in Samaria, he was arrested

in Rome in the year 163 along with several of his students. The Acts of his
martyrdom has been preserved through the centuries:

“The saints were seized and brought before the prefect of Rome, whose name
was Rusticus. As they stood before the judgment seat, Rusticus the prefect
said to Justin, "Above all, have faith in the gods and obey the emperors."
Justin replied, "We cannot be accused or condemned for obeying the
commands of our Savior, Jesus Christ."
Rusticus said, "What system of teaching do you profess?"
Justin said, "I have tried to learn about every system, but I have accepted the
true doctrines of the Christians, though these are not approved by those who
are held fast by error."
The prefect Rusticus said, "Are those doctrines approved by you, wretch that
you are?"
Justin said, "Yes, for I follow them with their correct teaching."
The prefect Rusticus said, "What sort of teaching is that?"
Justin said, "Worship the God of the Christians. We hold him to be from the
beginning the one creator and maker of the whole creation, of things seen and
things unseen. We worship also the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

5 Cf. CCC # 2096: “Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to
acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that
exists, as infinite and merciful Love. "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only
shall you serve," says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy.”
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Rusticus said, "You are a Christian, then?"

Justin said, "Yes, I am a Christian."
The prefect said to Justin, "You are called a learned man and think you know
what is true teaching. Listen: if you were scourged and beheaded, are you
convinced that you would go up to heaven?"
Justin said, "I hope that I shall enter God's house if I suffer in that way. For I
know that God's favor is stored up until the end of the whole world for all
who have lived good lives."
The prefect Rusticus said, "Do you have an idea that you will go up to heaven
to receive some suitable rewards?"
Justin said, "It is not an idea that I have; it is something I know well and
hold to be most certain."
The prefect Rusticus said, "Now let us come to the point at issue, which is
necessary and urgent. Gather round then and with one accord offer sacrifice
to the gods."
Justin said, "No one who is right-thinking stoops from true worship to false
worship."
The prefect Rusticus said, "If you do not do as you are commanded you will be
tortured without mercy."
Justin said, "We hope to suffer torment for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and so be saved."
In the same way the other martyrs also said, "Do what you will. We are
Christians; we do not offer sacrifice to idols."

The prefect Rusticus pronounced sentence, saying, "Let those who have
refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the emperor be
scourged and led away to suffer capital punishment according to the ruling of
the laws."
Glorifying God, the holy martyrs were beheaded, and so fulfilled their witness
of martyrdom in confessing their faith in their Savior.”
(From the Prayer Foundation website. Retrieved April 20, 2010 at
[Link]
m)

II. In What Ways Do You Offend God, Your Father?

 Atheism (Cf. CCC # 2124)

This is not believing in God. It may take on the form of a theoretical,

programmed disbelief as is the case of Communism; or a theoretical and
programmed atheism as manifested in a person who claims to believe in God,
but does not pray, go to Mass, or receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation,
living as if God did not really exist.

Atheism takes on several forms. A common type is practical materialism,

which limits man’s needs and ambitions to time and space. Humanistic
atheism falsely maintains that man is ‘an end unto himself, the sole artisan
and creator of his own history.’ (GS 20, 1). Another form of ‘modern atheism
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is that which anticipates the liberation of man especially through his

economic and social emancipation. This form argues that by its nature
religion thwarts this liberation by arousing man's hope for a deceptive future
life, thereby diverting him from the constructing of the earthly city.’ (GS 20,
2).

 Agnosticism (Cf. CCC # 2127)

This posture limits knowledge to sensory or verifiable empirical experience.

It rejects the possibility of knowing the supernatural and thus, the
possibility of knowing God exists. It’s not the same as atheism which denies
God’s existence. Agnosticism says that it cannot be known that God exists or
not; and thus rejects any pronouncements in favor or against His existence.

Agnosticism may sometimes contain elements revealing a search for God, but
it may also represent a certain indifference, an escape from the ultimate
question concerning existence, and a laziness in moral conscience.

 Idolatry (Cf. CCC # 2113)

“Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant

temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man
commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God,
whether this be gods or demons (for example, Satanism), power, pleasure,
race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and
mammon." Many martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast" refusing even to
simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is
therefore incompatible with communion with God.”

 Superstitions (Cf. CCC # 2111)

“Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this

feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g.,
when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices
otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of
sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the
interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.”

 Divination and Magic (CCC # 2116, 2117)

“All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons,

conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the
future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of
omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all
conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other
human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict
the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
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“All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult

powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power
over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are
gravely contrary to the virtue of religion.”

 Irreligion (Cf. CCC # 2110 and 2119)

“Tempting God consists in putting his goodness and almighty power to the
test by word or deed. Thus Satan tried to induce Jesus to throw himself down
from the Temple and, by this gesture, force God to act. Jesus opposed Satan
with the word of God: "You shall not put the LORD your God to the
test.” The challenge contained in such tempting of God wounds the respect
and trust we owe our Creator and Lord. It always harbors doubt about his
love, his providence, and his power.”

 Sacrilege

“Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and

other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to
God.” (Cf. CEC # 2120)

 Simony (Cf. Acts 8: 9-24)

“Simony is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things. To Simon the

magician, who wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the
apostles, St. Peter responded: "Your silver perish with you, because you
thought you could obtain God's gift with money!" Peter thus held to the words
of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without pay." It is impossible to
appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and behave toward them as their owner
or master, for they have their source in God. One can receive them only from
him, without payment.” (CCC # 2121)

III. What Things Are Pleasing to God the Father?

1. Prayer

“The acts of faith, hope, and charity enjoined by the first commandment are
accomplished in prayer. Lifting up the mind toward God is an expression of
our adoration of God: prayer of praise and thanksgiving, intercession and
petition. Prayer is an indispensable condition for being able to obey God's
commandments. "[We] ought always to pray and not lose heart." (Cf. CCC #
2098)

2. Sacrifice
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“It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude,

supplication and communion: ‘Every action done so as to cling to God in
communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true sacrifice.’”
(Cf. CCC # 2099)

3. Doing God’s Will

During the Last Supper, Jesus Christ said to His Disciples: “If you love me,
you will keep my commandments” (Cf. Jn 14:15, 21; 15:10, 14). This is the
heart of God’s love, this is how it is made patent, in the non-stop search to do
His will. It means doing, at all times, what pleases Him, placing all of the
means necessary to fulfill His plan of love for my life.

Christian Living in the Light of Faith:

Once we’ve understood what this First Commandment implies, we see that
God does not need man to love him; man, though, does need to love God in
order to be completely fulfilled.

It is thus necessary to have a personal, intimate relationship with God

through prayer, so that we can commit to following Him and serving others.

Only by loving God above all else are we able to divest ourselves of arrogance
and egoism. This frees us to open out to others and to seek, know and love
God.
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Lesson 3
2: Respect for the Lord’s Name

For a deeper understanding of the Second Commandment, read the CCC #

2142-2167.

«You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. »
(Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11)

I. How is the Lord’s Name?

Saint Thomas Aquinus, in his book entitled Commentaries on the Lord’s

Prayer presents the following attributes to God’s name as he explains the
first petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be thy Name”:

Hallowed be thy Name: in Biblical language, the person and his or her
name are one and the same thing. We are all aware of the reverential
fear with which the people of the Old Testament pronounced the Lord’s
Name. Wishing God’s Name to be made holy expresses the desire to see
God enshrined in honor and respect, have His transcendence
recognized.

On this, the CCC # 2143 states: “Among all the words of Revelation,
there is one which is unique: the revealed name of God. God confides his
name to those who believe in him; he reveals himself to them in his
personal mystery. The gift of a name belongs to the order of trust and
intimacy. "The Lord's name is holy." For this reason man must not
abuse it. He must keep it in mind in silent, loving adoration. He will not
introduce it into his own speech except to bless, praise, and glorify it.”

“This is the first petition, and in it we ask that God's name be manifested and
declared in us. The name of God, first of all, is wonderful because it works
wonders in all creatures. Thus said Our Lord: "In My name they shall cast
out devils, they shall speak new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if
they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them." (Mark 16:17)

GOD'S NAME IS LOVABLE

This name is lovable: "There is no other name under heaven given to men,
whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) We all should desire to be saved. […]

GOD'S NAME IS VENERABLE

The name of God is venerable: "In the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth." (Philippians 2:10)
 17

"Those that are in heaven" refers to the Angels and the blessed; "those that are
on earth" to people living in this world, who do so for love of heaven which
they wish to gain; "those under the earth" to the damned, who do so out of
fear.

GOD'S NAME IS INEFFABLE

This name is ineffable, for in the telling of it every tongue is wholly

inadequate. Accordingly, it is sometimes compared to created things as, for
instance, it is likened to a rock because of its firmness: "Upon this rock I will
build My Church." It is likened to a fire because of its purifying power; for as
fire purifies metal, so does God purify the hearts of sinners: "My God is a
consuming fire." (Deuteronomy 4:24) […]”
(St. Thomas Aquinus, Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer at [Link].
Retrieved April 21, 2010 at [Link]
[Link])

For all of this, God’s Name is to be respected. But above all, because He is
our Father, who is immensely good and who has sought, continuously seeks,
and will forever seek our good and our happiness.

II. Why did God give us this Commandment?

Amongst Christians, God’s name is common currency. Even those who don’t
believe in Him use His name. It is often a verbal crutch, used in
exclamations and in blasphemy.

“O God!”, we hear this superficial exclamation often times – at soccer games,

amongst friends, when we bang our finger, amidst boisterous laughter at a
Bar-B-Q.

We use it ourselves without thinking that we are setting God as our witness.
Without thinking, we say: “If God so wishes”, “Hope to God”, “So help me
God”. We don’t stop to realize that we are invoking Him and asking Him to
be our witness. When said with respect and endearment, there is no problem.
In such cases, we are showing that God is someone who is always present in
our lives, in our thoughts and in our speech.

So often though, we use God’s Name in a frivolous way; in the names of

movies, commercials, etc.

Frequently we use His name to protect our lies in false oaths: “May God
come down and see, I swear to God; may God punish me if I’m lying”.

We use it to satisfy or support our desire for revenge: “We shall fight this
war in the Name of God”, or in the after-math of some terrible event, we
claim it was “God’s punishment”.
 18

Some use God’s Name to blaspheme, to laugh at sacred values.

In an ordinary day, try keeping count of all the times you hear the Lord’s
name taken in vain.

Making fun of God, the Virgin Mary, the saints, priests, men or women
religious… is a grave sin, when it is done consciously and deliberately.

Besides respecting the Lord’s name, we must also respect sacred things, such
as the altar, chalices, patens, pyxes and other objects utilized in the Mass.

We must also show respect for the persons and ministers who are
consecrated to God, such as the pope, bishops, priests, deacons and men and
women religious or consecrated. As such, they belong to God and serve to
bring us God’s message of love.

Places dedicated to Him must also be respected: cathedrals, churches, and

graveyards, for example.

The Second Commandment also refers to oaths.

Taking an oath or swearing is another way of honoring God’s name, since we

are placing God as our witness to the truth of what we say or the sincerity of
what we promise.

We may be called to make a formal declaration concerning what we have

done, seen or heard, reinforcing our deposition through a special testimony.
On important occasions, such as in a court of law, we may call upon God as
witness to the truth of our statement or promise: that is swearing or taking
an oath.

With the above exceptions, we should never swear: human communication

should be based on veracity and honesty. Christ said: “Let your 'Yes' mean
'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one.” (Matthew
5:37)

There are several ways in which we swear:

 By expressly invoking God, as for example: “I swear to God”, “On the

Blood of Christ”, etc.;
 By calling on the name of the Virgin Mary or the name of a saint;
 By referring to a created thing which reflects several of God’s
perfections, such as Heaven, the Church, the Cross, etc.
 By swearing without uttering any words, but through a gesture such
as placing one’s hand on the Bible, a crucifix or the altar, etc.
 19

A properly performed oath is not only licit, but it also pays homage to God
who is infinitely wise, almighty and fair. In order for the oath to be correctly
taken, the following points must prevail:

 Swear with truth: affirm only the truth and promise only what you
intend to keep. There is always a grave irreverence in placing God as
our witness to a lie. This is perjury, which is a grave sin.

 Swear with justice: affirm or promise only that which is licit and not
sinful. It is a grave offense to use God’s Name to swear to something
that is illicit, for example, revenge or thievery. If the oath has as its
object something that is gravely evil, then the sin is mortal.

 Swear only in dire need: Only when it is of vital importance that web e
believed or when the civil or ecclesiastical authority requires it. We
must not swear without prudence, moderation or for things of little
importance; otherwise we commit venial sin which could be mortal if
the swearing causes scandal or risks perjury.

Some Ways of Disobeying this Commandment:

 Saying God’s name without due respect or for evil purposes, as in

cursing.
 Expressing hate, reproach, defiance towards God, the Virgin or the
saints. This is called blasphemy.
 Perjury: making a promise without having the intention of keeping it,
or swearing to a lie, calling upon God as witness to it.
 Swearing unnecessarily to things that don’t require it: “I swear to
God…”
 Not fulfilling the promises or oaths made to God.

III. How Are We to Honor God’s Name?

1. In Prayer

We sanctify God’s name in prayer. (Cf. CCC # 2814).

Prayer is the soul’s habitual life, the soul’s breath. Thus, the Christian who
does not pray is also breaking the Second Commandment.

In prayer, we call upon God: “My God, my Father, my Lord”. God listens and
is moved with joy. You are His child and He never closes His ears to His
children. In prayer, He embraces you and carries on a relationship of
friendship and love.

With prayer, we adore and praise God; we thank Him and bless His Name,
we beg His forgiveness for our faithlessness, and we beseech Him in our
need.
 20

In prayer, we receive light for our way, encouragement in hard times, council
and strength to fulfill God’s will in every moment of our life.

We also pray when we reflect on the Gospel, attend mass, visit Christ in the
Eucharist, or slowly say the Lord’s Prayer or the Hail Mary.

Pray! Pray always and everywhere. There, in prayer, God’s Name is

sanctified and spoken with respect and veneration.

2. In words

Throughout the history of our holy Mother Church, the holy Name of the
Lord God, Jesus Christ resounds ceaselessly like a blessed melody. The
Apostles, the first Christians, the multitude of the martyrs proclaimed His
name. Saint Francis of Assisi, whenever he heard His Name proclaimed,
perceived it as if it were spoken with the chords of a harp. Christian martyrs
from the past and the present die with His Name on their lips. Mexican
Catholics, during the War of the Cristeros from 1926 to 1929, died shouting,
“Long live Christ the King!”

Saint Paul wrote to the Colossians: “And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him.” (Colossians 3:17)

3. By living a meritorious life

Our life should reflect Christ. An honest, sincere, pure, humble life is
authentic preaching of Christ’s Name.

A coherent life convinces more than words. One bad example undoes a
thousand words you may have spoken about Christ.

Honoring God with your life means the faithful fulfillment of the promises,
oaths and vows you have made to God: those promises jeopardize the honor,
faithfulness, truthfulness and authority of God Himself.

Don’t make a promise you don’t intend to keep. A vow or promise is an act of
the virtue of religion through which the Christian consecrates Him or herself
to God or promises good work. Therefore, by fulfilling your vows, you render
unto God what you have promised and consecrated to Him.

Faithfulness to the promises made to God is a manifestation of respect for

God’s Name and love for Him, who has always been faithful.

Your blasphemy does not make God any lesser, nor do your prayers and
praises make Him any greater. But they affect you. You will be lesser or
greater if you blaspheme or pray. God will never stop being God if an asinine
 21

person blasphemes against Him. Just as the Sun will not stop shining if you
throw mud at it: the mud will fall back down on you, your blasphemy will
sully you, the one who slanged the muck at God.
 22

Lesson 4
3: The Lord’s Day
For a deeper understanding of the Third Commandment, read the CCC #
2168-2195.

“ …[T]he seventh day is the Sabbath of complete rest, sacred to the

Lord.” (Exodus 31:15)

I. What Do We Celebrate on Sunday?

The CCC tells us:

"By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from
the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal
mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord's
Day or Sunday." The day of Christ's Resurrection is both the first day of
the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the "eighth day,"
on which Christ after his "rest" on the great Sabbath inaugurates the
"day that the Lord has made," the "day that knows no evening.” The
Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole community of the faithful
encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet:

The Lord's Day, the day of Resurrection, the day of Christians, is our
day. It is called the Lord's day because on it the Lord rose victorious to
the Father. If pagans call it the "day of the sun," we willingly agree, for
today the light of the world is raised, today is revealed the sun of justice
with healing in his rays. (CCC # 1166)

We shall turn to Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, “Dies Domini” on
Sunday, the Lord’s Day, (31 May, 1998).

On Sunday we celebrate and relive Christ’s Resurrection, the great triumph

of our salvation, the great day of liberation for all believers. God has again
freed you from sins and granted you the salvation of your soul.

Let’s summarize the reasons for this great Sunday joy, as the late Pope
describe in his letter:

 Every Sunday we celebrate the marvels worked by God the Creator,

who after having completed His work of creation, rested on the
seventh day. At every Mass, we are to experience that same joy which
God the Creator looked upon creation: “God looked at everything he
had made, and he found it very good.” (Genesis 1: 31)

 Every Sunday is the Day of the Risen Lord: we celebrate Christ’s

triumph over death and sin. Sunday is the day of the true Son which
illumines our life. Sunday is also the day of fire: the light of Christ is
 23

intimately related to the fire of the Spirit. Each Sunday we dress in

that light and fire. Sunday, then, is that day of fire. This is why we
pray the credo, renewing our adherence to Christ and His Gospel, and
renew our Baptismal promises.

 Each Sunday is too, the day of the Church. Why? Because we gather
as a Christian community and family: with our priest who presides in
the name of Christ and with all of the faithful, who together with Him,
celebrate the Eucharist. Sunday is the day of unity: we gather
together at the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist, we
greet one another with an embrace and exchange the kiss of peace. We
partake of the same Body of Christ. It is a sacrifice and a banquet and
a fraternal gathering. We all join in: the choir, the readers, the guides,
and the people who take the offerings to the altar.

 Sunday is also man’s day: a day of joy, rest and solidarity. It is a day of
man’s peace with God, peace with oneself and peace with our fellow
men. It is a day to enjoy being with the family, to rest from work, to
share something with the needy.

 Sunday is the day amongst days: it reminds us of the Sunday which

never sets, which is heaven. Every Sunday se should feel nostalgic for
the true eternal Sunday, where we will enjoy and take pleasure in
God’s presence and that of God’s friends in heaven.

II. Why is it that some people don’t go to Mass on Sundays?

Pope Benedict XVI says (reference unavailable): «Participation in Sunday

Mass must not be experienced by the Christian as an imposition or a load, but
instead as a necessity and joy. Gathering with our brothers and sisters,
listening to the word of God, nourished by Christ who was immolated for us,
is an experience which gives meaning to life, which sparks peace in our
hearts. Without Sunday, we as Christians cannot live.”

« “Sine dominico non possumus!” Without the gift of the Lord, without the
Lord’s Day, we cannot live: That was the answer given in the year 304 by
Christians from Abitene in present-day Tunisia, when they were caught
celebrating the forbidden Sunday Eucharist and brought before the judge.
They were asked why they were celebrating the Christian Sunday
Eucharist, even though they knew it was a capital offence. “Sine dominico
non possumus”: in the word dominicum/dominico two meanings are
inextricably intertwined, and we must once more learn to recognize their
unity. First of all there is the gift of the Lord – this gift is the Lord
himself: the Risen one, whom the Christians simply need to have close and
accessible to them, if they are to be themselves. Yet this accessibility is not
merely something spiritual, inward and subjective: the encounter with the
Lord is inscribed in time on a specific day. And so it is inscribed in our
everyday, corporal and communal existence, in temporality. It gives a
 24

focus, an inner order to our time and thus to the whole of our lives. For
these Christians, the Sunday Eucharist was not a commandment, but an
inner necessity. Without him who sustains our lives, life itself is empty. To
do without or to betray this focus would deprive life of its very foundation,
would take away its inner dignity and beauty.”

(Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily for the Holy Mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral,
Vienna. September 9, 2007.)

Why don’t all Christians experience Sunday Mass in the way the Pope
describes?

Difficulties come from within the person and from outside social and
cultural, personal and environmental influences: “I don’t have time”, “That’s
not for me”, “I don’t go to Mass, but I’m still a good Christian”, “I go when I
can”, “I’m not in the way of going to Mass”, “That stuff is for women”, etc.

Causes may come from not really understanding what we live and celebrate
in each mass: and encounter with the risen Christ who come to us through
His Word, the broken bread and the gathered community. We are often
missing proper formation.

Other reasons arise from plain old laziness. Without a balanced hierarchy of
values in our lives, watching a football game may be more important than
going to mass. If you try, you can do both: watch the game, but choose the
Mass at a different hour – don’t miss out on it.

Some people forget about God out of a religious indifference or ignorance

concerning man’s religious dimension, letting themselves be carried away by
a materialistic spirit.

Mankind’s most noble attitudes before God have been lost: gratitude,
recognition, praise, trust, and love. Do we have nothing to thank God for
each Sunday? Think about all that God has given you during the past week!
What a lovely touch it is for God when we go to Mass to thank Him.

How can we address the different pretexts for not going to Mass?

 I don’t go to Mass because it is so long. – A saint once said: “The Mass

is not what’s long… it’s your faith that’s short.” If your faith is
shallow, Mass seems long.

 I don’t go to Mass because it is too far from home. – This is a false

excuse.

 I don’t go to Mass because I don’t have time: - This excuse is a lie.

Everybody has the same amount of time to do what he or she would
like. We don’t make time for what we don’t want to do.
 25

 I don’t go to Mass because I don’t feel like it. - If we go to Mass even

when we don’t feel like it, we actually receive a double gift. The first is
the Mass itself, and the other is the sacrifice we made by attending
without the desire to do so. Jesus said that the first condition to be His
disciple is to deny oneself, meaning, do what is hard for us to do.

 I don’t go to Mass because the priest is so boring. – We don’t go to Mass

because of the priest. We go to have an encounter with Jesus, to
receive the nourishment of His word and Body, and to share the faith
with the parish community, and leave Mass with the will to transmit
what we have received there: Christ’s message which frees us and
makes us happy.

To recover Sunday, we must begin by recovering God in our human heart:

denying God is to deny man; despising God means to leave man defenseless.
Let’s recover those noble attitudes before God.

The Third Commandment, which is about keeping Sundays and holy Days of
Obligation holy, favors so many aspects of our lives, by reminding us to
observe the Lord’s Day, the day of rest, to worship God, and be together with
family and community. This Commandment reminds us of the importance of
the spirit and transcendental values.

Why must we keep holy days holy? Why do we have to go to Mass on

Sundays?

The deep reason for which we are to celebrate Sunday is the day’s direct,
vital, essential connection to God, Creator and Father, and to Christ, our
Lord, and to the Church, that means of salvation which Christ gave us to
shape the community of believers, and the family, the domestic Church.

III. How can we get back our enthusiasm for Sundays and Mass?

We need to rescue the beauty of Sunday. Sunday is the day to recover our
energy, soothe our spirit, slow down, and not let anxiety get the better of us.
Sunday is healing, therapy from the week’s build-up of materialism,
selfishness and foul mood.

Sunday throws open a window to the spirit, propitiates selfless brotherly

relationships and helps us to recover the meaning to life, to cultivate true
love and deep faith, awakening joyful hope, so necessary to living and
struggling.

Losing Sunday means denying an important part of our life – the person’s
spiritual dimension. What is left of us after such a renouncement? A mere
animal that eats, sleeps and works. Rescuing Sunday returns us our dignity,
ennobles us, spiritualizes and humanizes us.
 26

There is more. On Sunday we celebrate a mystery. It’s Easter! The day of the
ever new, ever renewed creation! It is light and happiness and joy! It is
resurrection! It is an encounter with the risen Christ and the living
community!

We don’t value our mass, so we don’t go to Mass. When Mass is valued and
we know what is accomplished in Mass, we never miss it.

In Mass, we celebrate a banquet. This banquet is ordained for the unity of

the Church. The bread - made with so many grains of wheat - and the wine -
pressed from so many grapes - are a symbol of the very unity which the
Eucharist accomplishes in us, we who are so many.

The drop of water which the priest mixes with the wine is an expression of
the Christian people who becomes immersed in Christ. In every Mass, the
signs we see – the bread, the wine, the drop of water, the songs – show us
that the Eucharist is a sacrament and banquet for the unity of the Church

The Eucharist is a banquet where we receive the glorified, risen Body of

Christ. When Christ’s glorified Body enters into our mortal flesh, He
spiritualizes, sanctifies, purifies and fills it with immortality. The new life
we receive and which increases with each communion is the seedling of
eternal life. (Cf. CCC #1340)

Mass is at once sacrifice and offering. It is Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross

which is made present sacramentally on the altar. Jesus’ sacrifice on the
Cross on that Good Friday, dying for us in order to give us eternal life, to
open Heaven and to free us from sin, is renewed in each Mass, is
commemorated and lived anew in faith. It is the same sacrifice and offering,
but now bloodless. It is the same sacrifice and has the same salvific effects.
(Cf. CCC #1330).

In each Mass, that divine Lamb Who is Jesus delivers Himself out of love,
with His Body and Blood, to give life to this world and to each man.

We cannot, though, reduce our relationship with God to Sunday Mass alone.
Every day we must place ourselves in God’s presence.

IV. Sunday: Day of rest and for Family Gathering

Sunday is not only for going to Mass, but for resting and for the family to get
together.

John Paul II wrote:

 27

« For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of

worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest.
Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize
the weekly recurrence, determining that on "the day of the sun" the judges,
the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not work.
Christians rejoiced to see thus removed the obstacles which until then had
sometimes made observance of the Lord's Day heroic. They could now devote
themselves to prayer in common without hindrance. […] Even after the fall
of the Empire, the Councils did not cease to insist upon the arrangements
regarding Sunday rest…” (Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini, 64).

Human beings require rest, fun, time to be with family and friends, to do
sports, forget about worries and work, time to devote to oneself and healthy
occupations we like.

God has always understood our need for rest: He put it into man’s nature.
God also planned for man to live within a family. He knows that it is in the
family where man receives the values, the tenderness, the understanding he
needs and which with great difficulty can be found outside of the family.

How can man be happy, get to know God if he doesn’t have time for this?

To solve this problem, God in His wisdom, gives us this Commandment:

“Keep the holy days holy”, ensuring that humans will dedicate least one day
per week to rest, to family gathering and to be occupied with God’s things.

Alternating between work and rest, in accordance with our human nature, is
pleasing to God, as we can deduce from the Book of Genesis (Cf. 2:2-3;
Exodus 20: 8-10). Rest is something “sacred”, it is for mankind the condition
for freeing ourselves from the series, often excessively absorbing, of earthly
commitments, so we can become aware of the fact that God’s work is
everywhere.

Therefore, healthy rest and serene relaxation are requirements for human
dignity, and are to be met with the corresponding religious, family, cultural
and interpersonal requirements which cannot easily be satisfied if we do not
safeguard at least on day a week in which we can rest and observe the festive
day.

On this day of rest, those material things we worry over move aside for the
spiritual values: the people around us recover in the encounter and more
serene dialogue, their true face. The very beauty of nature can be discovered
and deeply enjoyed on those days of rest.

This rest is the answer to an authentic need, in full harmony with the
perspective of the Gospel message. The believer is, then, called to satisfy this
demand, blending it with expressions of his or her personal and
communitary faith made manifest in the celebration and in the making holy
the Lord’s Day.
 28

Let us not forget that rest is not “doing nothing” or lying about in bed all day.
Man’s very nature rebels with boredom when we are not involved in some
activity.

Sports, recreation, cultural and family apostolic activities will provide

greater bodily and spiritual rest than will a whole Sunday morning lying in
bed watching TV.

Laziness is the mother of all vices. If you don’t keep your mind and spend
your time on good things, the demon will take over and fill them with wicked
things. Amongst society’s offerings, we must select the entertainment which
best agrees with a life lived according to Gospel precepts.

This rest is a foretaste of eternal rest, where there will be new skies and new
earth, and where freedom from our enslavement to needs will be definitive
and total.
 29

Lesson 5
4: The Family in God’s Plan

For a deeper understanding of the Fourth Commandment, read the CCC,

2197-2257.

“Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in
the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you.”
(Exodus 20:12)

I. The Family in God’s Plan

The first three Commandments refer to our relationship with God. We shall
now begin our discussion of the remaining seven Commandments which
relate to our fellow men.

“The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and 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.” (CCC # 2205)

People are normally born into a family. The family is where a person is
educated in virtue, behavior, and faith and it is where the person grows from
birth in the necessary climate of love. This is the family’s foundation: love.

Love is the face of God. The family, by living in a profound climate of love,
makes God unique and true face visible.

The family is a community which gives life: physically, life is imparted to the
children, and we give our own life in service to the other members of the
family.

Marriage and the family have all the characteristics of divine vocation: they
require faithfulness, collaboration with the creating and redeeming plan of
God’s and are a means of sanctification which require the total surrender of
one’s life.

The family is the natural framework where love is fulfilled. Authentic family
life must be guided by the qualities of love: unconditional giving of self,
dialogue, paying attention to others and placing their interests above mine.
Only on this basis can we build an authentic marriage and family. Moreover,
only when God is at the center of the relationships can family love be
authentic.
 30

II. The Relationship Between Spouses

Marriage is defined as the institution devised by God in which two people, a

man and a woman, live an indissoluble, intimate union, support and help
each other, grow in love and collaborate with God to make humanity grow.

Christ, moreover, confers a new dimension unto marriage by making it a

sacrament.

Let’s take a look at some of the main characteristics of the conjugal union:

 Dialogue: In marriage, dialogue plays a fundamental role. There can

be no talk of authentic love between two people who do not really
know each other through dialogue.

There are two key virtues on which authentic dialogue is built:

humbleness and charity. In humbleness we listen to the other, accept
his or her points of view, and look for common ground. In charity, we
accept the other person as he or she is.

For real dialogue, we need the right attitudes: attention, honesty,

respect, and maturity.

The secret recipe for dialogue is: seeking the truth above any other
personal interest, and an ongoing concern for the good of the other
person.

 Unconditional self-giving to the other: The condition for authentic love

is disinterestedness. We love even if love is not returned. Nonetheless,
to build a marriage and a family, love must be mutual. (Cf. Familiaris
Consortio, 21).

Self-giving is the authentic expression of love, following Christ’s

example as He surrendered Himself for us on the Cross (Cf. Ephesians
5.25). Mutual love is on of the main objectives of marriage, along with
procreation. (Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 49)

All of married life is a source of God’s grace when it is founded on

authentic charity (Cf. 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13).

 Mutual assistance: Upon reading Genesis 2:18, we realize that God

had this in mind as a fundamental element in the marriage
relationship. A husband and wife live together to help each other
better fulfill their mission and give glory to God in this vocation (Cf.
Matthew 19:5).
 31

 Procreation and the education of offspring: fecundity is one of the

qualities of conjugal love (Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 50 and Humanae
Vitae, 9). Marriage is the human institution where life is welcomed.

“Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally

tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something
added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very
heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church,
which is "on the side of life”, teaches that "it is necessary that each and
every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human
life."” (CCC # 2366)

Illicit means which counter this openness to life include: coitus

interruptus, artificial birth-control methods such as the condoms;
abortion and abortive contraceptives such as the IUD and the ‘pill’;
sterilization, in-vitro fertilization, etc.

The education of offspring is a fundamental duty of both parents

which is to be done jointly, and cannot be substituted.

We cannot fail to mention the two properties which derive from matrimony
as clarified in the Code of Canon Law (CCL), Canon 1056: “The essential
properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility, which in Christian
marriage obtain a special firmness by reason of the sacrament.” Or as John
Paul II wrote in Familiaris Consortio # 20: “Conjugal communion is
characterized not only by its unity but also by its indissolubility: "As a mutual
gift of two persons, this intimate union, as well as the good of children,
imposes total fidelity on the spouses and argues for an unbreakable oneness
between them."”

Unity and indissolubility are two essential qualities of marriage and greatly
condition the mission which the family is called to carry out.

III. Parents’ Duties toward Their Children

 Parents’ first duty is to give life to their children.

 Parents have the obligation to love their children, to tend to them

spiritually and bodily and to prepare them for a meritorious future at
all levels: economic, religious, social… within their means.

 Parents have the duty to give their children a solid human and
Christian education through their example, good council, the choice of
school, discreetly watching over their children’s friendships, etc. (Cf.
Tobit 4)

 To go deeper into this topic, read the CCC # 2221-2231.

 32

IV. Children’ Duties towards Their Parents

 Children have as their duty towards their parents to love, respect,

obey and help them in their needs.

 Love: a son or daughter’s first duty towards his or her parents is to

love them sincerely.

 Respect: This is shown through a sincere veneration, speaking with

then and about them with reverence. It would be disrespectful to look
down on them, shout at them or offend them in any way or to be
ashamed of them. Respecting one’s parents is to treat them with
esteem and attention.

 Obedience: While children are under their parent’s legal guardianship

and care, they are obliged to obey their parents in all that they may
licitly ask of them (Colossians 3: 20).

 Help them in their needs: As infants, children are entirely dependent

on their parents. There may come a time when their parents can no
longer take care of themselves without their children’s assistance. In
such cases, justice demands that the children aid them in whatever
they may require.

 To go deeper into this topic, read the CCC # 2214-2220.

V. Family and Society

Family is the basic cell of society. Family life is initiation into the life of
society.

“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.” (CCC # 2207)

It is in the family that the most important social virtues are learned: love for
others and justice; obedience and fair leadership. Without these virtues, any
coexistence would be impossible amongst people.
When families cannot perform their functions, other social agencies must
step in to help them out and sustain the family institution.

In agreement with the principle of subsidiarity, the larger communities must

abstain from depriving families of their inherent rights and by getting
involved in their lives.
 33

The political community has the duty to honor and assist the family and
particularly to ensure:

 The freedom to establish a home, have children and educate them in

accordance with their own moral and religious convictions.

 The protection of the stability of the conjugal union and the institution
of the family.

 The freedom to profess, transmit and educate their children in their

Faith, with the means and institutions they require.

 The right to private property, the freedom to take initiative, to have a

job, a home and the right to emigrate.

 Varying from country to country as to the institutions provided, the

right to medical care, assistance for the elderly, and to family
subsidies.

 The right to security and hygiene, particularly protection from

dangers such as drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.

 The freedom to associate with other families and to representation

before the public authorities (Cf. Familiaris Consortio, 46).
 34

Lesson 6
5: Life, a Gift from God

To go more deeply into the Fifth Commandment, read the CCC # 2258-2330.

«You shall not kill. »

(Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17)

I. Life – a Gift from God and Collaboration with Man

“As explicitly formulated, the precept "You shall not kill" is strongly
negative: it indicates the extreme limit which can never be exceeded.
Implicitly, however, it encourages a positive attitude of absolute respect for
life; it leads to the promotion of life and to progress along the way of a love
which gives, receives and serves.” (John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 54).

The Italian philosopher, Nicola Abbagnano6, wrote, ‘The “you shall not kill’ is
one of the axes on which individual and collective life is based; it is a law
written in the heart of every man’. This statement is based on the truth that
life is an inalienable, fundamental right, which cannot be renounced by any
human being. To threaten innocent life is an extremely grave crime.
Murdering an innocent human being is equivalent to a total denial of the
other, the suppression of life, denying any rights.

The history of the precept ‘you shall not kill’ teaches us that humanity has
not always considered our fellow men as privy to the right to life, as all men
should be, as persons to be recognized as such and respected. Since Cain’s
murder of Abel, prompted by hate and pride, the pages of history are marred
by human blood.

The American writer, Louis Begley, has referred to the 20th century as a
‘satanic requiem’7. “He calls it an inferno of death and murder, of massacres
and violent crimes, in short, a compendium of horror.
In the twentieth century more people have been murdered than ever before.
This is the period of the Holocaust and the development of the atom bomb.”
We see evidence of this eclipse in our awareness of the value of human life,
revealing moments of degradation of our civilization.

Life is born into the heart of love: a man and a woman collaborate with God
to give mankind their greatest gift: life, the step from nothingness to being.
How noble must human life be if God gives us this gift, through the
collaboration of mothers and fathers!

6Diccionario de Filosofía, F.C.E., México, 1963

7SEEWALD, PETER: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger: The Salt of the Earth. The Church at the End
of the Millennium. An Interview with Peter Seewald. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1997.
 35

Raise your voice with Pope John Paul II’s (Denver August 14, 1993) "with
time the threats against life have not grown weaker. They are taking on vast
proportions. They are not only threats coming from the outside, from the
forces of nature or the Cains who kill the Abels; no, they are scientifically
and systematically programmed threats. The twentieth century will have
been an era of massive attacks on life, an endless series of wars and a
continual taking of innocent human life. False prophets and false teachers
have had the greatest success". (Evangelium vitae, 17)

Human life is a gift, something precious given us, which we receive from God
through our parents. This is the origin of the sacredness of human life. This
quality is inherent in human life throughout our existence: from conception
in our mother’s womb, until the moment of our natural death.

John Paul II speaks to us in Evangelium Vitae, 53: « "Human life is sacred

because ‘from its very inception it shows the creating hand of God’, and it
remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole
end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can,
in any circumstance, claim for himself the right to destroy directly an
innocent human being”.

Human dignity is an absolute value, and human life is a value unto itself
which must always be defended and protected.

John Paul II called attention to the great danger which is weighing on

humanity: our blind inability to distinguish good from evil, even when it
comes to the very fundamental value which is human life.

It is precisely on this point that mankind has lost responsibility towards our
fellow men: we have a diminished sense of justice and love, and neglect
solidarity for the weakest.

Fundamental rights do not depend on statistics, or on the majority game or

social consensus: respect for the dignity of the person, the irrevocable respect
for a person’s dignity, which begins with the undeniable respect for life, is
not open for acquisition or suppression by vote.

Materialism, with all of its propaganda of well-being, does not satisfy a

person’s needs and aspirations, because it remains earth-bound, neglecting
the integral consideration of human life, which has of itself a seed of
eternity.

We live surrounded by a civilization loaded with shadow and light; we are

standing at the collision, enormous and dramatic between good and evil, life
and death. Christians and all persons of good will must be, unconditionally
and assuming full responsibility, pro-life.

II. Corpus vitae: Humanae Vitae, Donum Vitae, Evangelium Vitae

 36

a. Humanae Vitae:

This Encyclical teaches that the conjugal act must ‘maintain its intrinsic role
in procreation of human life’ and ‘the direct interruption of the reproductive
process which has already been initiated’ is in direct disobedience to the laws
of the Church.

“Men rightly observe that a conjugal act imposed on one's partner without
regard to his or her condition or personal and reasonable wishes in the
matter, is no true act of love, and therefore offends the moral order in its
particular application to the intimate relationship of husband and wife. If
they further reflect, they must also recognize that an act of mutual love
which impairs the capacity to transmit life which God the Creator, through
specific laws, has built into it, frustrates His design which constitutes the
norm of marriage, and contradicts the will of the Author of life. Hence to use
this divine gift while depriving it, even if only partially, of its meaning and
purpose, is equally repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is
consequently in opposition to the plan of God and His holy will. But to
experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception is
to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life but rather the
minister of the design established by the Creator. Just as man does not have
unlimited dominion over his body in general, so also, and with more
particular reason, he has no such dominion over his specifically sexual
faculties, for these are concerned by their very nature with the generation of
life, of which God is the source. "Human life is sacred—all men must
recognize that fact," Our predecessor Pope John XXIII recalled. "From its
very inception it reveals the creating hand of God." (Humanae vitae, 13)

“Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and

Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare
that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and,
above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be
absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children.
Equally to be condemned, as the Magisterium of the Church has affirmed on
many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman,
whether permanent or temporary. (Humanae vitae, 14)

The Encyclical did not condemn those methods which result in infertility as a
side effect, if the sterilization was not generated as the true purpose of the
process. Natural methods of family planning (such as abstinence during
certain phases of the menstrual cycle) are permitted since these take
advantage of a human faculty already created by nature.

The Encyclical recognizes that the teachings which the Pope is attempting to
transmit may not be accepted by all, but that the Catholic Church cannot
call certain acts moral when in reality they are not.
 37

The document concludes by petitioning the civil authorities to oppose the

laws that deteriorate the natural moral laws, and by asking scientists to
study improved methods of natural birth control and by calling doctors,
nurses and priests to promote natural methods above the artificial.

b. Donum Vitae:

This Encyclical instructs us on respect for human life in its origin and the
dignity of procreation. [This encyclical is referred to several times in the
following Declaration by the Pontificate Council for the Family Regarding
‘Embryonic Reduction’, issued July 12, 2000 by Alfonso Cardinal López
Trujillo. – Translator’s Note]

“Presently, cases of multiple pregnancies (whereby the maternal womb is

shared by many embryos) have become less rare. These cases usually occur
because of ovarian stimulation in the cases of infertility, or because of the
recourse to artificial fecundation, about which the Magisterium has already
pronounced itself (Cong. of the Doctrine of the Faith, Istr. Donum vitae, II).
Above all, it is right to be aware of the difficult and even dramatic situations
that such techniques can produce. We cannot therefore fail to bring to the
attention, the responsibility of these doctors who, while practicing the hyper
stimulation without the due ability and precaution, or applying the
techniques of artificial fecundation, provoke situations to the point of
endangering the life of the mother and the conceived children.

“As regards to the multiple pregnancies, some affirm that they cannot arrive
together at term, either because of the spontaneous death of the embryos in
the uterus, or because of the premature birth of the fetuses without hope of
life. In addition, moreover, it is said that if the unborn children arrive to
term, the obstetrical difficulty (and the consequent danger for the mother) is
increased. On this basis, they arrive to the conclusion that the selection and
the elimination of a few embryos would be justified in order to save the
others or at least one of them. It was for this reason that the technique called
"embryonic reduction" was introduced.

“In this regard, one must note what follows: since every embryo must be
considered and treated as a human person in respect to his eminent dignity
(Cong. for the Doct. of the Faith, Inst. Donum vitae, I, 1), from the first
moment of conception, the fundamental human rights and foremost that of
the right to life, must be given recognition to the unborn child, and this right
must not be violated in any away. Beyond all confusion and ambiguity, it
must therefore be affirmed that "embryonic reduction" constitutes a selective
abortion: it consists in fact in the voluntary and direct elimination of an
innocent human being (John Paul II, Encyclical Evangelium Vitae, 57).
Whether it be sought as an end or used as a means, "embryonic reduction"
always constitutes a grave moral disorder (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Evangelium vitae, 62). Because it refers to a truth always accessible to
simple reason, the unlawfulness of such behavior imposes itself as a valid
 38

norm for all, even for unbelievers (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Evangelium vitae, 101). The moral prohibition remains even in the case
where the continuation of the pregnancy involves a risk to the life or to the
health of the mother and of the other twin. It is forbidden in fact to do evil
even as a means to a good end (John Paul II, Encyclical Evangelium Vitae,
57).

“The life of a person comes from God, is always His gift, and the participation
of His vital breath (John Paul II, Encyclical Evangelium Vitae, 39). The
embryonic selection which consists in the voluntary elimination of a human
life cannot be justified neither on the basis of the so-called principle of the
lesser evil, nor in basis of that of double effect: neither one nor the other, in
fact, finds application in this case. Also, one cannot under-estimate the
possibility that the adoption of the technique of embryonic reduction may
lead to a eugenic intention, and thus through prenatal diagnostic techniques,
there could be a point where the value of a human life would be measured
only in terms of normality and of "physical well-being" (John Paul
II, Encyclical Evangelium Vitae, 63), according to a reductive concept of
"quality of life".”

c. Evangelium Vitae:

This encyclical is a defense of human life in all its aspects. It confirms the
intrinsic, inviolable value of human life.

We are in a crisis which affects human dignity and our rights. It is a battle
between ‘the culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’. Jesus Christ calls upon
each of us to choose life over death.

"Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves ‘the creative
action of God', and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator,
who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its
end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the right to destroy
directly an innocent human being". (Evangelium vitae, 53).

This encyclical warns of "a problem which exists at the cultural, social and
political level, where it reveals its more sinister and disturbing aspect in the
tendency, ever more widely shared, to interpret the above crimes against life as
legitimate expressions of individual freedom, to be acknowledged and
protected as actual rights." (Evangelium vitae, 18).

This distortion leads to many modern errors:

 “…[A] notion of freedom which exalts the isolated individual in an

absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others
and service of them. While it is true that the taking of life not yet born
or in its final stages is sometimes marked by a mistaken sense of
altruism and human compassion, it cannot be denied that such a
 39

culture of death, taken as a whole, betrays a completely individualistic

concept of freedom, which ends up by becoming the freedom of "the
strong" against the weak who have no choice but to submit.”
(Evangelium vitae, 19).
 The state has abdicated its primordial function to protect the right to
life. It has become the protector of abortion, infanticide and
euthanasia.
 A vicious circle: when the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency
to lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life; in turn, the
systematic violation of the moral law, especially in the serious matter
of respect for human life and its dignity, produces a kind of
progressive darkening of the capacity to discern God's living and
saving presence.” (Evangelium vitae, 21).

This eclipse of the sense of God and of man leads to:

 A “practical materialism, which breeds individualism, utilitarianism and

hedonism.” (Evangelium vitae, 23).
 The rejection of the value of suffering;
 The depersonalization and exploitation of human sexuality;
 The serious impoverishment of interpersonal relations;
 The eclipse of the moral conscience of individuals and society, the
confusion between what is good and what is evil.

As to the absolute inviolability of innocent human life as a moral truth, John

Paul writes: “I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent
human being is always gravely immoral." (EV 57).

As to abortion, John Paul writes: " But no word has the power to change the
reality of things: procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by
whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his
or her existence, extending from conception to birth.” (EV 58) The Holy
Father continues: "I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as
an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is
the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based
upon the natural law and upon the written Word of God, is transmitted by
the Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal
Magisterium."(EV 62)

In reference to experimentation with human embryos, John Paul declares,

"the use of human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation
constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings who have a right
to the same respect owed to a child once born, just as to every person.” (EV
63)

As to euthanasia, John Paul II explains, “Euthanasia in the strict sense is

understood to be an action or omission which of itself and by intention causes
death, with the purpose of eliminating all suffering…I confirm that
 40

euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate

and morally unacceptable killing of a human person.” (EV 65)

With respect to suicide, John Paul II states, "Suicide is always as morally

objectionable as murder… [S]uicide, when viewed objectively, is a gravely
immoral act. In fact, it involves the rejection of love of self and the
renunciation of the obligation of justice and charity towards one's neighbor,
towards the communities to which one belongs, and towards society as a
whole. In its deepest reality, suicide represents a rejection of God's absolute
sovereignty over life and death...” (EV 66)

"It is true that history has known cases where crimes have been committed
in the name of "truth". But equally grave crimes and radical denials of
freedom have also been committed and are still being committed in the name
of "ethical relativism". When a parliamentary or social majority decrees that
it is legal, at least under certain conditions, to kill unborn human life, is it
not really making a "tyrannical" decision with regard to the weakest and
most defenseless of human beings? Everyone's conscience rightly rejects
those crimes against humanity of which our century has had such sad
experience. But would these crimes cease to be crimes if, instead of being
committed by unscrupulous tyrants, they were legitimated by popular
consensus?” (EV 70)

"Laws which authorize and promote abortion and euthanasia are therefore
radically opposed not only to the good of the individual but also to the
common good; as such they are completely lacking in authentic juridical
validity.” (EV 72)

"Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to
legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead
there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious
objection." (EV 73).

To women who have had an abortion, the Holy Father says he understands
their pain and wounded heart. He invites them to repentance, reconciliation
and hope. He also invites them to be among “the most eloquent defenders of
everyone’s right to life.” (EV 99)

III. The Obligations of this Commandment

The duties contained in this Commandment are those which relate to

defending one’s own life and that of others, the dignity of all persons in all
manifestations.

Our first duty is to give meaning and fulfillment to our existence according to
God’s plans.

Duties Related to Our Body:

 41

 We have the duty of seeing our bodies as a gift received from God and
which we must preserve, appreciate, be thankful for and do the best
for. This means personal health care: nutrition, sports, hygiene, rest,
etc.

 Every person is obliged to submit to ordinary means in order to

recover their health and keep their physical life, but we are not
morally bound to any extraordinary means, particularly when this
treatment becomes considered ‘over-zealous’ treatment. (Cf. CCC #
2278).

 We have the duty to avoid damage to our health. Gaudium et Spes #

14 says, “man is not allowed to despise his bodily life, rather he is
obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created
it and will raise it up on the last day.” In this resides the illicitness of
an over-consumption of alcoholic beverages, drugs, reckless driving,
etc.

Duties Related to Our Soul:

 To develop and correctly form all of our capacities: intelligence and

will.

 In summary, the search for perfection and saintliness.

 42

Lesson 7
Sins Against the 5th Commandment: Homicide,
Abortion, Euthanasia, Suicide, Drug- and Alcohol
Abuse, War, and Scandal

To go deeper into the Fifth Commandment, read the CCC # 2258-2330.

«You shall not kill. »

(Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17)

I. Intrinsically Evil Acts

John Paul II wrote in his Encyclical, Veritatis Splendor concerning acts

which are inherently evil:

“The relationship between man's freedom and God's law is most deeply
lived out in the "heart" of the person, in his moral conscience. As the
Second Vatican Council observed: "In the depths of his conscience man
detects a law which he does not impose on himself, but which holds him
to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the
voice of conscience can when necessary speak to his heart more
specifically: 'do this, shun that'. For man has in his heart a law written
by God. To obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be
judged (cf. Rom 2:14-16)"

“The way in which one conceives the relationship between freedom and
law is thus intimately bound up with one's understanding of the moral
conscience. Here the cultural tendencies referred to above — in which
freedom and law are set in opposition to each other and kept apart, and
freedom is exalted almost to the point of idolatry — lead to a "creative"
understanding of moral conscience, which diverges from the teaching of
the Church's tradition and her Magisterium.” (Veritatis splendor, 54)

“Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is not exempt from the possibility

of error. As the Council puts it, "not infrequently conscience can be
mistaken as a result of invincible ignorance, although it does not on that
account forfeit its dignity; but this cannot be said when a man shows little
concern for seeking what is true and good, and conscience gradually
becomes almost blind from being accustomed to sin".107In these brief words
the Council sums up the doctrine which the Church down the centuries has
developed with regard to the erroneous conscience. (VS 62)
 43

“Human acts are moral acts because they express and determine the
goodness or evil of the individual who performs them. ” (VS 71)

“The primary and decisive element for moral judgment is the object of the
human act, which establishes whether it is capable of being ordered to the
good and to the ultimate end, which is God.” (VS 79)

“Reason attests that there are objects of the human act which are by
their nature "incapable of being ordered" to God, because they radically
contradict the good of the person made in his image. These are the acts
which, in the Church's moral tradition, have been termed "intrinsically
evil" (intrinsece malum): they are such always and per se, in other words,
on account of their very object, and quite apart from the ulterior
intentions of the one acting and the circumstances. Consequently,
without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by
circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that
"there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of
circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object". The
Second Vatican Council itself, in discussing the respect due to the human
person, gives a number of examples of such acts: "Whatever is hostile to
life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia
and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human
person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to
coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as
subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation,
slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading
conditions of work which treat laborers as mere instruments of profit,
and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace,
and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who
inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a
negation of the honor due to the Creator".

“With regard to intrinsically evil acts, and in reference to contraceptive

practices whereby the conjugal act is intentionally rendered infertile,
Pope Paul VI teaches: "Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful to
tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to
promote a greater good, it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons,
to do evil that good may come of it (cf. Rom 3:8) — in other words, to
intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral
order, and which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even
though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare of an individual,
of a family or of society in general"” (VS 80)

“If acts are intrinsically evil, a good intention or particular circumstances

can diminish their evil, but they cannot remove it. They remain
"irremediably" evil acts; per se and in themselves they are not capable of
 44

being ordered to God and to the good of the person. "As for acts which are
themselves sins (cum iam opera ipsa peccata sunt), Saint Augustine
writes, like theft, fornication, blasphemy, who would dare affirm that, by
doing them for good motives (causis bonis), they would no longer be sins,
or, what is even more absurd, that they would be sins that are justified?"”.
(VS 81)

II. Sins against the Fifth Commandment

All actions, thoughts or freely consented desires which go against life or

health are sins against this Commandment. We shall have a look at some of
these:

a. Intentional Homicide

This is the direct and intentional killing of a person by whatever means.

The direct and intentional taking of an innocent life is extremely grave:

“The fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely

sinful. The murderer and those who cooperate voluntarily in murder commit
a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance.” (CCC # 2268)

Unintentional killing, as in self-defense, is analyzed by Saint Thomas:

“The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the
prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional
killing. ‘The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of
one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the
other is not.’”(CCC # 2263)

Saint Thomas continues: “It is never lawful to kill in order to defend oneself,
although it may be lawful to kill while defending oneself. This is not a word
game, but rather a case which can help us to understand what the objective
of the choice is: in the case where I kill while defending myself, the object of
my choice is not to kill the other person, but rather the protection of my own
life using the adequate means. From the ethical standpoint, legitimate
defense is not an exception is not an exception to the commandment to not
kill, but is a completely distinct case.”(Reference not given)

“Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore

it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who
defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his
aggressor a lethal blow:

“If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be

unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will
be lawful. . . . Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act
of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is
 45

bound to take more care of one's own life than of another's.” (CCC #
2264)

“Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is
responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires
that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason,
those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel
aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”(CCC
# 2265)

b. Abortion

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of
conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be
recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable
right of every innocent being to life.” (CCC # 2270)

The life of every human being must be absolutely respected from the moment
of his or her conception, because man is the only creature on earth which
“God willed for itself”8, and the spiritual soul of every man is “immediately
created” by God9 ; his entire being is imprinted with the Creator’s likeness.
Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves “God’s creative
action”10 and forever remains in a special relationship with the creator, our
sole end.11 “Only God is the Lord of life from beginning to end: no-one, under
any circumstances, can appropriate the right to directly kill an innocent
human being.”12

Jean Rostand, Nobel Prize winner in biology passes judgment: “In the first
constitutive cell of the human person, meaning in the fertilized egg, there
exists a complete human being. The entire person is there in the
fertilized egg.”13

In Evangelium vitae # 62 John Paul II says: “I declare that direct abortion,

that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave
moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.”

8 Cf. Gaudium et spes, 24.

9 Cf. Pius XII, Humani generis: AAS 42 (1950), 575; Paul VI, Professio fidei: AAS 60 (1968),
436.
10 John XXIII, Mater et magistra, III: AAS 53 (1961), 447; cf. John Paul II, Speech to priests

taking part in the study seminar on Responsible Procreation, 17 September, 1983:

Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI, 2 (1983), 562: "At the origin of every human
person, there is a creative act of God: man never comes into existence by chance; it is
always the result of God’s creative love”.
11 Cf. Gaudium et spes, 24.
12 Cf. Pius XII, Speech to the “Saint Luke” Biomedical Union, November 12, 1944; Speeches

and Radio Messages, VI (1944-1945), 191-192.

13 Retrieved from [Link] (date not specified)
 46

Dr. Jérôme Lejeune14, the father of modern genetics, unanimously hailed

amongst scientists as one of the foremost researchers into genetics and
recognized around the world for his discoveries, passed judgment:

«The acceptance of the fact that after fertilization a new human being
comes to life is no longer a topic requiring proof or opinion, it is simple
evidence. I have no doubt: aborting is killing a human being, even if the
cadaver is very small. “.

Dr. Alfred Kastler, Nobel Prize winner in medicine confirmed: “From the
biological standpoint, any abortive procedure, no matter how early it is
performed, must be held as killing.”15

Other crimes against unborn babies include the death of human embryos
made from experimentation either within or outside of the mother’s womb.
These are the horrendous casualties of genetic experimentation, in-vitro
fertilization, frozen embryos, experiments in cloning, etc. where human
beings are discarded and killed peremptorily.

c. Euthanasia

"I will not administer any lethal drug to anyone, even if it should be
requested of me, nor will I suggest its use.” Hippocratic Oath (460 B.C.).

The term was coined by the philosopher Francis Bacon in 1622, in his work
History Vitae et mortis. He uses the word to refer to the mercy killing of a
person who is in great suffering.

The term euthanasia is a euphemism. Felicitous death is actually homicide.

Let’s have a look at the Catechism, paragraph 2277:

“Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting

an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally
unacceptable.

“Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes

death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder
gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the
respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into

14 A Ph.D. and M.D., Lejeune was Professor of Fundamental genetics at the University of
Paris for 20 years, Director of the Genetics Clinic of the Pediatric Hospital of Paris, and
the person who discovered the genetic cause for Down’s Syndrome (Trisomy 21). He was
awarded several prizes for his studies, including the “Kennedy Prize” in 1962, the
“Memorial Allen Award Medal” in 1969, which are the highest honors given the field of
genetics, and in 1993 he received the “Leopold Griffuel Prize” for his research into cancer.
15 From: [Link]
 47

which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this
murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.

Assisted suicide is when the patient participates directly in the action of

taking his or her own life, with the help of a physician or family member.

The Central Commission for Deontology of the Organización Médica Colegial

(Medical Collegiate Organization – country not specified) pronounced:
“Doctors would be betraying their vocation as healers and protectors of
human life if they were to terminate the life of a patient or collaborate in
voluntary suicide. A doctor can never deliberately provoke death: that’s not
what medicine is for. Even if some law were to make it legal, doctors can
never use the power and prerogatives which society may hand over to them in
order to carry out a death penalty ordered by a court of law or to suppress the
life of a patient, even if patients, their family or hospital care committees
should make such a request.”

d. Suicide

Suicide is the taking of one’s own life and as such is unlawful. The problem
with suicide is that it enters into the commandment against killing with the
peculiarity: since it is committed against oneself, and goes against the
natural inclination anchored in all human beings to perpetuate their life, it
suggests an inner sinking of mental faculties, generally as a consequence of
grave nervous depression.

“Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve

and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise
offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with
family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have
obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.” (CCC # 2288)

e. Alcohol and drugs

Alcoholism is the excessive consumption of alcohol which takes its toll on the
drinker by causing physical, mental, work-related, family, economic and
social problems. Unfortunately, alcohol-related deaths (due to drunk driving
and suicide) are on the increase and are often amongst the top causes of
death in many parts of the world.

Alcoholism is classified into two groups: abuse and dependence, although

from the clinical point of view, the difference is not relevant. Alcohol abuse
refers to a certain psychological dependence, meaning the need to consume
alcohol to for satisfactory mental processing, along with periodic bouts of
drunkenness and continuing to drink despite associated social problems.
Alcohol dependence involves similar alterations and an ever greater alcohol
tolerance (the need for ever more alcohol to reach the same ‘high’), and
withdrawal symptoms when alcohol is held back. Certain factors that
predispose people to alcoholism include: personality type, immaturity,
 48

inability to relate, social pressure, stress, genetic factors, exposure to

alcoholism in the home.

“The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse
of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by
drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others' safety on the
road, at sea, or in the air.” (CCC # 2290)

Addiction to drugs is a sickness. It is a dependence on substances which

affect the central nervous system, impairing brain functions which result in
changes in behavior, perception, judgment and emotions. The effects of drugs
vary with drug chemistry, quantity ingested and frequency. These effects
include hallucinations, a heightening or numbing of the senses, feelings of
euphoria or hopelessness. Some drugs can even cause insanity or death.

Drugs induce two kinds of dependence

 Physical: The body starts to crave drugs, so much so that when they
are not made available, the person suffers from tremendous
physiological upset, known as withdrawal.

 Psychological: The person experiences a state of euphoria or a ‘high’

when he or she takes the drug, causing a craving for further
consumption to either avoid the bad feeling when the drug is absent or
to generate the good feeling which the drug induces. The addict feels a
compelling craving to consume the drug, and suffers from a
tremendous depression when the drug is not available.

Some drugs produce tolerance which causes the addict to consume an ever
increasing quantity of the drug, since the body becomes adapted to its
consumption and requires a greater amount of the substance to achieve the
same effect.

The psychological or physical dependence generated by drugs can be very

strong, enslaving the will and displacing other basic needs such as eating or
sleeping. The need for the drug becomes stronger. The person loses all
awareness of morality and does things under the influence of the drug which
he or she would otherwise not do: lie, steal, sell their body or kill. The drug
becomes the center of the addict’s life and affects him or her in all aspects: at
work or school, in family relationships, etc.

“The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their
use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine
production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They
constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices
gravely contrary to the moral law.” (CCC # 2291)

g. War
 49

“The fifth commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life.

Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church
insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine
Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war.” (CCC # 2307)

“All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of
war. However, ‘as long as the danger of war persists and there is no
international authority with the necessary competence and power,
governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace
efforts have failed.’” (CCC # 2308)

“The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous
consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous
conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of

nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

- all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be

impractical or ineffective;

- there must be serious prospects of success;

- the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to
be eliminated. The power of modem means of destruction weighs very
heavily in evaluating this condition.

“These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the "just
war" doctrine.

“The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the

prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.”
(CCC # 2309)

“The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of
the moral law during armed conflict. ‘The mere fact that war has regrettably
broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring
parties.’" (CCC # 2312)

“Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or

vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which
merits firm and unequivocal condemnation."109 A danger of modern warfare
is that it provides the opportunity to those who possess modern scientific
weapons especially atomic, biological, or chemical weapons - to commit such
crimes.” (CCC # 2314)
 50

It must be said the peace is possible; war can be avoided. War is not the
obligatory outcome of blind fate, but instead has its roots in the mistaken
thoughts and decisions of men who are the ones who provoke hostilities.

When war is imminent, the need for a change of heart to promote an

authentic culture of peace is made manifest. True peace requires a respect
for and the cultivation of truth, justice, love and liberty - the authentic
pillars of peace, as Blessed John XXIII wrote in his encyclical Pacem in
terris.

h. Scandal

As it is an attack against the spiritual welfare of others, scandal is a sin

against the Fifth Commandment. Scandal is any word, action or omission
which leads others to do evil: wicked conversations, blasphemy, pornography,
dressing without decorum, not attending mass. These deeds can cause others
to sin. For this reason, Jesus warned, “Whoever causes one of these little
ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great
millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
(Matthew 18:6) We’ve got to walk away from anybody who, doing the work of
the devil, shows us how to sin or who pushes us to sin. And if it is we who
have done this, we must be forgiveness and repair the damage done.

“Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The

person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue
and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a
grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave
offense.” (CCC # 2284)

III. The Christian meaning of suffering and death

John Paul II wrote repeatedly on the topic of the Christian meaning of

suffering.

“We all know that suffering comes to every man at different moments of his
life, in different ways and in different dimensions. Nevertheless, suffering is
inseparable from man’s earthly existence. The Church, born of the mystery of
Christ’s redemption on the Cross must go to man’s encounter as he walks the
way of suffering. Human suffering arouses compassion, respect, and fear,
touching man’s most heart-felt needs and the deep imperative of faith: both of
these joining in singular fashion.”

“The meaning of suffering is both truly supernatural and human. It is

supernatural because it resides in the divine mystery o f redemption in the
world, and it is also profoundly human because in it man finds himself, his
own humanity, his dignity and mission.” (Translation of an excerpted and
abridged version of John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, Salvifici doloris at
 51

[Link] The
full text of Salvifici dolores can be retrieved at
[Link]
p-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html)

Pondering the problem of human suffering is an arduous task, not only

because it touches all men in our different dimensions, but mainly because of
the infinite forms in which we must face it. Physical pain, death – “the
greatest enigma of human life” (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 18) – and particularly
moral suffering often turn up with new faces before modern man.

From the merely human viewpoint, we can learn great lessons from the
lesson of pain. Suffering tests the solidity of our deepest convictions; it
makes us more realistic and humble; it helps us mature in life; it educates
our sensitivity, opening us to the needs of others. Above all, it places us in a
privileged position for confronting the final truths of our existence.

The Word ‘suffering’ comes from the Latin ''suferre'' or ''sub-ferre'' meaning
support, or bear, put up with: the person who suffers bears the load of pain.
Pain, although essentially physical in its nature, is intimately related to
suffering, which is something more than bodily pain. Usually, both terms can
be applied interchangeably. When it comes down to it, the experience of pain
and suffering affects the entire person, body and soul.

Suffering can become an instrument of salvation and purification if it is

borne with love and patience. The key word in our faith is not suffering, but
love. Love is what gives suffering any sense. For the Christian, bearing the
Cross throughout life is the disciple’s task (Cf. Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23).
52
 53

Lesson 8
6 and 9: God’s Plan for Human Love

For a better understanding of the Sixth Commandment, read the Catechism

# 2331-2400; and for the Ninth Commandment, # 2514-2533.

«You shall not commit impure acts. »

(Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:17)

«No consentirás pensamientos ni deseos impuros»

(Ex. 20, 17)

I. Human sexuality

“Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body
and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to
procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of
communion with others.” (CCC # 2332)

“Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his

sexual identity. Physical, moral, and
spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of
marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of
society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and
mutual o support between the sexes are lived out.” (CCC # 2333)

Current view of sexuality

Presently a viewpoint regarding sex for pleasure predominates in society.

Sex has been reduced to a venting of an instinct for domination instinct.
Sexuality is something that goes along with the car, the house, and the
vacations – stuff that makes us feel good and accomplished.

Holding this deformed view of sexuality, man focuses his attention on the
frantic search for pleasure above all. Sexuality is reduced solely to its
physiological function, disconnected from love, from family, and other facets
of personality such as feelings, will, and affections.

Sex is not considered the fruit or the complement of a personal relationship:

the partner is simply an object which produces pleasure, at the most a
partner in pleasure.
Some say that abstention from sexual relationships, for whatever reason, is
harmful to people, causing an endless number of evils.

Then comes the argument that the individual is the owner of his body and as
such nobody else can apply restrictions to the use of his or her faculties,
 54

nobody can repress, or orient another. This brings about the mindset that
any kind of sexual relationship is correct, even amongst members of the
same sex.

With this view of sexuality, love is reduced to genitality, and the genuinely
human values of sexuality are lost.

The Anthropological Dimension of Sexuality

“‘In creating men 'male and female,' God gives man and woman an equal
personal dignity.’ ‘Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both
were created in the image and likeness of the personal God.’” (CCC 2334)

“Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with
equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman in
marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and
fecundity: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to
his wife, and they become one flesh.’ All human generations proceed from
this union.” (CCC # 2335)

John Paul II wrote, “God created man in His own image and likeness: calling
him to existence through love, He called him at the same time for love. God
is love and in Himself He lives a mystery of personal loving communion.
Creating the human race in His own image and continually keeping it in
being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and
thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. Love is
therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being.”
(Familiaris consortio, 11)

Through his earnest giving of self, man finds the greatest fulfillment of his
being as a person.

Man is made of a union of two elements: body and soul. The body is not an
appendage to the soul. This implies that the body, as the soul, has a special
dignity. When the body acts, the person acts. Man is a well structured unity.

“Man’s external element, his body, is the expression of the internal element,
his soul. The body reflects our interior; man expresses what is inside him
through his body: glances, gestures, and words express his personality. The
psyche cannot be separated from the body: the body must always express the
truth and human dignity. This is of vital importance for the philosophical
grounding of the Christian view of sexuality: the body’s sexual activity must
reflect what is inside - love, responsibility, surrender of self, and
commitment, but not selfishness, exalted passions or purely pleasure.”
(Translation of a fragment from, La maravilla del amor humano, by Tere
Fernández at [Link]. Retrieved May 8, 2010 at
[Link]
 55

Man’s sexuality always involves the whole person, all facets of our
personality. Human sexuality is at the service of responsible procreation at
the service of the family.

Unlike animal sexuality which is directed by a hormonal cycle, man’s

sexuality is always active, governed by reason and will. Its path is love, not
instinct. More often than not, the two are considered one and the same.
Human sexuality would be a part of our ‘animal’ being, not our ‘rational’
being.

Instinct16, although etymologically synonymous with ‘impulsion’, means a

way of acting that leads us to its source. It is a spontaneous way of acting,
not subject to reflection. Typically, instinctive actions involve means that
have not been thought through in connection with the end to be obtained.
This way of acting should not be typical of the person who precisely
possesses the faculty of thinking about the relationship between the means
and the end. A person should choose the means according to the end to be
reached. When a person acts in accordance with his human faculties, he or
she consciously selects the means, adapting them to the end of which he or
she is fully aware. Since the way of acting sheds light on the very source of
the action, we are obliged to conclude that in man, there is a source which
makes him capable of behaving reflexively, of self-determination. Because of
his very nature, man is capable of acting supra-instinctively (above his
instincts). Thus, too he can have dominion over his sexual instincts. If this
were not so, moral would make no sense, it simply would not exist: yet, we
know morality is a universal fact, recognized by all of humanity.

Human sexual instinct, therefore, is quite distinct from animal sexual

instinct. Human sexual instinct always refers to a unity, to a totality, to the
whole being. ‘Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of
his body and soul.’ (CCC # 2332) Because it “especially concerns affectivity,
the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude
for forming bonds of communion with others,” it goes well beyond a mere
genitality.

What is specific to man is his soul. A body is common to other animals. Thus,
sexuality is common to all animals. Such a simplification is false. The human
being is not the simple sum or juxtapositioning of two parts. We are a unity.
Body and spirit are inseparably united.

“The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the
soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that
the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter,
in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single
nature.” (CCC # 365)

16 Instinct: the set of reactions to stimuli which are proper to organisms and contribute to
the conservation of the life of the individual and/ or the species.
 56

“It is typical of rationalism to make a radical contrast in man between

spirit and body, between body and spirit. But man is a person in the unity
of his body and his spirit. The body can never be reduced to mere matter:
it is a spiritualized body, just as man's spirit is so closely united to the
body that he can be described as an embodied spirit. The richest source
for knowledge of the body is the Word made flesh. Christ reveals man to
himself. In a certain sense this statement of the Second Vatican Council
is the reply, so long awaited, which the Church has given to modern
rationalism.” (Cf. John Paul II, Letter to Families, 19).

Some of our activities are merely material (digestion, for example) and
others are spiritual (reputation). But many take place in both spheres.
Sexuality is like that: it is both bodily and psycho-spiritual. This statement is
very important to sexual morality. Sex has something very specific (the
spiritual dimension) in a human being.

In a man-woman relationship, there are two possible types of relationship:

 Sexual, with genital activity.

 Sexual, without genital action, but with regard to a structural
differentiation.

God’s plan for man and woman from the beginning was for them to be
fruitful and fill the earth. (Genesis 1: 26-28) Marriage was instituted with
this aim, and so sex outside of marriage is unlawful.

Since pleasure is part of our sexuality. God gave us two Commandments to

be able to orient our sexual instinct.

The Sixth Commandment says, “You shall not commit impure acts” which
refers to all external sins, and the Ninth, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife” which forbids giving in to impure desires, which is lust – an interior
sinning.

The Relationship Dimension in Sexuality

Relationships are an affective dimension of a person’s psychology which

determines his or her attitude in dealings with other people. Clearly, the
kind of sexual life led by each person determines how he or she will treat
others:

Sexuality is a dialogue. The body is the expression of what is deepest and

most essential in the human being. Through the body, a person manifests
who he or she is and communicates with others. There is a give and take. A
 57

person who only gives (for example, prostitutes) or who only takes (egotist)
develops psychological deformations.

No dialogue in the exercise of sexuality (masturbation) is frustrating and

isolating. Instead of leading to dialogue, it leads to a break-down in
communication and trauma.

II. Christian Vision of Sexuality

According to God’s plan, man and woman become one body (Gen 2: 24) and
establish a new life project (Matt 19: 4-6). It is through our sexuality that
humans communicate the gift of life, a gift received from God: “each and
every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the
procreation of human life.”(Humanae vitae, 11). “This particular doctrine,
often expounded by the Magisterium of the Church, is based on the
inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative
may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative
significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.” (Humanae vitae,
12).

Christ lifted up the union between a man and a woman to the dignity of a
sacrament. Sexual love becomes supernatural by becoming an expression of
theological charity.

Consequently, sexuality “is realized in a truly human way only if it is an

integral part of the love by which a man and a woman commit themselves
totally to one another until death. The total physical self-giving would be a lie
if it were not the sign and fruit of a total personal self-giving, in which the
whole person, including the temporal dimension, is present: if the person were
to withhold something or reserve the possibility of deciding otherwise in the
future, by this very fact he or she would not be giving totally.[…] The only
"place" in which this self-giving in its whole truth is made possible is
marriage, the covenant of conjugal love freely and consciously chosen,
whereby man and woman accept the intimate community of life and love
willed by God Himself which only in this light manifests its true meaning.”
(Familiaris consortio, 11)

Sexual Education

Sexual information must not be reduced to speaking merely of biological

functions, but must also touch on ethical, anthropological and psychological
factors which include the individual’s sexual personality.

Knowledge of sex life and of the basic data about its functioning and
meaning is fundamental so that mistakes and warping are avoided. It is
preferable to provide knowledge before that can happen. Nevertheless, a
balance is required so as to not get unnecessarily ahead of the child’s
developmental stages, which risks arousing immature curiosity and
 58

experimentation in the person who is not sufficiently prepared for it. The
most useful thing, in order to act in accordance with the child’s natural
rhythm is a constant parent-child dialogue: whenever there is a question,
there is then progress is the child’s maturing and the need to provide him or
her with new information. Knowing the individual child (remembering that
not all of the children in the same family develop at the same rate or have
the same interests) is helpful, as is keeping an eye on him or her to recognize
any concerns or difficulties, especially as adolescence progresses with
teenagers’ tendency towards hermeticism.

The father-son and mother-daughter dialogue - When there is a close

relationship, open to dialogue between parents and their children,
communication has a better chance and young people and more motivated to
obtain help. As young people get older, the communication gap tends to
increase and young people find it increasingly difficult to be open with their
parents: it is important to begin a habit of intimate and sincere
communication well before these years. Parents have an irreplaceable role as
the best educators of their children’s sexuality, since sexuality is more
spontaneous and natural in the family environment.

Educating the will – Sexuality is a very attractive passion, because it

satisfies many aspects of the person (social relationship, tactile and auditory
experience, affectivity, emotivity…). A strong counter-force must be exerted.
Moreover, it is a passion that is born with the person him or herself. For this
reason, it is not enough that the force be merely external or imposed from
the outside. The force which can control the potent energy of sexuality is
firm, decided will. It is a deep, internal personal force. That’s why, persona
discipline, responsible work, solid, natural and supernatural motivations all
help.

Compensating the liberation of physical energies – Young people have great

vitality. They need to channel their vigor; otherwise their vital exuberance
may become oriented towards an unhealthy unleashing of their sexuality.
Sports, physical labor, creative and dynamic activity are all excellent means
for eliminating physical tensions.

It is vital that teenagers’ be educated in a selecting their thoughts,

humanistic readings laden with values, healthy shows, mastery over their
moods. Contact with nature (especially for those who live in cities), physical
tasks, educational hobbies, etc. are all useful.

Definite criteria - Young people must gain well-defined human and Christian
criteria. They must be able to distinguish between what is right and what
harms the totality of the person. They must be educated in habits of modesty
and control over one’s reactions in order to live as the master over our own
life, and not let life be the master over us.
 59

Self-assurance – We need to learn to not live in envy of those who live with
their passions unleashed, feeling that the control we bear is imposed from
the outside and unwanted. The goal is to develop a sense of chastity as
something beloved , not borne, by discovering the values held within it and
the experience of the benefits it brings to Christian and human life.

The Meaning of Concupiscence

God created us made us men endowed with body and soul, intelligence, will
and freedom.

There are times in life when we stop using our intelligence to act. We let
ourselves be taken astray by something that grabs our attention, letting it
dictate to our senses and feelings. Being ruled by concupiscence means
letting our bodies rule over our intelligence and soul, getting carried away by
our senses and worldly things, without concern for the consequences.

By permitting concupiscence to govern, man lowers (he becomes ‘animalized’)

and doesn’t see any further. Man forgets that he is a being called to eternal
happiness and begins to look for joy in the pleasures and sensations of the
body, trapped in them.
 60

Lesson 9
6th and 9th: The Virtue of Purity
Sins Against Love

To go deeper into the Sixth Commandment, read the CCC # 2331-2400; and
for the Ninth Commandment, CCC #2514-2533.

«You shall not commit adultery. »

(Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5: 17)

«You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your
neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything
else that belongs to him." (Exodus 20: 17)

I. The virtue of purity

Purity is the virtue which leads us to respect to order established by God in

the use of our sexual capacity so as to live a more perfect human love. This is
also called chastity.

The virtue of purity is aimed at a positive imperative: love with all of your
being. This virtue is aimed exclusively at forming in the person the capacity
to love which encompasses the entire person, with every aspect of his or her
personality. Purity is oriented to living love without egoism, love that does
not stagnate in a mere sexual instinct, love that involves the whole of the
person.

Chastity moderates the use of sexuality in accordance with reason and faith.
When we say moderate, we don’t mean ‘use sparingly’, but are talking
instead of channeling sexuality, orienting its expression. This is not the same
as suppressing the potency of our sexuality, but instead it means seeking to
safeguard its potential for the opportune moment. Chastity adopts diverse
forms: it is lived in marriage, in youth, in old-age, in consecration to God,
and has diverse exigencies according to the stage of life of each individual.

Means to live purity

We need to adopt several means to help ourselves in maintaining chastity (cf.

CCC #2340):

Supernatural means:

 The sacramental life

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 Frequent prayer
 Closeness and devotion to the Virgin
 Sacrifice and mortification
 Spiritual direction

Natural means:

 Educating charcter and personality

 Educating the will
 Choice of friendships
 Avoiding opportunities to sin
 Sufficient rest and healthy entertainment

There is a moral principle which says that the human person is the greatest
good of all creation, therefore, we mustn’t get confused, by being carried
away by the criteria of the world.

Humans are called to harmonize our spiritual life with our material life,
since the spirit, being transcendent, is more important: this lifts the material
to a higher plane and is what gives transcendence to the person.

Human beings must fortify their will in order to live correctly: thus
exercising the virtue of chastity is important. All people are bound to
chastity. There is a trend which leads us to believe that only those people
who are consecrated to God and single are obliged t olive this virtue: married
people too.

“Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence.
They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an
apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from
God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that
belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity.” (Cf.
CCC # 2350).

“Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping one's given word. God is faithful.

The Sacrament of Matrimony enables man and woman to enter into
Christ's fidelity for his Church. Through conjugal chastity, they bear
witness to this mystery before the world.

“St. John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their
wives: I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to
my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream
is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being
separated in the life reserved for us. . . . I place your love above all things,
and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a
different mind than you.”(Cf. CCC # 2365).
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Msgr. Tihamer Toth, who in life was a great Bishop of Hungary and a great
friend of the young, used to say:

“Purity and impurity are both fire. Strength is a chaste life, but so is a
relaxed life. Passion is both the eagerness to rise up and the eagerness
to drag around…; the difference is like the difference between heaven
and earth.

“Purity is the fire that lends maturity to character, like the ray to the
sun; impurity is the fire that destroys life, like smoldering lava.

“Purity is strength, ordered strength, one which impels us to work and

fortifies us for the fight in life; impurity is strength, an unbridled
strength, fracturing dams, flooding the fields of life with muck,
drowning a person’s strengths in a swamp.

“Purity is passion that passes on the vitality of life, energy, creative

genius, well able to conquer the world; impurity is passion which makes
one’s arms drop inert, transforms the heart into a sponge, blood into rot,
and the medulla into putrefaction.

“Purity imparts life; impurity floods everything with misery. Purity

imparts virtue and joy to life; impurity engenders the devil and death.”

Virginity

Many times we believe chastity and virginity are one and the same. Nothing
could be further from the truth; they are two totally different things. We
must all be chaste, but we don’t all have to be virginal.

Virginity is the consecration of one’s sexuality and renouncing its usage for a
higher ideal. It may have natural motives: service to others, social tasks, etc.
It may also be supernaturally motivated: dedication to God and the Church.
(Mat 19:12).

Modesty

An important factor to chastity is modesty, which is none other than a

psychological mechanism in the defense of one’s own intimacy. It is a useful
resource, not a virtue. We need to educate in modesty, neither overly-strict
nor overly lax. Giambattista Torelló synthesizes with precision Max Scheler’s
ideas on modesty with the following words:

“Max Scheler, in his excellent opus on modesty taught that the unity of
human existence - fundamental love - is protected by our very nature.
This vital sentiment, so easily ridiculed, is radically distinguished from
fear, shame, ignorance and the coquetry which caricaturize it. Modesty is
the safety area of the person and his or her specific values, marking the
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confines for the love zone by not permitting sexuality to be unleashed

when the inner unity of love has not yet been born. Modesty not only
gives human shape to sexuality, but also favors its harmonic
development. Lovers’ caresses, the exquisite sensitivity of true gentlemen
have nothing to do with the brutality and coarseness of the primitive and
the ignorant. The refinement of true modesty flows from lofty thoughts
and strong passions, not from closed minds, dulled by prejudice against
all that is of the flesh.”

Likewise, John Paul II17 explained:

“Woman tends to be the object of love in order to love. Man wants to love
so as to become the object of love. In both cases, sexual modesty is not a
flight from love; on the contrary, it is a means of getting there. The
spontaneous need to shield sexual values is a natural way of letting the
true values of the person to show through. The person’s value is closely
connected to his or her inviolability, by the very fact that the person is
more than a mere object of pleasure.

“Sexual modesty is an instinctive defense mechanism which protects this

condition, thus protecting the value of the person. But it is not only about
protecting the individual. It is about revealing this value, and precisely in
connection with the sexual values which are related to the person.
Modesty does not reveal the value of the person in an abstract way, just
as a theoretical value cannot be perceived except through reason: on the
contrary, it demonstrates the worth in a living, concrete way, enjoined to
the values of sex, although superior to them at the same time. From
there, the feeling of inviolability which is translated in the woman as
saying: “Don’t touch me, even though your motivation is an interior
desire”, and in the man, “I cannot touch her, even though I have an inner
desire; she cannot be an object of pleasure”. This fear of contact, which is
characteristic of those who truly love each other, is an indirect expression
affirming the worth of the person him or herself, and we know that it is
the element which constitutes love in the proper sense, meaning, moral,
of the word.”

The Consequences of not living the virtue of chastity

 Enmity with God: this endangers our chance of salvation. “Now the
natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God” (1
Cor 2:14). St. Thomas: “Lust prevents us from thinking of the eternal”.

17 John Paul II: Love and Responsibility. The Metaphysics of Modesty.

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 It leads to boredom, a deep tedium with life. The pleasures held as

those which would generate happiness terminate and disappoint.

 It leads to all types of sin and misfortune. It leads to the ruin of the
family, the children: passions make us sacrifice a great deal.

 It involves a physical and emotional wearing down.

 A lack of character and personality, lack of peace and joy.

Chastity, on the other hand, leads us to a deeper love of God; it fortifies the
character and makes us grow in strength, inner peace and joy.

II. Sins against love

The sexual union is achieved in marriages since only in marriage can its true
meaning be found. This sexual union is accompanied by intense pleasure
which, in God’s plan, is conceived as help in growing in conjugal love as an
encouragement for transmitting life (the unitive and reproductive ends of
marriage). Many times this pleasure is sought as an end of itself, separating
it from the natural environment which is marriage. This is the root of sins
against the 6th and 9th Commandment: sexual pleasure is sought but by
severing the sexual act from the transmission of life and he growth in love
within marriage.

The Letter of James (1: 13-15) says: “No one experiencing temptation should
say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when he is
lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth
sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.”

Lust is a capital sin and is the root of all other sins against the Sixth
Commandment which is: You shall not commit impure acts. Lust is a
disordered desire or enjoyment of sexual pleasure. It is the unbridled longing
for sexual gratification. The lustful person is egotistical and distant from
God, whose will is switched off and whose intelligence is closed to the
spiritual life.

Sins against this Commandment occur when sexual pleasure is sought

outside of nature as created by God. When we disrespect God’s laws, we lose
the opportunity to be happy and make it to Heaven.

We can commit this kind of sin in thought, word and deed.

Sins of thought

These are all those desires, imaginings, memories, emotions and affections
which we consent in order to obtain sexual gratification. Consent means to
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consciously pursue a certain thought. An example could be actively seeking

out a store which sells pornographic magazines, then going there to look at
one or to buy it.

Sins of word

Conversations where sex, discussed with a lack of dignity, is the central

topic.

Sins of deed

The action itself is an offense to God:

 Fornication: The sexual act performed outside of marriage, when both

partners are single. This includes free union, pre-marital sex, and
concubinage. (CCC # 2390-2391).

Premature sexual relations are those which occur between fiancés

before marriage.

Nowadays, there is much talk of pre-marital sex: we see it on T.V. and

hear about it in songs as if it were something perfectly normal’.
Perhaps, without realizing it, the idea becomes common place to us.
Let’s cut to the reality of these relationships: when a man aims to
demonstrate his ‘manliness’ by having sexual relations with his
girlfriend, he is actually proving just the opposite, his lack of
manliness: the real man knows how to respect the woman he loves and
is in control over his impulses.

When a woman gives in to this ‘demonstration’ or ‘physical proof’ of

her love, she generally is left unsatisfied, emptied, abandoned,
frustrated, feeling dirty. When the ‘trial relationship’ generates a new
life, this unwanted pregnancy is accompanied by negative
psychological consequences which sometimes induce women to commit
horrendous acts, such as abortion. But you don’t hear about this side
of the story in movies, and popular songs.
Pre-marital sexual relations are immoral because they do not lead to
the fullness of love: this can only be encountered within the stability of
marriage. For the most part, these relationships are inspired by
egoism on behalf of at least one of the two partners. Moreover, these
relationships rupture the end purpose of this body-to-body encounter
which is the exclusive right of spouses: an increase in their mutual
love and procreation. The person is reduced to the status of an object
of pleasure. This can lead to terrible suffering, low self-esteem and
even humiliation. Sexual encounters are the prerogative of married
couples only.
 66

 Adultery: “When two partners, of whom at least one is married to

another party, have sexual relations, […] they commit adultery.” (Cf.
CCC # 2381) Adultery breaks with the basis of the legitimate marital
union and its purpose. Adultery has disastrous effects.

The act is immoral because it is an offense to the dignity of the persons

and against human sexuality since it opposes the end purpose of the
sexual relationship.

Adultery is a grave sin from the moment desire is deliberately

consented to. This is adultery of desire.

 Rape: This refers to a sexual union performed using force or

intimidation (Cf. CCC # 2356). Rape is a violent, forceful aggression
against another person’s sexual intimacy. It causes grave damage
which can mark the victim for life. It damages the victim’s right to
respect, freedom, physical and moral integrity. It is an immoral act
because it is contrary to man’s nature.

 Incest: Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-

laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them (e.g.
between brother and sister). (CCC # 2388).

 Masturbation: “By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate

stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure.”
(CCC #2352). This is a gravely disordered, lonely and self-serving
activity.

Masturbation has ruinous effects on one’s personality: it produces

trauma, obsession, locks the spirit into egotism and the obsessive
pursuit of pleasure, weakens character and annihilates the will.

It is immoral as it is an imperfect and unsatisfactory sexual act

because it is not oriented to serving as a language of love and a means
for procreation. It brings about psychological adaptational problems in
marriage.

To avoid engaging in masturbation, it is best to find other outlets of

expression: cultural, sports, social and religious activities which give
meaning to life.

 Coitus interruptus: Interrupting the sexual act so that ejaculation

occurs outside of the woman’s body implies an avoidance of fecundity.

 Prostitution: Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who

engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure.
The ‘buyer’ commits a grave sin gravely against himself: he violates
the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body,
 67

the temple of the Holy Spirit.139 Prostitution is a social scourge. It

usually involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The
latter two cases involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always
gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense
can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.” (CCC
#2355)

 Homosexuality: “Homosexuality refers to relations between men or

between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual
attraction toward persons of the same sex.” (CCC #2357).

Homosexuality may have as its genesis a physical illness such as may

be caused by a hormonal imbalance, and which may be able to be
cured through proper medical treatment. It may also have
psychological causes at the root of which may be any number of causes
such as a lack of tenderness, an excess in severity or permissiveness,
bad examples, sexual abuse during childhood, or failure in affective
relationships during the teenage years. The person must receive all
the spiritual and psychological attention required to overcome this
disorder.

Homosexual acts are immoral because they go against what nature

asks of them. They are always disordered and contrary to the natural
law, as they seek only pleasure and are not ordered to the end of
sexuality which is the total self-giving and openness to the gift of life.

Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and do not agree with

God’s plan – for this reason the Church under no circumstances can
approve of them. (CCC # 2357)The Catechism says in no uncertain
terms that homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion,
and sensitivity.” (CCC # 2358)

 Bestiality: Sexual acts performed with animals.

 The use of contraceptives, preservatives, prophylactics and any other

non-natural means of birth prevention in order to procure sexual
pleasure is sinful within and outside of marriage.

 Pornography: “Pornography consists in removing real or simulated

sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them
deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it
perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other.
It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors,
and the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and
illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion
of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should
prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.”
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Pornography promotes sexual contact with prostitutes. (Cf. CCC #

2354).

It is immoral because it does grave injury to the dignity of the persons

who sell the images of their bodies to elicit pleasure in others.

The consequences of fornication, prostitution and pornography are:

• the human person is transformed into an object of pleasure

• the person is manipulated as if he or she were a thing
• the person is not recognized for his or her immense worth
• the person is turned into an object to generate profits

Pornography creates addiction and becomes a disease.

 Aberrant practices aimed at experiencing sexual sensations in a way

that offends the dignity and dehumanize the person. When lust, which
is the unbridled seeking of sexual satisfaction, takes over, it really
drags the person into all sorts of aberrations: unworthy pictures race
through the person’s mind and all respect for others becomes lost.

III. Sexual education

Children grow and reach a mature stage of development in their sexual

capacity before they gain full dominion over their judgment and reason.
Young people come upon new situations, which are foreign to them before
they have the capacity to discern correctly. Moreover, television, popular
modern culture, and our environment all tend to accelerate a child’s interest
in sex.

It is now more urgent than ever to recover the great values of the Christian
family, to educate children and young people not so much about sex, but
rather for love, generosity and respect within the framework of correct
sexual formation. What it comes down to is that we don’t so much need to
inform about sexuality as we do to form in love.
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Lesson 10
7th and 10th Commandment: Don’t Steal or Envy
Others’ Belongings
To go further into the Seventh Commandment, read the CCC # 2401-2463;
and for the Tenth Commandment, CCC # 2534-2557.
«You shall not steal. »
(Exodus 20: 15; Deuteronomy 5: 19)

«You shall not covet… anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

(Exodus 20: 17)

These two commandments refer to every person’s right to private property

and the human being’s proper relationship with the things of this world.

Possessing or having dominion over things holds a great fascination for the
human being – a fascination that is not of itself negative, since this
motivates self-fulfillment: God asked mankind to have dominion over nature.
Nevertheless, this natural inclination can become an obsession, an
immoderate eagerness to have more than others, pulling man to give himself
over to greater and greater aberrations in order to possess things.

I. The Seventh Commandment

The Catechism states: “The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking

or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any way with
respect to his goods. It commands justice and charity in the care of earthly
goods and the fruits of men's labor. For the sake of the common good, it
requires respect for the universal destination of goods and respect for the
right to private property. Christian life strives to order this world's goods to
God and to fraternal charity.” (# 2401)

The 7th Commandment entails several principles

1. God entrusted humankind with the administration of the goods of the

earth; He left humankind with everything we need to leave in peace and
dignity and to make our way to Him18.

“God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of
mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their
fruits.186 Therefore, work is a duty, through it we pay tribute to the gifts
and talents we have received from the Creator; moreover, work takes on a
redemptive value, when by bearing our load in union with Jesus, the
carpenter of Nazareth, we each cooperate in our own way with the Son of
God in His redemptive work. (Cf. Book of Sirach, 17)

18
Cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (CSD), # 328
 70

2. Work can also be a means of sanctification and enlivenment of the earthly

realities in the Spirit of Christ. Through our work, we obtain the means
to support our family and we provide a service to the community. Work
must be open to all without unfair discrimination, to both men and
women, be they healthy or with physical limitations, native peoples or
immigrants. (Cf. CSD 259).

3. Society must help its citizens to obtain employment. A just wage is the
legitimate fruit of work. To deny or retain the laborer’s wage is a grave
injustice. Fair remuneration for labor must take into consideration the
requirements and contributions of each person. (Cf. CSD 302).

4. The goods of Creation are universally destined to all people. Nevertheless,

the earth has been divided up amongst people to provide their lives with
security, as they are exposed to hardship and threatened by violence. (Cf.
CSD 174).

5. The possession of goods is legitimate in guaranteeing the freedom and

dignity of people, in order to help each one tend to the fundamental needs
of those who are in their charge.

6. Because of sin, humankind has become miserly and envious, and we

harbor a strong tendency to possess more than others, to appear as the
most powerful.

When people give in to this tendency, there follow a series of painful

consequences such as robbery, injustice, abuse, the unfair distribution of
riches, unjust treatment of the poor by the wealthy, unfair structures.

7. The path to resolving this injustice and violation is not through armed
struggle, revolution, communism, mercantilism, radical liberalism, self-
managed socialism or unionism, or savage capitalism.

The solution to all this does not arise from structures, but from the heart
of each person, our relationship with God and others. If you have a
generous, giving heart, you will never permit abuse against this Seventh
Commandment.

8. Earthly goods and riches are means, not the aim of life. When material
goods are made into life’s aim, an imbalance, an unhealthy attachment
comes into play.

Consider the example of the rich young man in the Gospel (Mark 10:17-
30): Jesus proposed that he leave everything and give it to the poor, so he
could follow Christ and become His intimate friend amongst His close
followers. He preferred goods and riches, and rejected the Author of all
goods, spurning God’s will and proposition: to sell everything, be generous
 71

and follow Him. How did this encounter with between the Young man
and Jesus end? The Young man walked away sorrowfully because he had
been unable to part with the material things in order follow Christ with a
free heart.

9. God does not look down on money or human labor. On the contrary, both
are means for the human person to attain the highest purposes to which
we are called, grow in holiness, and fulfill our mission in this world, in
our work, in economic activity.

God wants us to make use of the earth’s goods for our dignity, to further
our studies, for our families and to do the correct thing by the needy. This
is the deep meaning of wealth and material goods, and they are a
blessing. On the contrary, they are a stumbling block and become a curse.

II. Private Property

Although the earth’s goods are at the service of mankind and they are
destined universally to all people, it is also true that private property is a
person’s natural and fundamental right, assuring the exercise of his personal
and family autonomy.

Private property reflects two things: man’s primacy over things and man’s
capacity, thanks to his intelligence and freedom and to administer them
correctly. As a natural right, private property cannot be considered as
something which the State can grant, nor can it be seen as a means to reach
greater economic efficiency. It must also be respected by all inasmuch as
other persons’ personal freedom is also respected.

Private property, nonetheless, is not an absolute right; it is at the service of

freedom and personal security, but it must also be ordered to the good of the
community, and for that, the political authority has the right to regulate the
legitimate exercise of private property in view of the common good.

From these principles, we can deduce that a person may not take away
another’s property. That’s clear! But neither may we accumulate a fortune
to the detriment of others and neglect to help others in need. That is
injustice and egotism.

In the words of John Paul II: “the characteristic principle of Christian social
doctrine [is that] the goods of this world are originally meant for all. The
right to private property is valid and necessary, but it does not nullify the
value of this principle. Private property, in fact, is under a "social mortgage,”
which means that it has an intrinsically social function, based upon and
justified precisely by the principle of the universal destination of goods.”
(Sollicitudo rei socialis, 42)
 72

Ownership is man’s faculty for dominion over material goods. Ownership can
be:

a) Common: belonging to all of the people who make up a society.

b) Private: belonging to one or a few individuals. This is divided into:

- Public: belonging to a legal person, for example, the municipality.

- Private: belonging to a natural person, i.e. an individual.

There is no great difficulty in justifying the ownership of common property or

publicly owned property. In the first case, the goods are at the service of the
community, and in the second case, the goods belong to the public entity,
which in the long run, are also at the service of the entire population.

As to the latter, since the ownership of the goods is not clearly visible, a
strict legal control is required.

The goods of the earth belong primarily to humanity. The right to private
property is a natural right, but subordinated to the universal destination of
goods to all people.

Aristotle and other philosophers stated that the possession of goods is

natural to humankind.

From the ethical point of view, there are several arguments which help to
better understand the nature of private property:

a) Work is the person’s primary manifestation of dominion over created

things, and is the ordinary means for acquiring the right to the
ownership of concrete things, in order to provide for one’s spiritual and
bodily needs and to promote the wellbeing of the whole of society;

b) Private property, in accordance with natural law, is a guarantee of

personal freedom;

c) It is therefore within the domain of natural law to respect the

ownership of public or private property and the exercise of such
ownership in accordance with the nature of each thing;

d) Private property is not an absolute right, but rather one that is

relative, subordinate to the good of the entire community; therefore,
when there are grave causes, private property may be limited (Cf.
CSD 177);

e) Private property is not the sole expression of ownership; it is just that

there exist other forms of common ownership, particularly when the
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good of the community requires it, providing the legitimate ownership

of private property does not come under attack;

From the above, we can deduce that a basic principle for ethically appraising
the situation referring to property in any particular society is that property
exists for personal freedom and security. Thence, an unfair distribution of
goods would occur when:

a) Private ownership is reduced to so few hands that the majority of the

population is left in a situation of insecurity and dependence;

b) The State – as sole owner or at least the absolute determinant in

economic participation – uses that power to suppress or limit other
human rights.

Moreover, it is well known that in most societies, humans have obtained a

greater social product as a fruit of their labor using goods considered their
own than from common goods.

Let us consider what Pope Pius XI said on this topic: 19

“That history proves ownership, like other elements of social life, to be not
absolutely unchanging, We once declared as follows: "What divers forms
has property had, from that primitive form among rude and savage
peoples, which may be observed in some places even in our time, to the
form of possession in the patriarchal age; and so further to the various
forms under tyranny (We are using the word tyranny in its classical
sense); and then through the feudal and monarchial forms down to the
various types which are to be found in more recent times."
“That the State is not permitted to discharge its duty arbitrarily is,
however, clear. The natural right itself both of owning goods privately
and of passing them on by inheritance ought always to remain intact and
inviolate, since this indeed is a right that the State cannot take away:
"For man is older than the State," and also "domestic living together is
prior both in thought and in fact to uniting into a polity."

“Wherefore the wise Pontiff [Leo XIII] declared that it is grossly unjust
for a State to exhaust private wealth through the weight of imposts and
taxes.” For since the right of possessing goods privately has been
conferred not by man's law, but by nature, public authority cannot
abolish it, but can only control its exercise and bring it into conformity
with the common weal."

“Yet when the State brings private ownership into harmony with the
needs of the common good, it does not commit a hostile act against private

19 Quadragesimo anno n. 49
 74

owners but rather does them a friendly service; for it thereby effectively
prevents the private possession of goods, which the Author of nature in
His most wise providence ordained for the support of human life, from
causing intolerable evils and thus rushing to its own destruction; it does
not destroy private possessions, but safeguards them; and it does not
weaken private property rights, but strengthens them.””

The right to own property, in the Christian sense, is not the faculty to wield
wealth according to one’s whim or caprice, heeding only one’s own pleasure
or earnings. This concept, arising from the liberal school of thought, is
severely reprimanded by Catholic morality; which, while recognizing private
property as a fundamental right of man, also holds as a non-negotiable
teaching the law of social justice, and the principle that those who have
should be the stewards of Providence on Earth for those who have not.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:” In his use of things man
should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as
exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can
benefit others as well as himself."187 The ownership of any property makes
its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and
communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family.” (CCC 2404)

III. Sins against the Seventh Commandment

The Seventh Commandment prohibits taking, unjustly keeping or damaging

the property of others. We will now study the various sins committed against
the property of others, and linger a bit on the obligation binding the person
who commits one of these sins: reparation, which is prescribed when
another’s right has been violated. (Cf. CCC # 2409).

Theft

“Theft is the usurpation of another's goods against the reasonable will of the
owner” (Cf. CCC # 2453).

The term “against the reasonable will of the owner” means that if the
owner’s will is unreasonable then going against it would not be sin. For
example, a wife may take her husband’s wallet to obtain Money for the
support of the family if the husband refuses to give it to her. In this case, the
husband’s will is unreasonable.

Types of Theft

Theft can take on many forms:

a) Petty theft or larceny: this is theft done secretly and without

violence to the owner’s physical integrity.
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b) Robbery: this is theft through violence: the robber responds to the

owner’s resistance by threatening him or her with a gun, for instance.
Besides the sin of theft, there is a sin against the charitable treatment
of the other person.

c) Fraud: this is theft through deception; goods are illicitly obtained by

deceptive means. This is done in many ways: by doing shoddy work,
selling faulty merchandise as if it were good and taking advantage of
the ignorance of the buyer, selling something at an excessively high
price, being deceptive in contracts, not meeting the expectations at a
building site, cheating on the weight of a scale, falsifying documents,
etc. The sin of fraud is one of the most common ones we come across
nowadays and unfortunately there are many who overlook these sins.

d) Usury: This refers to charging an exceptionally high interest rate for

a loan, taking advantage of the dire need of the indebted person.

e) Divestment or dispossession: this refers to the stealing of real

estate: houses, land. etc.

f) Plagiarism: the stealing of rights or intangible goods: for example,

taking credit for another’s literary work as if it were one’s own.

Moral Principles Regarding Theft

a) Theft of itself is a grave sin against justice, although it leaves some leeway
as to its gravity.

The leeway in gravity is evident as in the example of a person who steals

something of little value: there is no grave breaking of the other’s right
nor is there a grave injustice in charity done to the other person. (cfr. S.
Th., II-II, q. 59, a. 4; q. 66, a. 6).

b) In order to determine the moral gravity of theft, meaning to determine if

the sin is venial or mortal, several issues should be considered:

1. The object itself. The magnitude of the stolen good is the first reality
to be taken into consideration concerning the gravity of the action. If
the magnitude is considerable, although the person who was robbed
does not suffer from the loss, the theft is a mortal sin.

2. The owner’s need for the thing that was stolen. A small amount stolen
from a poor person may be grave sin; likewise if a thing which has
great sentimental value such a family heirloom, or the theft of
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something which causes the victim a grave hurt, such as stealing the
indispensable needle from a tailor.

3. A person who steals repeatedly with the intent of stealing a large sum
commits a grave sin from the time of the first theft. This is because
from the beginning the thief’s intention was to commit a grave sin.

c) The accumulation of matter (a number of small thefts) can constitute a

mortal sin.

Special Cases

Under certain conditions, it may be licit to remove another’s property. This is

not to say that there are exceptions to God’s Law, which, being perfect,
foresees all possibilities. What this means is that the more complete notion of
this precept could be stated as: “you shall not unjustly take another person’s
property”.

Cases where it is licit to take the property of others are:

a) Dire need: If a person finds himself in urgent necessity, for example,

in danger of loss of life or another dire need, then there is no theft. In
fact, taking the property of another in such a case is obligatory. For
example, it is licit to take what food is necessary to stave off the
danger of dying from hunger and to recover one’s strengths. (CCC #
2408).

It is also licit to take the property of others to find release from a

necessity that is not one’s own, but of another person; for example, a
father may take some Money to be able to buy the medicine necessary
to save the life of his sick son.

These actions may be done as long as they don’t put the owner in the
same danger of affliction as that experienced by the person who takes
the goods. Moreover, once the urgent necessity has been overcome, the
debtor must begin to seek a way to repair the damage caused.

The general principle on which this exception to theft is based is that

“in the case of extreme necessity, the primordial right to life
transcends the right to private property.”

b) Hidden compensation. This consists of paying oneself back what is

owed to us, without the debtor’s consent. The creditor secretly takes
what is owed him or her. This type of compensation is of itself illicit,
although under certain conditions, it can be licit:
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1. The debt must be real – not just probable – and in strict justice:
this means that one’s right must be morally true;

2. The payment cannot be obtained without grave discomfort: for

example, through a legal process, since in any organized society,
nobody can take justice into his o r her own hands;

3. Nor through third parties.

In practice, it’s very difficult to judge for oneself the licitness in cases of
hidden compensation, since we can easily fall prey to subjective judgment.

For example, the Church’s Magisterium

(cfr. Dz. 1187) has stated that people who work in others’ homes must
not secretly carry off goods from their employers’ homes, considering
themselves entitled to compensation for their low pay. Hidden
compensation, because of the risk of abuse should rarely be performed.
The best thing is to consult previously with one’s confessor, and in
general it should not be recommended.

Income Tax Fraud

In this section we touch on the citizen’s or business’s obligations concerning

tax contributions, and of the not unusual disproportionate charges imposed
by a state’s tax legislation. The question of cheating on the treasury is a very
modern one, not only in our country but in many others. What’s more, it is
not uncommon for income tax to be destined to things other than those
proper to the state.

Due to the complexities of the case, we should base ourselves on the

following general principles:

a) The legitimate authority has every right to impose the necessary taxes
on its citizens in order to cover public expenses and promote the
common good.

b) The laws determining fair taxes are governed by conscience, in other

words, if they are not fair, then legislators face the fact of sinning
before God.

c) Breaking the laws which determine fair taxes breaks with legal
justice, and in some cases with commutative justice, and causes,
consequently, the conscientious obligation to make repairs.

d) If the taxes established by the public authority are manifestly abusive,

then in the amount in which they exceed fairness, there is no
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obligation to pay the excess amount, nor is there a requirement to

make restitution.

e) There is no conscientious requirement to pay contributions which,

partially or completely are not destined to public expenses or to the
promotion of the common good.

Unfair Retentions (Cf. CCC # 2409)

This is the taking or keeping, without legitimate motive, the property of

another. People who unfairly keep another’s property are:

a) Those who refuse to pay their debts: for example, an employer who
falls behind in paying employees’ pay;

b) Those who do not return what has been given to them for safekeeping;

c) Those who cheat in their accounts; for example, falsifying coins, not
returning extra money they were given as change; swindling the
person who entrusted them with the administration of their goods,
etc.;

d) Those who keep something they find without attempting to find the
owner.

Many people commit this sin in practice; for example, people with too many
expenses fall behind in their payments and cannot pay their debts;
shopkeepers provoke fictitious bankruptcy so as to declare themselves
insolvent, etc.

Illegitimate Damage (Cf. Code of Canon Law, Can. 220): “No one is
permitted to harm illegitimately the good reputation which a person
possesses nor to injure the right of any person to protect his or her own
privacy.”

Unfair injury is done when, out of malice or guilty negligence, harm is

perpetrated against another, injuring their person or their possessions.
Therefore, illegitimate harm is done by those who:

a) Cause grave injury to another’s possessions, destroying them or

causing their deterioration;

b) Through hearsay cause a person to lose their job, their good

reputation, their credit, etc.;

c) Neglect the requirements of justice which are proper to their state, for
example, lawyers who out of negligence, permit a lawsuit to be lost,
inept doctors who compromiso the life and health of their patients, etc.
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Reparation

Restitution is repairing the injustice that has been done, and may include
returning the article that was unfairly stolen, making compensation for the
damage unfairly caused.

“Those who, directly or indirectly, have taken possession of the goods of

another, are obliged to make restitution of them, or to return the equivalent
in kind or in money, if the goods have disappeared, as well as the profit or
advantages their owner would have legitimately obtained from them.
Likewise, all who in some manner have taken part in a theft or who have
knowingly benefited from it - for example, those who ordered it, assisted in
it, or received the stolen goods - are obliged to make restitution in proportion
to their responsibility and to their share of what was stolen.” (CCC # 2412)

Therefore, any person who has something which does not belong to him or
her, or who has caused unfair damage, must make restitution. The obligation
to do so, in the case of grave matter, is absolutely necessary in order to
obtain forgiveness of sins.

Sacred Scripture affirms this expressly: “And though I say to the wicked man
that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right
and just, giving back pledges, restoring stolen goods, living by the statutes
that bring life, and doing no wrong, he shall surely live, he shall not die”
(Ezekiel 33: 14-15; Also, Cf. Ex 22: 3; Lk 19: 8-9).

Reason leads us also to assert the obligation for restitution:

1) natural law provides that each person has a right to his or her own
property;

2) without any required or expected restitution, any right could be

unjustly violated.

The Circumstance for Restitution

a) Who: in general, the one who has caused the damage or who has
unfairly taken another person’s property is obliged to make repairs.

If the damage has been done by several persons in cahoots and all of
them participated equally, they are each equally obligated to make
restitution for their share in the damages.

If the damage has been done by several parties but with a different
share of responsibility, then each must make restitution in proportion
to the degree of their collaboration in the damages.
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b) To whom: it is evident that restitution must be made to the person

whose rights were harmed.

If the person has died, then his or heirs should receive restitution; if
the true owner is unknown, or if it is morally impossible to get what is
owed to the owner, then restitution should be used in good works or in
giving alms.

c) When: as soon as possible, particularly if a delay continues to cause

harm to the rightful owner.

d) How: it is not required that the restitution be done publically or in

person, or that the owner be aware f it; an envoy can perform the
restitution in one’s stead.

Practical applications:

a) If the restitution cannot be done at the moment, the person in debt

must at least have the intention of doing so as soon as possible, and
try to make repayment by working and avoiding all useless expenses;

b) The person who cannot make restitution is not sinning, but if the
person can do so and doesn’t then he or she is unworthy of absolution
in the sacrament of penance;

c) Restitution should be such that it makes amends in an equivalent

manner for the broken justice; this means with due equality.

Causes which exempt from the obligation to make restitution are three:

a) Physical impossibility, for example, extreme poverty;

b) Moral impossibility; for example, if the debtor suffered a much greater

damage, such as losing life or reputation.

c) The creditor remits, expressly forgiving the debt.

Ways to Comply with this Commandment

There are three: austerity, justice and generosity.

1. Austerity

This is the fair balance between opulence and misery. It is to have what is
necessary and enough to comply, as efficiently as possible, with the mission
God has entrusted you with.
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Material goods are fine. God wants us to have them and use them as means
to our ultimate end, but we must use them only as means and never let them
become an end in themselves.

Austerity consists of acquiring and possessing those goods which are

necessary to carry out efficiently the mission God has entrusted us with, in
accordance with each person’s civil status and station in life.

2. Justice

Justice means giving each person what is due. It is knowing what each
person deserves. The virtue of justice will help you know how to correctly
administer your material goods, using them for your own good and that of
others. Justice helps you to know what your real needs are and which have
been created by the traps of merchandising, leading you to believe you need
something which you really don’t.

Justice will lead you directly to place what exceeds your true needs at the
service of others, since it will make you aware that the earth’s riches belong
to all humanity and not to just a select few. This is achieved not only by
giving alms, but by creating sources of employment, training professionals,
offering educational opportunities, supporting charitable organizations
dedicated to the needy, etc.

Justice will help you to pay a fair wage for the services others render,
without seeking to cheat or deceive them.

3. Generosity

This is the virtue that will assist you to let go of the goods you possess in
favor of others. It takes you to a sharing beyond justice, maybe even
sacrificing some true, but not essential, need, in order to help somebody who
does not have the minimum necessary for survival.

Let us put in a word here about the duty to give alms. If someone who has
worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can
the love of God remain in him? (1 John 3: 17).

We mustn’t confuse the duties of charity with those of justice. It would be a

mistake to want to replace charitable works with the duties of justice.
Nevertheless, there will always be a place for charity, because there will
always be misfortune in the world. And of course, rather than giving bread
today, we’d do more good by developing the possibility for the poor to not
have to ask for charity tomorrow: job creation, schooling, etc.

This is something which Saint Basil (329-379) understood very clearly in the
4th century, as his words show: The bread which you do not use is the bread
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of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the
one who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one
who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the
poor. You are responsible for the evil which befalls the needy you could have
helped.”

IV. The Tenth Commandment

The full Commandment says: “You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You
shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox
or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him.” (Exodus 20:17)

“Covetousness bursts the bag”, goes the Spanish proverb. Covetousness aims
at the heart, inclining one to attachments.
This Commandment takes aim at every person’s desire for happiness. But
where is happiness? In money, or in possessions? With this Commandment,
God wants us to seek happiness where we truly can find it; He does not want
us to lose our greatest treasure by attempting to accumulate more and more
material things, which are always perishable and ephemeral.

Although this Commandment is formulated negatively, it contains a positive

content because God invites each of us to let go our hold on things so that our
heart can be happy and not enslaved by material and economic things,
especially those two tyrants: covetousness (the disordered desire for wealth),
and avarice (the disordered desire to hold on to our possessions).

This Tenth Commandment is closely connected to the Seventh: “you shall not
steal”, just as the Ninth Commandment is closely related to the Sixth. God
not only forbids adultery (Sixth), but also the desire for another’s husband or
wife (Ninth). He not only prohibits stealing and unfairly retaining another’s
goods (Seventh), but also the desire for them, coveting and envying them
(Tenth). Naturally, such desires are disordered, and have been given free
rein. This is not to say that it is sinful to want.

This Commandment does not forbid an ordered desire for wealth as would be
the aspiration for a greater well-being legitimately obtained; but it requires
that we be contented with the goods which God has given us and which we
have obtained through honest means. However, it would be a sin to murmur
with rage against God because He has not given us more, or to be envious of
other people’s property.

After we read the New Testament, the following principles must be clear:

 Material things are good inasmuch as they have been created by God
for man’s use. Use them well and for what God has planned them:
your own dignity and to help the needy. In this way you will live
happily.
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 Wealth, nonetheless, never loses its illusory and dangerous character,

as it creates a false sense of security and can distance our heart from
God. This is how the following texts should be interpreted: Matthew
[Link] You cannot serve God and mammon.”; Matthew [Link] “The seed
sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly
anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit.”;
Luke 12:15-21 in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Bountiful
Harvest: “'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and
the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' Thus will it
be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in
what matters to God.” Covetousness puts your happiness at risk.

 Jesus also makes it very clear that a change of heart is necessary in

order to put wealth in its place. An immoderate desire for riches
generates envy which can lead men to commit ever greater crimes:
King David is an example of this. Envy destroys our interior
happiness too.

 For the Christian convert, sharing our goods with the needy becomes a
must. Failure to do so places our eternal salvation at risk. An
excessive fondness for wealth does not let us hear God’s word. Riches
become an idol which is expected to give happiness and salvation, but
only engenders death. For this reason Jesus says, “No one can serve
two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted
to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
(Matthew 6:24)

Jesus Himself lived a life of poverty, a life of detachment from things. It was
His option, so He could place Himself in God’s hands and give us an example
of life.

Jesus did something else that was important: He preached His love for the
rich too. Jesus is not a person filled with resentment and obsession for
poverty. He knew how to enjoy the goods of this life. He did not escape from
the gatherings of the wealthy social spheres and accepted their invitations to
banquets, to the point that His detractors branded him as a “glutton and
drinker”. If He asks the rich young man to leave his possessions and give the
money from their sale to the poor, the true motive behind such an exigency is
to be able to follow Jesus, not the scorn for material things. He announced
the Good News of the Kingdom to the rich since He trusted in their capacity
for conversion: “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things
are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

Jesus proposes not only detachment and renouncement of wealth, but also
the distribution of goods amongst the poor. “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell
what you have and give to (the) poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21)
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Moreover, Jesus lends importance to alms-giving and works of corporal

mercy as elements of our following Him and in preparing the Kingdom of
God (Mk 10:21; Mt 6:2-4; Lk 3:11). Some passages, such as where Jesus
praises the widow who gives all she has to live on (Lk 21:1-4) conceive of
alms-giving as a true sharing with the needy of everything a person has, a
sharing that goes well beyond the casuistic calculation of what is leftover.

The New Testament message is the invitation to generosity and detachment

of heart. Saint Paul states that “the love of money [=avarice] is the root of all
evils” (1 Timothy 6:10). Instead the NT repeatedly invites us to generosity in
imitation of Christ, who “your sake he became poor although he was rich, so
that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8: 9)

V. Sins Against the Tenth Commandment

Avarice, prodigality and envy

1. Avarice (Cf. CCC # 2535)

Avarice is the disordered desire to amass material goods beyond reason and
without limit. It is one of the so-called Capital Sins, since from it, many other
sins are born.

Some examples of sins arising from avarice:

a) Hardness of heart towards the most needy, a loss of sensitivity for the
misfortunes of others;

b) Disordered attention and detachment to external things, preventing

the quiet and peacefulness necessary in caring for our soul;

c) Violence, fraud, swindle and betrayal we resort to in getting what we

are after;

d) Envy “refers to the sadness at the sight of another's goods and the
immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly.” (CCC #
2539)

It was Judas’s sin: his attachment to Money started the chain of events
which led up to his betrayal of Jesus Christ (cfr. John 12: 4-6).

Although avarice is not the worst sin which can be committed, it is amongst
the most shameful and degrading, since the person is subordinated – not to
things which are above him, or at least at his rational level – science, art,
etc., but instead enslaves him to that which is below him: material things.

Saint Francis de Sales called this sin “insanity” since “it turns us into the
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slaves of that which has been created to serve us” (Introduction to the Devout
Life, IV, 10).

Avarice can take on varied forms:

a) Miserliness, which leads us to withhold making reasonable expenses

or make them reluctantly;

b) Covetousness, which makes its aim amassing greater and greater

fortunes, out of egotistical motives and distrusting in Providence:
covetousness goes against Jesus’ express recommendation as can be
read in Matthew 6:25-34.

The morality concerning the sin of avarice can be expressed as follows:

a) When the love of money and exterior things comes to be preferred to

the love of God, in such a way that, because of material things, a
person subordinates his or her love and service to God and others, or
makes attacks against others, avarice is a mortal sin.

Avarice notably darkens our transcendent, spiritual view of life since

“worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no
fruit” (Matthew 13: 22), and becomes a form of idolatry (cfr. Colossian
3: 5).

b) However, when avarice is a disordered appetite that does not manage

to suppress the things of God, then it is a venial sin.

2. Prodigality

Prodigality (extreme lavishness, squandering) is the vice which leads to a

squandering of money, spending it without consideration or measure.

This does not refer to a proper, generous use of resources in acts of charity,
but instead the undue expenditures which a spendthrift makes of his money,
motivated by his appetites, comforts, and his eagerness for luxury or showing
off.

In the Encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis, Pope John Paul II explains how
“super-development”, meaning the excessive availability of material goods,
easily leads to prodigality. “This is the so-called civilization of ‘consumption’
or ‘consumerism’, which involves so much ‘throwing-away’ and ‘waste’. An
object already owned but now superseded by something better is discarded,
with no thought of its possible lasting value in itself, nor of some other human
being who is poorer.” (# 28)

The wastrel does not consider the fact that, from God’s point of view, he is
not the owner of his fortune, just the administrator, and even supposing he
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has fulfilled all of his obligations of charity and justice, he cannot just steam
ahead at his own will, but must instead heed the universal destiny of all of
earth’s goods. “The goods of this world are originally meant for all. The right
to private property is valid and necessary, but it does not nullify the value of
this principle.” (John Paul II, Sollicitudo rei socialis, 42).

Prodigality deprives the wastrel of the advantages which earthly goods

should procure for him (he could have merit before God through their proper
use) and deprives society (mis-spent money could have been invested in job
creation and in a greater productive yield from labor).

This vice also harms those close to the squanderer: sooner or later they suffer
the consequences of his waste. More than anything, squandering harms the
common good due to the grave lack of fulfillment in the duties of charity and
social justice: it is a vice which society finds hateful; it causes great irritation
and further accentuates the enormous differences between the socio-
economic classes, etc.

In conclusion, the moral judgment of the prodigal can be measured by the

amount of the wasted resources or the dire needs of his fellow men:
prodigality involves true injury to third persons and to the common good in
general.

3. Envy: the Sister of Covetousness (Cf. CCC # 2538-2539)

This is a disordered passion which leads us to feel sadness at the sight of

another´s goods, qualities, vehicle, girlfriend, trousers, house, etc. It is very
subtle. The worst of it is that one comes to wish that the goods disappear,
one hopes for bad things to befall the other person; this is why it is a capital
sin. The envious person thinks that the particular good diminishes her.
What’s more, the envious person gloats when things go badly for the other
person with all of those qualities.

Envy has its roots in pride, which, together with sensuality, is the mother of
all other sins.

Envy is a very serious sin because it is opposed to the virtue of charity which
is a Christian’s main virtue, and which calls us to rejoice over the good in
another’s life. The more you envy, the greater is your sin. “From envy are
born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor,
and displeasure caused by his prosperity" (CCC # 2539); envy sows divisions
and prods the immoderate search for wealth.

It should never be forgotten that avarice and envy end up wreaking

destruction in the person who gives in to these sins, they alienate her and
most of all, close her to the Word of God and the novel values of His
Kingdom. They steal her interior happiness.
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Lesson 11
The Justice within the Seventh Commandment

To go deeper into the topic of justice, you may read the Compendium of the
Social Doctrine of the Church, numbers 201-208.

« Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give
their due to God and neighbor.”
(CCC # 1807)

I. Justice

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church # 202 states: “Justice
is particularly important in the present-day context, where the individual
value of the person, his dignity and his rights — despite proclaimed
intentions — are seriously threatened by the widespread tendency to make
exclusive use of criteria of utility and ownership. Justice too, on the basis of
these criteria, is considered in a reductionist manner, whereas it acquires a
fuller and more authentic meaning in Christian anthropology. Justice, in
fact, is not merely a simple human convention, because what is “just” is not
first determined by the law but by the profound identity of the human
being.”

The classic definition of justice is to give each person his or her due. This
means treating each person equally, without discrimination, in accordance
with each person’s merits, giving them the same opportunities, remunerating
according to their effort and not just their results, considering their needs,
their rank and post and in accordance with the law (although the law can be
unfair too). Justice consists in equity between what is done by a person and
what, in virtue of the right the person possesses, what should be done by him
or her.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (# 1807), we read: “Justice is the

moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to
God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue of religion."
Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish
in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to
persons and to the common good.”

Justice and injustice occur only in social relationships. Unlike the other
cardinal virtues, one can only be just or unjust with other people.

Since Roman times, justice has been represented by the goddess, Themis:
depicted as a noble woman brandishing the sword of the law in one hand,
and in the other, the scale of equity. Her eyes are blindfolded so that she
judges with impartiality. The message is that she will let drop the strength
of the sword on whoever attempts to unbalance the scale, overlooking the
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peculiarities of the individual, no matter be they young or old, rich or poor,

sick or healthy, black or white, virtuous or criminal.

“Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give
their due to God and neighbor.” (CCC # 1807; Compendium SD, 201)

In a broad sense, the just man is the good man; the term is used in ancient
literature, by Plato and in the Bible, for instance. In a strict sense, justice is
one of the four cardinal virtues. It is defined as “a moral habit, which inclines
the will towards giving each person his or her due”. Justice regulates the
satisfaction of duties and rights. In its turn, the ‘measure’ for these is not
always the law of a State, but is also the natural moral law, and to a great
extent, social norms and customs.

Plato conceives of justice as the virtue which harmonizes the parts, in both
the person and in the city. It is the fundamental virtue.

For Aristotle, justice is also the first of the social virtues and an
indispensable condition for man to live in society.

The term ‘social justice’ was first used in the social Magisterium by Pius XI
in
Quadragesimo anno (Cf. # 57, 71, and 88)

It is typical of social justice that it demands of people all that is necessary for
the common good. (Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, 1937)

While the focus of social justice in Quadragesimo anno was on employer-

employee relations, later encyclicals (Mater et Magistra and Populorum
progressio) broadened the concept to include relations between nations.

Three classic elements can be deduced:

1. Equality as a measure
2. Duty as the object
3. The other as a term

Equality: presupposes congruence between the two parts which refer to

justice; such equality is not regulated by ‘who’, but by ‘what’ and ‘how’ goods
are exchanged: its measure is related to things.

Equality is not the essence of justice. The former consists in equality

amongst equal beings. For this reason, there is no relation of justice, nor of
injustice between individuals of lower species.
Justice, used in reference to the environment or to other animal and plant
species should be understood as justice with respect to other human beings,
who have and will have the right to the environment and the biological
inheritance. The pretense of the so-called “Animal Rights” which the
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Australian bio-ethicist, Peter Singer defends, contradicts this concept. Singer

proposes a modification of the definition of ‘person’: according to him, a
person is any being capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, is healthy,
adult and aware. This ‘new’ concept of person excludes many humans
(fetuses, the new-born, the mentally challenged, the deformed, those who are
comatose, etc.) while it includes the majority of adult mammals and birds. It
is a notion which is far from being taken seriously by humanity. In my view,
it can only be explained by the extreme relativism under which western
culture is suffering, dominated by economic and commercial values which
place great expectations on pharmacological experimentation.

Duty: this means that justice obliges in accordance with a strict juridical
duty (along with a moral one) which almost always can be demanded with a
legal right.

Duty, a premise of justice, is a payable debt: once it has been satisfied, the
relationship ceases. However, there are unpayable debts: these are
relationships not of justice, but of recognition and gratitude.

The model for the unpayable debt is filiation. One is a son or daughter
forever, even when our parents have passed away. Love, respect and
veneration for one’s parents is an authentic duty which can never be paid up
in the way a person can pay his or her debts. The virtue corresponding to
this duty of love to our parents is called filial piety. It is a virtue which pays
tribute to the recognition and love owed to the ones who gave us our being;
filial piety is usually added to love for country and natural virtue of religion.

Alterity: This means that we are dealing with two diverse parties (there is no
strict justice owed to oneself); the two parties can be distinguished because
one of them possesses a right which the other must respect.

The concept of alterity means a relationship between two truly distinct

terms. These may be individuals or a composite of “persons”. A legal or
juridical person is an entity [as opposed to a natural person who is a human
being] capable of rights, such as associations, corporation, foundations, etc.).

The Division of Justice

The cardinal virtue of justice is divided into two types: organic justice,
which considers all people as members of society, and inorganic justice,
which considers only individual relations (commutative justice).
Organic justice, in its turn, includes two distinct relationships:

a) between each part and the whole – each person is compelled to contribute
to the common good (general or legal justice), and
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b) between the whole and each of its parts – society (and its legitimate
authorities) must respect each of its members and procure their well-being
(distributive justice).

Legal justice is the virtue which inclines those in power and their subjects
to act in view of the common good. Acts of governance refer to the social
organization and the enactment of laws, and to cooperation towards the
common good. This form of justice is also called ‘general’ because it includes
all of the acts which refer to the common good, and it is also called ‘legal’
because the law is the ordinary means for the organization and function of
society and is what determines the most appropriate ways with which to
obtain the common good.

Legal justice involves the requirement to procure the good of society (the
‘whole’). This social entirety is the subject of rights, and the duties towards it
fall on both the ones who govern and on those who are governed; the former
as the architect and the latter as the executives.

Acts of legal justice are:

a) The organizing of society based on the law: A constitutional law is

necessary in order to avoid arbitrariness and chance in the
designation of authorities, their succession and the protection and
guarantees of the rights of the people being governed. The lack of a
constitutional law is contrary to legal justice, since it makes
personalistic and partisan forms of government possible.

b) Legislating for the common good: Such legislation excludes

partisanship or privatization by the State in favor o a single segment
of society (the aristocracy, a single political party, etc.).

c) Directing politics towards the common good, not power: This principle
protects from giving special power to any particular political party or
even the State, to the detriment of other states or parties.

Distributive justice consists in the distribution of responsibilities, jobs and

benefits according to the objective abilities and merit of those who are
governed. Equality in this form of justice is about making unequal what is
non-equitable; it is a proportional equity.

The objective of distributive justice is the defense of the right of citizens. The
loads or charges are distributed according to their carrying capacity. Greater
taxes are paid by those who objectively have a greater capacity to pay: not all
persons pay an equal amount of tax.

Commutative, or organic justice is the virtue which inclines a particular

person to give to another what is their due. It’s called commutative (Lat.
commutatio = exchange) because it takes place particularly in contracts and
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in sales and purchases. What is just is the giving and receiving of a fair
value, without consideration for the subjective economic capacity or condition
of the persons involved.

The debt of commutative justice is exact as is the price of a particular good

on the marketplace: no more, no less. Aristotle dubbed this ‘arithmetic
justice’, in contrast to distributive justice which is ‘geometric’ or proportional.
All unjust forms of appropriation are contrary to justice and rectification of
such unfairness requires restitution.

II. Justice in the Bible

In the Old Testament

In Sacred Scripture we find a very different concept of justice from that given
in philosophy.

In the Bible, man is called to participate in and imitate God’s ‘justice’, that of
the Just King.

In the East, kings were entrusted with the carrying out of justice with
respect to those who had no social power. When a poor person suffered from
an injustice, he had nobody to defend him, so he would turn to the king.

Thus, when the Old Testament speaks of God as King, this trait is included:
the defender of the poor, the widows, and the orphans.

Moreover God is characterized by His absolute faithfulness to the Covenant,

by His always being full of forgiveness and mercy (Cf. Psalm 71). His justice
is that of the husband who forgives his wife’s grave faults (Hosea) and of a
Freedom Fighter who struggles for his people (Exodus 20: 1-3).

In the New Testament

In New Testament Scripture, our Lord invites us to live the virtue of justice
through the following teachings:

 "For I was hungry and you gave me food” (Mt 25: 31-45).

 "Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Lk 6: 31).

 “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” (Lk12: 57-59).

 "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs
to God." (Lk 20: 20- 26).

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ takes God’s justice to perfection (Lk 4:
18, 6: 27, 7: 22; Mt 5-7, 25; Jn 13-16) and the Christian community attempts
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t olive out this new spirit in the practice of service, generosity and love for
the poor and marginalized (Acts 2: 42-45, 4:34), and in surpassing external
legal requirements (Rom 12-13, 1 Cor 6:1).

To make themselves available, they will also seek trust in God and
detachment from material things. Identifying Christ in each man will
constitute the ultimate criterion of all social conduct, and is the matter for
the final judgment. The definitive standard is love. (Jn 13: 35).

III. Charity is the Necessary Partner to Justice

Philosophy and the Bible are the two currents which have influenced the
Christian tradition in shaping our concept of justice. We might understand
then, that this concept is not limited by a philosophical viewpoint, but
instead is broadened to include a dimension which draws much closer to love.
The Church’s Social Doctrine is a constant reminder that love must be an
active principle in social organization.

“The full truth about man makes it possible to move beyond a contractualistic
vision of justice, which is a reductionist vision, and to open up also for justice
the new horizon of solidarity and love. ‘By itself, justice is not enough. Indeed,
it can even betray itself, unless it is open to that deeper power which is
love.’” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 203)

“[A]ll forms of economic enterprise must be governed by the principles of

social justice and charity” (John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 39).

The Need for Charity

Despite the State’s greater intervention in resolving social issues, there will
always remain many fields which can only be reached through charity.
Read Quadragesimo anno, 137 and Mater et Magistra, 120.

Love is the Soul of Social Action

Read Pacem in terris, 37 and 149; Mater et Magistra, 227.

Justice Alone is not enough

Redemptor hominis, 12 deals with the relationship between justice and love.
This text states that a strict justice is insufficient in resolving social
problems because it is missing the necessary engine for effecting the
required change which is at the root of many social issues.

Justice alone, no matter how faithfully it is applied, can no doubt remove the
causes for lawsuits involving social issues, but it will never be able to unite
hearts and souls.
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“Love presupposes and transcends justice, which ‘must find its fulfillment in
charity.’” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 206)

Read Dives in misericordia, 4 and12.

The Civilization of Love

The objective of the Social Doctrine of the Church is to create a new

civilization of love. It is not enough that love inspire a few sporadic acts, but
rather it must become a common culture. It was in this sense that Paul VI
used the term “civilization of love” (May 17, 1970; December 24, 1975,
December 31, 1975, January 21, 1976).

John Paul II would take the term up again in Sollicitudo rei socialis, 32 and
other texts, for example in his Message to the Latin-American Bishops
Gathered in Puebla (1979), in which the topic of the civilization of love
occupies a special place.

In his Letter to Families, 12-14, he speaks to us of the family as the

fundamental cell of society, and being called to be the main promoter of the
civilization of love.

The Relationship between Justice and Love

“There is no gap between love of neighbor and desire for justice. To contrast
the two is to distort both love and justice.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith: Libertatis Conscientia, 57).

There is no gap between justice and love. Justice is the primary form of love.
Nevertheless, justice and love are distinct. Let’s take a look at the following
chart:

Justice Love

1. Makes the distinction 1. Seeks unity.

between what is “mine” and
what is “yours”.
2. Is used preferentially in the 2. Is the self-giving of people. It
order of things. also promotes non-material
goods: prayer, faith.
3. Rigorous, out-and-out justice 3. Charity moderates the rigor
can be unjust. of justice.
4. Follows the law of an eye for 4. Preaches forgiveness.
an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
5. Has as its measure the rights 5. Has as its measure the needs
of the other person. of the other person, even when
there is no “right”.
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6. A legal action may go against 6. Charity cares for the needs of

charity. every person.
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Lesson12
The 8th Commandment: Respect, Protect and
Proclaim the Truth

To go deeper into the Eighth Commandment, read the Catechism of the

Catholic Church, # 2464-2513.

«You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:
16; Deuteronomy 5: 20)

«You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another.” (Leviticus 19:11)

I. Truthfulness

We may define the truth as the correspondence between reality and what we
think or say about it.

Truthfulness is the virtue which consists in speaking the truth and through
our acts in showing ourselves as we truly are on the inside. This virtue
makes us always faithful to the truth. (Cf. CCC # 2468).

Truthfulness is a form of justice; others deserve the truth and not deceit.

We live in a world where we are sold lies on golden platters; we are witness
to broken pacts between nations, where signatures are laid down, but where
the signing parties do the opposite of what was agreed to. The mass media
sometimes manipulate the news; TV screens don’t always show the truth
about love, the family, or sexuality; university chairs frequently chop up the
truth about the world, about things and about existence; even the very
existence of a Principle and a First Cause which gives meaning to things is
denied.

If the ‘truth’ is the object and the end of human though, it is also the central
reality of Revelation, since the truth is closely connected to God: He “is the
Truth” (John 17:17). What’s more, as the Book of Proverbs states, “God is the
source of all truth.” (Proverbs 8:7). The Book of Samuel affirms, “You are God
and your words are the truth.” (2 Samuel 7:28). The psalmist confesses that
he has chosen “the way of loyalty” (Psalm 119: 30), since “all [His] commands
are steadfast’ (Psalm 119: 86), and the reason is that “[God’s] justice is
forever right, [His] teaching forever true.” (Psalm 119: 142)

We are to love the truth because Christ is the Truth, and He taught us that
the Truth will make us free and sanctifies us: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.” (John 14:6)
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The Eighth Commandment to ‘not bear false witness nor to lie” is very
necessary, especially since the relationships between men are darkened by so
many lies, calumny, slander and false witness. The Christian must oppose
all of this with a love for the truth and respect for others’ good name.

Basic Tenets

Saint Thomas teaches that the truth is divine, given that God – Who is
Himself the Truth – shares this attribute on the level of His creatures20.

Jesus stated, “I am the Truth” (John 14:6). With this He means to teach us
that not only does He announce the Truth, but also He possesses the truth in
its entire fullness. Quite the opposite is true of the demon, “the father of lies”
(John 8:44), since he denies God and everything he does attempts to darken
the truth or distance us from it.

Man’s vocation to the truth – which for the Christian constitutes his way of
life – is sealed by Jesus with a command to His disciples, which completes
the Eighth Commandment: “Let your ‘Yes’ be yes; and your ‘No’ be no”
(Matthew 5:37). In other words, since “God is Truth” and Jesus states of
Himself, “I am the Truth”, His disciples must live the truth in their lives.
This is what we call truthfulness and which the Catechism of the Catholic
Church defines as:

“Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness,

sincerity, or candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in
showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding
against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.” (# 2468)

Amongst the goods possessed by man, is the ability to express and

communicate his feelings and affections through words. In order to use this
ability correctly, ordered to our chief end, the human person must overcome
the tendency which is a consequence of the damage caused by original sin:

1) the difficulty is distinguishing what is true from what is false;

2) the tendency to hide or deform the truth.

The proper usage of language is everyone’s duty to justice: all persons have
the right to not be deceived and because of our human dignity, the right to
honor and our good name.

There is a virtue which has this as its object. As St. Thomas says,
truthfulness is “the virtue by which we are inclined to always show ourselves

20 (Cf. Thomas Aquinas, S. Th, II, II q 34, a. 1)

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true in words and deeds as we are on the inside” (S. Th., II-II, q. 109, a. 1); or,
the correspondence between what we think and what we say or do.

When this correspondence is lacking in our words, we lie; when our gestures
are an act, our behavior is hypocrisy.

Thus, the fundamental principle concerning the truth is that we are never
permitted to directly go against it.

Let’s now define the kinds of truth:

The truth of being: this implies being as we are, what we are meant to be.
There is truth in our being when we act as intelligent, free, responsible
persons. You live in the truth of your being when you know and act in
accordance with the demands of your origins and your final end as a human
person, when you have transcendence and meaning. When you live the truth
of your being, you live fully, happily, with dignity, and you are raised up
above the entire material and animal inverse. The opposite of the truth is
inauthenticity. (Cf. CCC, n. 2464).

1. Truth in thought: your mind has been made to perceive the being of
things. When your mind concurs with the truth about things, you live
in the truth of thought. Your mind must respect the truth about
things: the truth about work, money, sexuality, marriage, studies,
degree… Imagine how much education you need to discover the truth
about things, and to think truthfully about them! The opposite of the
truth in thought is error, which may conscious or unconscious,
voluntary or involuntary.

2. The truth in speech: truthfulness in our speech comes from speaking

the words which your mind knows as true and has discovered as truth
after study and training. Your words must be the faithful vehicle for
what you think. Through your words, you share with others what you
carry inside you. Words are the bridge which manifests your heart and
intimacy before others. The opposite of speaking the truth is telling a
lie. (Cf. CCC # 2483).

3. The truth in deeds: this is the truth in our behavior and life. It
means living as we believe, with coherency between what we believe,
preach and live. If you live this truth, you are sincere and keep your
word, faithful to your promises, fair and just towards others. The
opposite of truthfulness in exterior acts is duplicity, fariseeism and
hypocrisy. (Cf. CCC # 2085)

Demands and Obstacles to the Truth

1. The Demands: (Cf. CCC # 2467)

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Man tends by nature toward
the truth. He is obliged to honor and bear witness to it: "It is in accordance
with their dignity that all men, because they are persons, . . . are both
impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth,
especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they
come to know it and direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands
of truth." (# 2467)

Having an upright, well-formed conscience is the requirement for living in

the truth, saying the truth and doing the truth in life.

Moral conscience is the ability whereby the human person can perceive good
and evil, and incline his or her will towards doing what is right and avoiding
evil.

Conscience is that inner voice which tells you (or should tell you, if it is
upright): “Do what’s right, avoid evil”. That’s your conscience. If you don’t
carry out your duties, be they professional or related to your marital status,
if you don’t carefully take charge of the responsibilities assigned to you, if
you waste time on the job or steal something… your conscience should be
telling you: “Hey, that’s not yours…. you’re wasting time… you’re late….you
didn’t say the whole truth.” (Cf. CCC # 1776)

There also exists the danger of deforming our conscience. When that
happens, it’s very difficult to hear the commands of natural law, and it’s very
difficult to live in the truth and tell the truth. You can put masks on your
conscience: you are one thing and pretend to be another; in your social life
you appear to be one way, while in your private life, you appear in another,
and with your family, still another. (Cf. CCC # 1780-1785)

This is where the cracks and crevices of your personality begin. You’re not
sincere, you’re not loyal, and you don’t live in the truth. You feel bad. You
may even have psychological damage. You know you have to remove the
masks and be what you are and what you should be.

It’s extremely important that we shape our conscience in order to be able to

discern between good and evil, the truth about the lie: only your conscience
should be the lighthouse which guides your steps in the darkness.
2. Obstacles to the Search for the Truth:

 Modern radical skepticism: states that the truth does not exist, or
that, if it does exist, man are incapable of recognizing it. If skepticism
were true, it would deny this, its fundamental premise21.

« If, as a result of a tragic obscuring of the collective conscience, an

attitude of skepticism were to succeed in bringing into question even the

21 Cf. Herder: Diccionario filosofía [Dictionary of Philosophy]

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fundamental principles of the moral law, the democratic system itself

would be shaken in its foundations, and would be reduced to a mere
mechanism for regulating different and opposing interests on a purely
empirical basis.” 22

 Relativism: refers to knowledge and morals. It is the thesis which

denies the existence of absolute, universal, necessary truths: all truths
depend on various conditions and circumstances which make them
particular and changing. Relativism denies the possibility of
establishing objective truths. In the field of ethics, relativism claims
that there is nothing that we can call good or bad absolutely. At
present the dictatorship of relativism reigns, said Pope Benedict XVI,
at the start of his Pontificate.

 Utilitarianism or pragmatism: A system of ethics which claims

that “what is good is what promotes happiness” while “the greatest
good is the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people” 23; the
truth is “only what is of use to the individual and can be put into
practice”. Usefulness or utility is the top value. This doctrine was first
promoted by Jeremy Bentham and Stuart Mill in England at the end
of the 18th century. For Bentham, utility meant pleasure, well-being,
and happiness. Mill underscored the qualitative character of pleasure
and proclaimed the superiority of intellectual pleasures and moral
sentiments.

 Permissiveness: with its philosophy of “everything goes”, in the long

run, this current is a bomb dropped on the truth of things, on the
truth of nature. Do abortion and homosexual unions become a truth
because they are permitted by the civil law?

 Social manipulation: in parliaments, governments and national and

international organizations. For example, the European Union’s
Treaty of Maastricht hides the danger of manipulating society in
agreement with socialist ideology. Everything is seen in economic and
financial code, thus eluding the fields of education and of ethical and
religious values.
 The lack of humanistic and philosophical formation: is also an
obstacle to finding the truth. Humanistic formation seeks the balance
amongst your human faculties, the upright appreciation of things, the
ability to reason, human maturity, and openness to aesthetic values,
formation of the intelligence, etc. Philosophy leads you to know the
ultimate end of things; it helps you to discover the total truth about
things.

22 JOHN PAUL II, Evangelium Vitae, 70

23 Cf. Herder: Diccionario filosofía [Dictionary of Philosophy]
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 Subjectivism: claims that the truth is not objective, but subjective

and that each person can determine for him or herself what is true or
not. Subjectivism is a form of skepticism and relativism. It affects the
value judgments and criteria which guide our personal behavior.

 Closed mindedness: there are people who are locked into their ideas
and postures and who believe only they are right and possess the
entire truth. This is a mistaken posture because they are never willing
to open to the complete, objective truth.

 The habit of lying: is the greatest obstacle in the search for the
truth. Saying the opposite to what you think with the intention of
deceiving, a lie hurts the liar more than anyone else. Lying blocks the
development of a person’s personality.

 Vanity: places the truth about yourself in check, because you show
yourself in an untrue light. It causes you to be exalted beyond your
human and moral stature. Remember Aesop’s fable about the crow
and the fox? A crow had stolen a piece of meat and sat perched in a
tree, ready to eat. A fox who had seen what happened wanted the
meat for himself: he stopped and began exalting the figure and the
beauty of the crow. The fox suggested that the crow had such great
merit and would easily be the king of the birds, if only he had a voice.
The crow was feeling quite proud of itself and wanted to prove to the
fox that it did indeed have a voice: it opened its beak and started
screeching loudly. As it did so, the meat fell from the perch, and the
fox threw himself hungrily on the choice morsel, saying: “Crow, if you
also had some measure of sense, you’d be lacking nothing to be the
king of the birds.” So, Aesop’s fable is a lesson for the foolish and the
proud.

I conclude this section with a paragraph on the truth, written by the then
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who made the truth his
Episcopal motto, “Co-operator of the truth”, summarizing all of the demands
and obligations of the truth:

“I came to clearly understand and see that denial of the truth not only
solves nothing, but also runs the risk of our ending up in a dictatorship
of the will. Because what is left after suppressing the truth is simply our
decision, and as such, is, arbitrary. If man does not recognize the truth,
he is degraded; if things are merely the result of a decision, be this
private or collective, man is debased. In this way I understood how
important it is that the concept of truth – with the obligations and
demands that, without any doubt, accompany it – does not disappear
and remains for us as one of the most important categories. Truth must
be as a requisite which does not concede rights, but which – just the
contrary – requires humbleness and obedience, and leads us on a
collective pathway…”
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II. Lying

There are several definitions of a lie, although it is not always easy to

establish its precise meaning. The CCC clarifies lying in these terms: “To lie
is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error.” (#
2483) Also, “Lying consists in saying what is false with the intention of
deceiving one's neighbor.” (# 2508) Consequently, lying is accompanied by
the desire to deceive.

Aside from the ‘deception’ which is the aim of lying, it is important to note
the positive aspect of the Commandment, which implies the obligation to
speak the truth. In effect, men and women are to love the truth, express it,
defend it and communicate it, since the ‘truth’ is proper to the thinking
being. This is because reason – a human being’s essential trait –
spontaneously seeks the truth. As Aristotle wrote at the start of
Metaphysics, “all men, by nature, seek knowledge of the truth”.

Lying is a word or sign by which something is given to understand at

variance with the mind, with the intention of deceiving (cfr. S. Th., II-II q.
110).

Saint Augustine defined lying in these terms: “Lying consists in saying a

falsity with intention of deceiving”. The essence of lying has two elements:
One – saying something at variance with what you think. Two – saying it
with the intention of deceiving.

Unamuno, the twentieth-century Spanish writer, said that it is not error, but
lying that kills the soul. The person who is mistaken can make mistakes out of
good will and will be judged based on that good will. But what good will is
there in a person who lies?

There are many evil aspects to lying; this is what makes it so condemnable.
Here are a few of the reasons why it’s wrong:

 Lying contains a direct offense against the truth;

 It leads the person who is lied to into error: this person has the right
to not be deceived;

 It damages the basis of communication amongst human beings;

 It encourages – and on occasions has its roots in – vanity and pride;

 The liar loses his or her reputation and good name;

 It is an attack on charity in dealings with others;

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 It may lead to a grave injustice when the lie hurts another person;

 Lying is harmful for human relationships, creating mistrust amongst

people.

These and other ill effects perpetrated by lying explain why God is at the
origin of the truth, and the demon is at the origin of lying. Jesus mentioned
the diabolical origin of lying: “You belong to your father the devil and you
willingly carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the
beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of
lies.” (John 8: 44).

The CCC says: “Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real
violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of
every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all
consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among
men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships.”(# 2486)

All lies are intrinsically evil (although not always grave) and should never be
emitted.

“The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms,
the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered
by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal
when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.” (CCC # 2484)
For example, we are dealing with mortal sin if, by lying, the intention is to
cause grave harm to the victim, or if a person in authority lies to his or her
subjects on issues which seriously affect their interests. It is also a mortal
sin when, by lying, the reputation of the victim is gravely injured. Likewise,
it is a mortal sin when a person lies to a judge causing damage to the rights
of others and a miscarriage of justice.

Moral Principles Concerning Lying

1. The fundamental principle is that it is never licit to lie.

The reason for this principle is clear: lying is intrinsically evil, which
means that it is bad not only because it is forbidden, but because of its
very nature. Therefore, all lies, no matter how small, break with God’s
natural order of things. Sacred Scripture strictly forbids lying: “You
shall keep away from anything unjust.” (Exodus 23:7)

2. The evil of lying doesn´t consist so much in the falseness of the words
as in the divergence between words and thought.
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3. For lying to exist, it is not necessary for others to be actually deceived

by what we do or say. The lie exists even when others realize that a
person is saying something contrary to what he or she thinks.

4. The gravity of the lie should be considered not only of itself, but in
consideration of the damage it can cause.

Lying can destroy considerable goods, such as friendship, marital

harmony and parents’ trust. Moreover, it causes damage to the person
him or herself, because when a person is considered a liar, later, even
when the person is now telling the truth, people don’t believe in him or
her anymore.

Sins related to lying

There are sins which are close to lying, for example:

 Pretending: this is a form of lie carried out not through words, but
through deeds; for example, a child effectively lies to his father when
he pretends to be studying, as does an employee who pretends to be
working to avoid being chastised by his boss, etc.

 Hypocrisy: this is appearing to be what one truly is not in order to

gain the esteem of others.

 Flattery: is the exaggeration of praise for another person in order to

curry some favor.

 Loquaciousness: speaking lightly, with exaggerations or unfair

judgments. On the other hand, loquaciousness can easily degenerate
into calumny and defamation.

How grave are these sins?

Generally, the gravity of these sins is determined by the end plan - these sins
are grave when their objective is gravely sinful, but when the objective is not
as grave, then the sin is slight.

The gravity of the sin will depend on the damage or harm cause by our
attitude. Finally, it should be remembered that this Commandment obliges
us to make reparation for the evil caused.

If we cause harm to a third party though lying, defamation, and humiliation

or by revealing his or her secrets, our fault will not be cleared until we have
made compensation for the harm to the best of our ability. We must do so,
even when such reparation requires our humbling of ourselves or even
involves some harm to ourselves.
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If you have calumnied somebody, you must admit that you were gravely
mistaken; if you have gossiped about somebody, you must make up for your
defamation by speaking good things about the victim; if you have caused
insult, you must ask for forgiveness, publically if the insult was in public; if
you have revealed a secret, you are obliged to make amends as best you can
for the consequences which derive from your lack of prudence.

If you have hurt another’s honor, you must make repairs and rectify.

Rectifying means making up as did the Rector of the University of Paris

when he made up suspicions concerning Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the
founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). This is the story.

One of the University’s professors complained because Ignatius and his

young friends spent so much time in prayer that in their opinion, they were
neglecting their studies. This was untrue. The Rector paid heed to the false
accusation and ordered Ignatius be punished: the entire school was called to
assembly to witness how each professor struck the accused on the back with
a cane.

Ignatius knew himself to be innocent, yet he was willing to suffer the

punishment. Concerned that his punishment would detract his followers
from continuing their life of prayer, he modestly explained to the Rector his
reasons and his concerns.

The Rector, now fully convinced that Ignatius was in no way hindering the
other students’ academic progress, led him into the classroom where all of
the professors and students had gathered. There, before the entire
University, the Rector knelt before Ignatius and begged him for forgiveness
and for having dealt lightly with the accusations against him.
It’s hard to know who to admire more: Ignatius who was willing to suffer the
humiliation even though he was innocent, or the Rector, who with great
manliness, knew how to rectify his overly quick judgment.

III. Can the truth be hidden?

The obligation of the Eighth Commandment to always tell the truth does not
imply having to tell all the truths you know. There are many things you may
know but which out of prudence, discretion or charity you realize you must
not say unless it is absolutely necessary.

Your safety and that of others, respect for private life and the common good,
are sufficient reason to not feel obliged to recount the truths which you
know. “No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the
right to know it.” (CCC # 2489)

There are things which you may keep quiet if you so wish and others which
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you should not cover up. Your sins don’t have to be known by anybody except
your confessor.

What must be considered is that in life there are situations where it is

neither prudent nor fair to say what one thinks. In such cases, it is licit to
withhold the truth, as long as you don’t lie. Saint Thomas stated that “it is
licit to recur to a certain dissimulation on order to prudently hide the truth”
(S. Th., II-II, q. 110, a. 3, ad. 4).

All persons have the right to be reserved about those aspects of their private
life that it would not serve the common good to make known, and on the
contrary, could damage legitimate personal or family interests or those of
third parties.

Mental restriction or reservation

One way of hiding the truth is called mental restriction or mental

reservation which consists in stating something which sounds false, but
which has a true meaning, hidden, in the mind of the speaker.

If there is no trace or indication of the possibility of the truth being

discovered, this is called purely mental restriction; if, on the other hand,
there is some crack through which the truth can be glimpsed, this is called
latently mental restriction.

Concerning the morality of mental restriction, there are two principles:

1) Strict mental reservation is never licit.

The reason for this is that since the true meaning is not revealed at all – i.e.
it remains totally hidden – the statement is an out-and-out lie. To say things
such as: “I’ve seen Rome (but meaning only in pictures), “I did no such thing”
(two years ago, but yesterday, yes), “I didn’t touch your pen” (I knocked it
into my purse with the ashtray) – is to lie. If speaking this way were licit,
then anytime and anyplace we would be allowed to lie without hindrance.

“Although we may hide the truth from time to time, we must not conclude that
it is licit to lie” (Saint Augustine, Catena Aurea, vol. I, p. 425).

2) Wide mental reservation may be licit when it is done with some just cause,
in proportion to the harm that could occur, if the speaker uttered the full
truth.

The reason why these are not full-fledged lies is that the meaning could be
understood by the listener. For example, in answer to a Jehovah’s Witness
missionary who rings the doorbell asking to speak to the man of the house, it
could be licit to respond, “He’s not home” could be understood by the visitor
as “for you, just now”.
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This form of mental reservation must be used with discretion, with just
cause and proportion, to free oneself of danger or bother, but it is never licit
when it requires denying one’s faith.

In general, the use of mental reservation should be counseled against, since

it is easy to lose a sense of proportion and fall into true lies.

Definitely, holding firmly to the intrinsically evil nature of lying, Christian

morals recommend a lucid and active discretion, oriented and directed by the
virtue of prudence, with no strings attached, and free from unsuitable
ingenuity.

Secrecy

The topic of secrecy is related to the above as a concrete case of hiding the
truth.

The moral goodness of secrecy resides in the obligation to secrecy binding

those entrusted with the secret.

Such is the case, for example, with the professional secret.

a. Definition and categories of secrecy

A secret is that which by its very nature or out of commitment, demands the
obligation to keep it hidden.
It may be:

a) Natural: when it derives from the nature itself of the matter; for
example, knowing a grave shortcoming of another person’s, family
secrets, etc.

b) Promised: when, after having learned something, a person makes a

promise not to reveal it. This corresponds to the duty of faithfulness.

c) Entrusted: when, before hearing the secret, one vows to keep it quiet.

b. Obligations regarding secrecy

The obligations regarding secrecy are as follow:

1) It is not licit without just cause, to delve into others’ secrets, for example,
it is a sin to open others’ letter, go into their drawers, listen behind closed
doors, force someone to tell us something, etc.
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When there are grave reasons, not only is it licit, but also obligatory to find
out others’ secrets. However, the means used should always be licit (no lies,
no abuse, etc.).

2) A natural secret binds to secrecy out of strict justice, gravely in grave

matter and lightly in light matter.

For example, an employee who reveals his company’s technical secrets

commits a sin; a person who broadcasts another person’s hidden defects
commits a sin by doing so, etc.

3) A promised secret binds not out of justice, but out of fidelity alone,
spreading the secret is usually no more than light sin unless someone is hurt
as a result.

4) An entrusted secret is more strictly and gravely binding than a natural

secret, unless the matter is quite insignificant.

People who are under the obligation to keep this type of secret are those who
due to the nature of their professional duties find themselves entrusted with
this kind of confidentiality: doctors, lawyers, statesmen and women – and
with even greater rigidity a priest who hears the secret in the sacrament of
Confession.

The obligation to keep a secret disappears:

1) when the fact becomes public domain;

2) when legitimately it can be presumed that the person who entrusted

us with the confidence authorizes us to reveal it, as for example, to
free him or her from a grave evil;

3) when it is deemed that revealing the confidence will free society from a
grave harm: the common good is above that of any individual.

IV. Sins against Another’s Reputation and Honor

a. Reputation

Reputation refers to the good or bad fame a person has. All people, in virtue
of their natural dignity as rational beings, created in the image and likeness
of God, have a right to their good name.

The Bishops of Latin America taught that every man and every woman, mo
matter how insignificant they may seem, have an inviolable nobility which
they and others must respect and demand to have respected unconditionally;
every human life deserves for itself, under any circumstance, to be
dignified… The revelation contained in the message and Person of Jesus
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Christ Himself is the vindication of this very dignity. (The Puebla Document,
Third Conference of the Latin American Council of Bishops, 316, 317

During the trial before the Sanhedrin, one of the high priest’s servants
slapped Jesus in the face when He answered one of Caiaphas’s questions; the
Lord said in His defense, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but
if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?" (John 18: 23) Jesus gave us
an example of how to defend our good name when we are unjustly attacked.

Defaming others is a sin against justice and obliges to restitution.

Sins against one’s good name

There are ways of attacking another person’s good name:

1. Sins of thought

a) Rash judgment: A person commits the sin of rash judgment when,

without sufficient reason, he believes something harmful to another's
character. The person doubts another’s good intentions, suspecting the
other person of sinning.

Causes of this sin may be:

- rashness which leads a person to make judgments without thinking

things through beforehand.

- malice of heart, which inclines a person to make hasty judgment of

others;

- pride which seeks weakness in others in order to downplay our own

2. Sins of word

a) Detraction: A person commits the sin of detraction when, without a

good reason, he makes known the hidden faults of another.

- Malicious gossip involves criticizing and revealing without just

motive the hidden defects or sins of others.

- Calumny or slander consists in falsely attributing defects or sins to

others.

There are various ways to make repairs:

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After slandering another person, there is no choice but to go back on your

word, even if this confession brings down the slander’s good reputation. If the
slander was done in writing, restitution must be made in writing too; for
example, a slanderous piece of news in the newspaper is repaired by giving
an explanation, at least of equal size and on pages of equivalent relevance as
where the original calumny was published.

If the damage was spread by gossip, the gossips can’t take their words back,
but we do have the obligation to return the other’s good name as best we can,
for example by praising a virtue of the person who has been defamed.

b) Whispering involves telling a person the unfavorable appraisal which

a third party told them in order to foment discord between the two. This
is a grave sin against charity, although there is some intricacy to the
matter. The sin is all the graver, the more intimate and necessary the
friendship or bond is between the two people.

c) False witness consists in testifying before a judge with a false

declaration. This involves a triple sin, because in fact it is a lie which has
two aggravating factors:

- perjury: violation of an oath, and

- injustice, caused by the unfair harm done to the other person by

making a wrongful declaration against him.

False witness is a grave sin and like all injustice, involves the obligation to
make repairs for the damages caused by it.

b. Honor

Every person, in virtue of his or her natural dignity as a rational being

created in God’s image and likeness, has the right to enjoy the esteem of his
fellow beings. Honor is precisely the external testimony of the esteem we
have for other people.

Sins against the honor of our fellow beings

This right, which belongs to all people, to the respect owed to his honor is
broken with the following sins:

1. Insult or offense: this is an insult without justice done in the

presence of the injured party, and done either by word or deed

Its gravity is measured:

1) in terms of the degree of offense to the injured party;

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2) by the degree of offense and malice implicit in the insult.

This sin is distinct from detraction which offends the reputation of a person
who is absent, while an insult damages the honor of a person who is present.
The offender is obliged to make public reparation if the damage was inflicted
publicly, and in accordance with the dignity of the offended party. This
obligation to make reparation ceases:

1) when the injured party forgives the offender, or,

2) when the injured person has taken revenge, or,

3) a trial has ordered punishment.

2. Irony is a way of disparaging someone to shame them in front of others.

The mocker does not try to injure others, but rather to make then look
ridiculous, which is a lesser sin than detraction or insult. Nevertheless, it
can be aggravated by:
1) the greater scorn or humiliation that may result from the disparaging;

2) the object of the scorn: sacred objects, Church institutions, priests or

superiors, etc.
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Lesson 13
The 8th Commandment: Charity in Word and Deed
To go further into the 8th Commandment, read the Catechism of the
Catholic Church, # 2464-2513.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

(Exodus 20: 16; Deuteronomy 5: 20)

“You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another.”
(Leviticus 19:11).

I. Distinctive Christian Charity

The commandment for charity is the distinctive sign of Christ’s follower.

Humans are made in God’s image and likeness. Christ is the Father’s image.
We are called to be Christ’s living images. If God is love, our life must be
love. What a beautiful task Jesus Christ has entrusted us with: to make God
present and real amongst our brothers and sisters. Not a distant God, out of
duty or fear, but a God who not only loves us, but who defines Himself as
Love.

Let’s remember that charity is the essence of Christianity; therefore charity

is the main trait of the Christian.

In effect, we know very well that there is no true holiness without charity,
and that with charity everything is possible and without it, our Christian life
loses its value. Charity has no limits, and even, as testified to by so many
men and women who give their lives for the Gospel, can mean martyrdom, if
that is what God asks of us. It means giving one’s life out of love.

Charity – says Saint Paul in his hymn on love – never ends. “Love is patient,
love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous,” it is boundless (1
Corinthians 13: 4-8); this is what makes it even greater and more true,
because every day we are given multiple opportunities to live this
Commandment which must distinguish us and characterize us.

The dynamics of love demand, moreover, that it be passed on through

example, since this virtue is gift and transmission of one’s own life to our
fellow persons: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for
one's friends” (John 15:13). Without this concrete gift of ourselves, our words
would be empty: “If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need
and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:
17, 18)

The word is the most visible sign of reason. Humans think, but also
articulate sounds that make up words which bear our ideas. Through words,
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people express their thoughts and their desires, emotions even change our
tone of voice when we emit sounds. Through words, men and women may
praise God, but may blaspheme against Him. Likewise, every word of ours
can be used to love and extol our brothers and sisters or to insult them and
scorn them.

In effect, the word can be the vehicle for the good or the evil that a person
holds in his or her heart. As the Apostle James teaches:

“In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great
pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The
tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice,
defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire,
itself set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile
and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human
species, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full
of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we
curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. From the same
mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.”
(James 3: 5-10)

II. Speaking well of people

Charity id the height of all virtue and the essence of the perfection of the
saints; it is not illogical to admit that an act of virtue well beyond not
speaking evil and even denouncing with justice the faults of another person
with the aim of helping him is to speak well of another pondering his virtues
and creating around him an environment of respect and esteem. This is the
virtue which we call speaking well.

How we must care for this virtue. It must characterize us, no matter where
we are. What does speaking well of others involve? It is a word which is
practically unknown in the world we live in; in fact there is no single word
which expresses it and defines the concept in a dictionary. We can, though
find the term, evil gossip or slander, which is the sin which opposes this
virtue.
If evil gossip is the vice which involves speaking badly of others, speaking
well is the virtue of speaking well of others. For Christians, speaking well
must be a constant in our lives. Overcoming evil is done with good.

Speaking well is a form of apostolate which we can all do; it is a concrete way
of going through the world, as Jesus Christ did, “doing good” (Acts 10:38),
building and serving the Church.

Speaking evil is a vice which is a grave offense against charity, because it

needlessly and purposelessly spreads the defects, error or sins of other
people, damaging their reputation. No one has the right to damage another
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person’s good name. Speaking well of them, on the other hand, seeks to
spread the positive aspects found in others.

Speaking well also opposes the sin of rash judgment, which takes as true,
without sufficient motive, someone’s supposed moral defect. Rash judgments
lead us to suspicion and distancing from others. It is the sad truth of
someone who catalogues another person, seeing into their actions and giving
a negative interpretation to their intentions. This attitude sows doubts,
keeps silence about someone’s good name, and generates concern and worry,
robbing peace.

Many a time we judge others by attributing our own defects to that person.
Nevertheless, a bountiful heart seeks to think well, to justify, to forgive and
understand. A man or woman of God keeps his or her own defects in view,
not so as to judge someone, but so as to live humbly and as apostles of what
is good. We are not apt to judge someone else. Only God is the judge. And as
we well know, this produces peace in our soul. What a great gift peace is!
“[S]eek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34: 15). A good means for attaining this
gift from God, in peace, is by noticing all that is good, in thought and in
words.

Speaking well opposes calumny, which as our faith says, is a grave sin which
involves the false attribution of things to another person, and unfairly
broadcasts those falsities, damaging their good name. Calumny is both lying
and slandering.

As occurs with the other virtues, this is not about speaking well defensively,
concerned simply with not failing, not criticizing; instead it involves
cultivating an inner attitude, one that is decidedly positive, a good habit
which moves us to exercise this virtue. We can’t then, be contented to keep
silence in front of others about the defects and errors of our brothers and
sisters. Of itself, this of course is a fine thing, as the Apostle James stated,
“If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his
whole body also. “ (James 3: 2)

From this viewpoint, we will never be justified in speaking ill of others, since
it is the contrary of what Christ preached with His words and life. Speaking
well of someone goes beyond this, it seeks to spread someone’s good name,
valuing his qualities, pointing out his virtues, underscoring his successes and
achievements, praising what is good and virtuous in him. This virtue
becomes an entire apostolate, transforming into constructive charity.
Speaking well of someone, like all virtues, requires a personal victory. It does
not occur spontaneously and naturally. It has at its roots another deeper
habit: always thinking well of others, esteeming them sincerely in the depths
of our heart.

This means being watchful of our thoughts, struggling against prejudice

which is a source of frequent and persistent dissent, cultivating with care
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goodness, understanding, affability and courtesy, and above all, by being

loyal, just and sincere in feelings and deeds with one another.

Jesus Christ teaches us that “A good person out of the store of goodness in his
heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for
from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6: 45) Our ‘old self’ –
which Saint Paul speaks of (Cf. Colossians 3: 9) - damaged by original sin,
tends to notice the failings and defects of others more than their virtues and
achievements. But Christians have the assistance of God’s grace, His Spirit
resides in us and we have all the strength we need to rise above this
tendency, cultivating good, positive thoughts.

The good person sees everything with eyes of goodness. This is how evil will
be vanquished by goodness: “Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil
with good.” (Romans 12: 21) This should become such a habit in our lives
that if on occasion, say something we did not want to, we should instantly
apologize and then counteract our statement with something positive about
the person.

Let’s remember this principle which states: believe all the good you hear,
disbelieve all the evil except what you see, and this too, forgive from the
heart. Jesus, our Savior, during the last moments of His life, from the
torment of the Cross, forgave his slayers and all of us for whom He offered
Himself: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
(Luke 23: 34)
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Lesson 14
The Commandments of the Church

To go into the Commandments of the Church in greater depth, consult the

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2030-2051.

I. The Church, Mother and Teacher

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
(Matthew 16: 18)

Jesus Christ founded the Church and established her as Mother and Teacher
for the safekeeping of His teachings and to guide all people to salvation.

John XXIII told us in his Encyclical, Mater et Magistra (n. 1):

“Mother and Teacher of all nations—such is the Catholic Church in the

mind of her Founder, Jesus Christ; to hold the world in an embrace of
love, that men, in every age, should find in her their own completeness in
a higher order of living, and their ultimate salvation. She is "the pillar
and ground of the truth." (1Timothy 3: 15) To her was entrusted by her
holy Founder the twofold task of giving life to her children and of
teaching them and guiding them—both as individuals and as nations—
with maternal care. Great is their dignity, a dignity which she has always
guarded most zealously and held in the highest esteem.

The Church, therefore, takes in earnest its mission of bringing people closer
to God, safeguarding and transmitting the legacy entrusted to her by Christ.
To help make it easier for us to carry out God’s law, the Church has
discerned some obligations which bind every Christian: these are known as
the Commandments of the Church.

In this way, the Church becomes the presence of Christ in the world, the
repository of His teachings and of his means of salvation.

For this, Christ chose Peter and the other Apostles so that they govern the
Church founded by Him and transmit the powers to their successors, the
pope and bishops. These powers are:

 Teach Christ’s doctrine with authority (Cf. Vatican II, Christus

Dominus, 12).
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 Sanctify through the sacraments and other means (Cf. Vatican II,
Christus Dominus, 15).

 Govern by means of laws which oblige in good conscience (Cf. Vatican

II, Christus Dominus, 16).

Therefore, the Commandments of the Church are a demonstration of charity,

of concern for the well-being of men and women and not just a legal precept;
they assist us as baptized Christians in fulfilling our obligations.

Disobedience to these precepts is a symptom of indifference towards the

center and reason for being of all of these norms, Jesus Christ, and towards
the work of salvation which He wants to carry out in each of us through His
Church.

II. Participation in the Mass on Sundays and Days of Obligation (Cf.

CCC # 2180)

“Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of
me.’"
(Luke 22: 19)

The Code of Canon Law declares (Canon 1247): “On Sundays and other holy
days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.” Pope
Pius XII, in his 1947 Encyclical, Mediator Dei, urged: “It is, therefore,
desirable, Venerable Brethren, that all the faithful should be aware that to
participate in the eucharistic sacrifice is their chief duty and supreme dignity,
and that not in an inert and negligent fashion, giving way to distractions and
day-dreaming, but with such earnestness and concentration that they may be
united as closely as possible with the High Priest, according to the Apostle
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."[80] And together
with Him and through Him let them make their oblation, and in union with
Him let them offer up themselves.” (Mediator Dei, 80)

Before His Death, Christ did not want to leave us alone without His physical
presence and so selected the symbols of bread and wine to remain with us.
Because of this, the Eucharist is the center of Christian life, Christ’s great
testament, the sign of his surrender and His love. Let’s look at the words
which define the Mass in the Code of Canon Law: “The Eucharistic sacrifice,
the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice
of the cross is perpetuated through the ages is the summit and source of all
worship and Christian life, which signifies and effects the unity of the People
of God and brings about the building up of the body of Christ.” Paul VI’s 1963
Encyclical, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47 describes the Eucharist: “At the Last
Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the
Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to
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perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should
come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial
of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of
charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with
grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”

The first Christians understood that the most important assembly for
Sundays and days of Obligation was the Mass, and the Church did not need
to require them to attend the Eucharist, since they themselves considered it
the most important reality in their lives. (CCC # 2178)

However, under the influence of Aryanism and Barbaric invasions, the spirit
of the early Church was lost and the Church was forced, as of the 5th
century, to write a decree concerning the precept of attending Mass.

Causes which Dispense from Mass

There are three circumstances which may dispense a Catholic from the
obligation to attend Mass:

 Physical Impossibility: is a person is sick and cannot reasonably rise

in order to attend Mass; the weak and convalescent if there is serious
impediment; people who live so far from a church that they would
undergo serious problems were they to attend (no transportation,
danger on the way, etc.)

 A grave private or public necessity may also dispense a person from

attending Mass; those who take care of the sick and children; those
who are obliged to take on emergency work and cannot get a
replacement.

 Grave harm: if by attending Mass a person can come to grave harm to

himself or to someone else, there is sufficient reason to not attend.

III. Confession at Least Once a Year

“I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over
one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who
have no need of repentance.”
(Luke 15: 7)

Human beings are frail, even when we have been baptized, we let ourselves
get dragged into sin. Jesus Christ knew this about us, and in His infinite
mercy, He again went out to man’s encounter to offer His grace: this is
Confession. God’s mercy is infinite and always ready to forgive us.
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In the Fourth Lateran Council, in the year 1215, the Church established the
requirement for annual confession of mortal sins and this was encoded into
the Code of Canon Law, Canon 989.

The Church, with this Commandment, only wishes to exhort her children so
that they attend Confession and receive forgiveness for their sins; she want
all Christians to be reconciled with God so that they do not irremediably lose
their friendship with Christ.

By not going to Confession, we scorn Christ’s merits, His love and His total
surrender for us to save us; it means not seeking reconciliation with God,
having no interest in emerging from sin and acceding to salvation.
Postponing confession also means a weakening of the means which help us to
remain faithful to Christ.

Frequent confession is an irreplaceable means for growing in our spiritual

life, in our life of grace, in imitation of Christ, in holiness. Even if we have no
mortal sins24, drawing closet o Christ in confession is a source of grace and
supernatural strengths to help us live our Christian commitments in the
world and to grow in love.

On this point, Pope Pius XII, in his Encyclical, Mystici Corporis, # 88 stated:

“As you well know, Venerable Brethren, it is true that venial sins may be
expiated in many ways which are to be highly commended. But to ensure
more rapid progress day by day in the path of virtue, We will that the
pious practice of frequent confession, which was introduced into the
Church by the inspiration of the Holy spirit, should be earnestly
advocated. By it genuine self-knowledge is increased, Christian humility
grows, bad habits are corrected, spiritual neglect and tepidity are resisted,
the conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a salutary self-control is
attained, and grace is increased in virtue of the Sacrament itself.”

IV. Take Communion at Least on Easter Sunday

« I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this
bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the
life of the world." Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true
food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood remains in me and I in him.
(John 6: 51- 57)

The Church points to this Commandment because of the infinite value of the
Eucharist to the life of the Christian. The Eucharist contains the true, real

24 It must not be forgotten that venial sins, may be expiated in the confessional,
commendably and fruitfully, and without any presumption. (Council of Trent)
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presence of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. The entire life of
the Church is centered on this mystery of love.

If the core of our faith, the hub of the Gospel proclamation is Christ’s
Resurrection, the nucleus of the life of the Church is the Eucharist, which is
the very real presence of Christ amongst us.

Some considerations

 The Eucharist must always be received in a state of grace. A person in

a state of mortal sin may not receive Communion until he or she has
confessed. Otherwise, the person commits sacrilege: contrition is not
enough, no matter how repentant the person is. The Council of Trent
confirmed: “nobody, conscious of mortal sin, and no matter how
contrite, may approach the Sacred Eucharist without first have made a
sacramental confession”.
 Taking the Body of Christ at Easter is obligatory for the person who
has already had their First Communion: “After being initiated into the
Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive Holy
Communion at least once a year. This precept must be fulfilled during
the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time
during the year.” (Code of Canon Law, 920)
 The Eucharist should always be received in abstention from food and
drink. This period of abstention is a time of spiritual and bodily
reparation for receiving the Body of Christ. “A person who is to receive
the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before Holy
Communion from any food and drink, except for only water and
medicine… The elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can
receive the Most Holy Eucharist even if they have eaten something
within the preceding hour.” (Code of Canon Law, 919)
 “It is highly recommended that the faithful receive Holy Communion
during the Eucharistic celebration itself”25, since this provides a better
spiritual preparation and makes the person more suitably disposed for
receiving this grace intensely.

 Although the Church only requires Communion on Resurrection

Sunday, it is highly recommended that the Christian take frequent
Communion as a sure means of growing in friendship with Christ and
in holiness. As Saint Pius X said in his Decree, Sacra Tridentina
Synodus: “Moreover, the desire of Jesus Christ and of the Church that
all the faithful should daily approach the sacred banquet is directed
chiefly to this end, that the faithful, being united to God by means of
the Sacrament, may thence derive strength to resist their sensual
passions, to cleanse themselves from the stains of daily faults, and to

25 Cfr. Code of Canon Law, Canon 918

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avoid these graver sins to which human frailty is liable; so that its
primary purpose is not that the honor and reverence due to our Lord
may be safe-guarded, or that it may serve as a reward or recompense of
virtue bestowed on the recipients. Hence the Holy Council calls the
Eucharist "the antidote whereby we may be freed from daily faults and
be preserved from mortal sin." For frequent daily Communion, there is
no other requirement than the ordinary dispositions of precept (being
in a state of grace and in Eucharistic abstinence from food and drink),
the rightness of intention, so that what is done may meet with God’s
pleasure and not for human ends or out of routine.

V. Fasting and Abstinence from Meat on Days of Precept

“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is
hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
(Matthew 6: 17-18)

The Church, following Christ’s example, has always proclaimed penance and
more concretely, fasting and abstinence as adequate means in fomenting our
union with Christ.

Fasting is the Church’s penitential practice which consists in abstaining

from eating between meals and having only on complete meal during the
day. Outside of that, food may be ingested during ordinary meal times, but
some small sacrifice should be made at these meals. Fasting and abstinence
should be observed on the days set out for this penance (Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday) for people ranging in age from 18 to 59-years-old (Code of
Canon Law, 1251-1252).

Abstinence is the penitential practice in which we offer God the sacrifice of

not eating meat (or other food established by the Council of Bishops) every
Friday (non-feast days) of the year, in expiation for our sins, in
commemoration of Christ’s Death on the Cross, and in joining our sacrifice to
Christ’s pain. This is obligatory as of the age of 14. (Code of Canon Law,
Canon 1251)

In Mexico, given the poverty suffered by a great number of people, the

Mexican Council of Bishops has permitted those in such circumstances to
substitute the practice of abstinence with acts of piety or charity.

The theological reasons given by Saint Thomas Aquinas for why penance is
necessary in obtaining eternal life are (cfr. S. Th., II-II, q. 147, a. 1):

 Penance raises the mind, lifting it above the earthly, so that it can
encounter more easily the heavenly;
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 Penance is an efficacious remedy for repressing concupiscence and

overcoming our disordered appetites;

 Through penance we may reach the reparation of our own and others’
sins.

 Works of penance are a source of merit before God.

The Code of Canon Law (Canon 1249) reminds all Christians of the
fundamental ideas which serve to increase our desire for purification,
through penance:

 All faithful, by divine law, are bound to perform acts of penance.

 Specific days and times for penance are specified for the whole Church
so as to make manifest the unity of Christians, making it clear that it
is not only on those days that we should make penance.

 There are diverse ways on those days of penance, in which we can live
the spirit of mortification.

 Amongst the ways of doing penance, fasting and abstinence stand out,
and are binding for some and on certain days.

VI. Assisting the Church in Her Needs

“In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the gospel should
live by the Gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9: 14)

The Church has many needs: priestly formation, an increase in missionary

work so that more souls may be brought to Christ, making Catholic doctrine
known through the mass media, the promotion of institutions which defend
Christian values, etc.

We could state this commandment thus: help the Church to be efficacious in

carrying out the work Christ entrusted her with. Bring your ideas, your
labor, your willingness, your money and everything you can to promote the
cause, be it only by a millimeter, of Christ’s Kingdom.

We must not forget that the Church is a divine and human reality, and
because of this, although she has all of the gifts which God has given her, she
now needs the collaboration of men and women in order to develop her
mission.

Living one’s faith, living Christianity, following Christ means not remaining
indifferent before the needs of the Church which are Christ’s needs, in
accordance with our own possibilities, not conforming with a bare minimum.
The Code of Canon Law (Canon 222, 1) states: “The Christian faithful are
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obliged to assist with the needs of the Church so that the Church has what is
necessary for divine worship, for the works of the apostolate and of charity,
and for the decent support of ministers.”

Helping the Church is binding in conscience and justice, otherwise the

expenses involved in giving dignified and due reverence to God could simply
not be met.
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Lesson 15
The Life of the New Self: Holiness
To go further into the topic of holiness, read the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, numbers 1987-2029.

«Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt

compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…”
(Colossians 3: 12)

«Be holy because I (am) holy."

(1 Peter 1: 16)

«So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

(Matthew 5: 48)

I. The Action of the Holy Spirit

The core of the message which Christ left us is to love God above all else and
to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (See Matthew 22: 34-40). If this
principle is embraces as the fundamental option and influences our life,
taking concrete shape in our behavior, then a new kind of human being is
configured, the New Self who lives for God, in imitation of Jesus Christ.

On occasions, it may seem difficult to incarnate this New Self and we come to
think it is an impossible task. Nevertheless, we are not alone in carrying out
this life project; God always takes us by the hand. Holiness is built on three
theological virtues which are a gift from God. Only when we make these
theological virtues our life’s standard can we begin to speak about holiness.
John Paul II in his Wednesday Audience Catechesis26 on The Holy Spirit:
Breath of Sanctification:

«The Holy Spirit’s presence truly and inwardly transforms man: it is

sanctifying or deifying grace, which elevates our being and our acting,
enabling us to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity. This takes place
through the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, “which adapt
man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature” (CCC, n. 1812).
Thus, by faith the believer considers God, his brethren and history not
merely from the standpoint of reason, but from the viewpoint of divine
Revelation. By hope man looks at the future with trusting, vigorous
certitude, hoping against hope (cf. Rom 4:18), with his gaze fixed on the
goal of eternal happiness and the full achievement of God’s kingdom. By
charity the disciple is obliged to love God with his whole heart and to love
others as Jesus loved them, that is, to the total giving of self.”

26John Paul II: Wednesday Audience: “Catechesis on the Holy Spirit: Principle of
Sanctification”. July 22, 1998.
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Sanctity, life in accordance with God, is a gift from the Holy Spirit. He is the
One who builds the holiness in our lives. The person has only to correspond,
not put up obstacles, and not change the direction. As Benedict XVI says:

“This is the mystery of Pentecost: the Holy Spirit illuminates the human
spirit and, by revealing Christ Crucified and Risen, indicates the way to
become more like him, that is, to be ‘the image and instrument of the love
which flows from Christ’ (Deus Caritas Est, n. 33). The Church, gathered
with Mary as at her birth, today implores: ‘Veni, Sancte Spiritus! - Come,
Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of
your love!’ Amen.” 27

Many times we want to bring about spiritual progress, growth in virtue, but
solely through our own human strength, forgetting that nobody can move
forward in their discipleship of Christ, in the sincere living of our faith, in
Christian perfection, without the help of the Holy Spirit, the sweet Guest of
the soul28.

We must permit the Holy Spirit to act inside us; listen to Him and put His
teachings into practice. To become holy, we must let ourselves be guided by
the Holy Spirit’s inspirations enlist the accompaniment of an upright
spiritual guide who will help us to discern, but who will also give us the push
and orientation we need.

Let’s take a look at what John Paul II taught in his Encyclical, Dominum et
vivificantem n. 52:

“For as St. Paul teaches, "all who are led by the Spirit of God" are
"children of God." The filiation of divine adoption is born in man on the
basis of the mystery of the Incarnation, therefore through Christ the
eternal Son. But the birth, or rebirth, happens when God the Father
"sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts." Then "we receive a spirit of
adopted sons by which we cry 'Abba, Father!'" Hence the divine filiation
planted in the human soul through sanctifying grace is the work of the
Holy Spirit. "It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that
we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow
heirs with Christ." Sanctifying grace is the principle and source of man's
new life: divine, supernatural life.”

The grace of the Holy Spirit reinforces the inner self who lives guided by
God. John Paul II has this to say on the topic:

“Through the gift of grace, which comes from the Holy Spirit, man enters a
"new life," is brought into the supernatural reality of the divine life itself
and becomes a "dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit," a living temple of God.

27Benedict XVI: “Homily on the Solemnity of Pentecost”. June 4, 2006.

28Let’s not forget what Galatians 5: 25 has to say about this: “If we live in the Spirit, let us
also follow the Spirit.”
 125

For through the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son come to him and take
up their abode with him.” (Dominum et vivificantem n. 58)

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The gifts of the Holy Spirit dispose the soul so that it may reach
supernatural perfection. The soul which permits itself to be led by the Spirit,
acts with full security as an authentic child of God. Through His gifts, the
Holy Spirit directs our supernatural life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The moral life of Christians is
sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions
which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.” (#
1830)

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural habits infused by God. Let’s
look at each of these gifts briefly:

 The gift of wisdom: A taste for the spiritual, an ability to judge using
God’s own measure.
John Paul II said,

“Wisdom … is a light which we receive from on high; it is a

special sharing is that mysterious and highest knowledge which
is that of God himself….This higher wisdom is the root of a new
awareness, a knowledge permeated by charity, by means of
which the soul becomes familiar, so to say, with divine things,
and tastes them. St Thomas speaks precisely of "a certain taste
of God" ("Summa Theol." II-II, q. 45, a. 2 ad 1), through which
the truly wise person is not simply the one who knows the
things of God but rather the one who experiences and lives
them.”

“Through this gift the entire life of the individual Christian,

with all its events, hopes, plans, and achievements, is caught up
in the breath of the Spirit, who permeates it with Light "from on
high"”. (John Paul II: Regina Coeli on the Gift of Wisdom,
Sunday 9 April, 1989. Retrieved July 21, 2010 at
[Link]
ii_reg_19890409_en.html)

 The gift of understanding: This is a grace given by the Holy Spirit

to assist our understanding of God’s Word and to go more deeply into
the revealed truths.

“The word "intellect" derives from the Latin "intus legere", which
means "to read within", to penetrate, to understand thoroughly.
Through this gift the Holy Spirit who "sees into the depths of God" (1
 126

Cor 2:10), communicates to the believer a glint of such a penetrating

capacity, opening the heart to the joyous understanding of God's loving
plan.” 29

 The Gift of Counsel: Enlightens our conscience as to the options

which daily life imposes on us, suggesting what is licit, what is best,
what is most apt for the soul.

“The Spirit of God responds to this plea through the gift of Counsel, by
which he enriches and perfects the virtue of prudence and guides the
soul from within, enlightening it about what to do, especially when it
is a matter of important choices (for example, of responding to a
vocation), or about a path to be followed among difficulties and
obstacles. …”

“The gift of Counsel acts like a new breath in the conscience,

suggesting to it what is licit, what is becoming, what is more fitting for
the soul (cf. St Bonaventure, "Collationes de septem donis Spiritus
Sancti", VII, 5). … Aided by this gift, the Christian penetrates the true
meaning of gospel values, in particular those expressed in the Sermon
on the Mount (cf. Mt 5:7).” 30

 The Gift of Fortitude: A supernatural strength which the moral

virtue of fortitude, so as to be able to bravely carry out what God asks
of us, and overcome life’s difficulties. It aids us in resisting the
instigations of our inner passions and the pressures of the
environment.

“Precisely to resist these multiple stimuli, it is necessary to have the

virtue of fortitude, which is one of the four cardinal virtues on which
the whole structure of the moral life rests. It is the virtue by which one
does not compromise in fulfilling one's duty.”

“…Perhaps today as never before the moral virtue of fortitude needs

the support of the corresponding gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of
Fortitude is a supernatural impulse which gives strength to the soul,
not only on exceptional occasions such as that of martyrdom, but also
in normal difficulties: in the struggle to remain consistent with one's
principles: in putting up with insults and unjust attacks: in

29 John Paul II: Regina Coeli on the Gift of Understanding. Sunday, April 16, 1989.
Retrieved July 21, 2010 at [Link]
ii_reg_19890416_en.html
30 John Paul II: Regina Coeli on The Gift of Counsel. Sunday, May 7, 1989. Retrieved July 21,

2010 at [Link]
 127

courageous perseverance on the path of truth and uprightness, in spite

of lack of understanding and hostility.”31

The Gift of Knowledge: Gives us the knowledge of our true value as

creatures in relation to our Creator.

“It is this gift which helps them to value things correctly in their
essential dependence on the Creator. Thanks to it, as St Thomas
writes, man does not esteem creatures more than they are worth and
does not place in them the end of his life, but in God (ct. "Summa
Theol.". II-II, q. 9, a. 4).”

“Enlightened by the gift of Knowledge, man discovers at the same time

the infinite distance which separates things from the Creator, their
intrinsic limitation, the danger that they can present, when, through
sin, he makes improper use of them.” 32

 The Gift of Piety: This is a supernatural habit infused by the

sanctifying grace to move our will by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
towards a filial affection towards God, who we see as our Father, and
a sense of universal brotherhood towards all people inasmuch as they
are all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father.

“With it, the Spirit heals our hearts of every form of hardness, and
opens them to tenderness towards God and our brothers and sisters.
Tenderness, as a truly filial attitude towards God, is expressed in
prayer. … Tenderness, an authentically fraternal openness towards
one's neighbor, is manifested in meekness. With the gift of piety the
Spirit infuses into the believer a new capacity for love of the brethren,
making his heart participate in some manner in the very meekness of
the Heart of Christ. The gift of piety further extinguishes in the heart
those fires of tension and division which are bitterness, anger and
impatience, and nourishes feelings of understanding, tolerance, and
pardon.” 33

 The Gift of the Fear of the Lord: A contrite spirit before God,
awareness of our shortcomings and divine judgment, but within faith
in divine mercy. A fear of offending God, humbly recognizing our
weaknesses. Particularly, a filial love, which is God’s love: the soul is
concerned with not being found wanting before God, of being loved as

31 John Paul II: Regina Coeli on The Gift of Fortitude. Sunday, May 14, 1989. Retrieved July
21, 2010 Retrieved July 21, 2010 at [Link]
ii_reg_19890514_en.html.
32John Paul II: Angelus on The Gift of Knowledge. Sunday, April 23, 1989. Retrieved July 21,

2010 at [Link]
33 John Paul II: Regina Coeli on The Gift of Piety. Sunday, May 28, 1989. Retrieved July 21,

2010 at [Link]
 128

by a Father, of not offending Him in anything, of persevering and

growing in charity (cfr John 15:4-7).

“Sacred Scripture affirms that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom" (Ps 110 [111]:10; Prov 1: 7). However, what kind of fear does
it mean? It certainly is not that "fear of God" which causes people to
flee from every thought and memory of him, as something or someone
who disturbs and upsets. […] Here it is a matter of something much
more noble and lofty; it is s sincere and reverential feeling that a
person experiences before the tremendous majesty of God, especially
when he reflects upon his own infidelity and the danger of being
"found wanting" (Dan 5:27) at the eternal judgment which no one can
escape. The believer goes and places himself before God with a
"contrite spirit" and a "humbled heart" (cf. Ps 50 [51]:19), knowing
well that he must await his own salvation "with fear and trembling"
(Phil 2:12). Nonetheless, that does not mean an irrational fear, but a
sense of responsibility and fidelity to the law.”

“The practice of the Christian virtues and especially of humility,

temperance, chastity and mortification of the senses, depends on this
holy and just fear, united in the soul with love for God. Let us recall
the exhortation of the Apostle Paul to his Christians: "Since we have
these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement
of flesh and spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God" (2 Cor
7:11).34

II. The Universal Vocation to Holiness

God wants all of us to be holy, because He wants us all to be happy, and the
happiest people are, precisely, the saints. Sanctity is not a privilege
belonging to a few, but rather a duty of all. Let’s recall Saint Paul’s words
when he stated: “I have the strength for everything through him who
empowers me.” (Philippians 4: 13).

Sanctity is nothing other than living in accordance with God’s Plan, His Will.
“All Christians . . . are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the
perfection of charity 35. In this sense, the Catechism of the Catholic Church
states “Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none "(n. 2028).
“In her members perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired:
"Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful,
whatever their condition or state - though each in his own way - are called by
the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father himself is perfect
(n. 825).

34 John Paul II: Angelus on The Gift of the Fear of the Lord. Sunday, June 11, 1989.
Retrieved July 21, 2010 at [Link]
ii_ang_19890611_en.html
35 Lumen Gentium, n. 40
 129

“The vocation to sanctity” – John Paul II would say – “cannot be renounced.”

It is born of our baptism and can be exercised in every state of life” 36.

«God wants us to be saints: that has been His Will since all eternity: “as
he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and
without blemish before him.” (Ephesians 1:4). ‘This is the Will of God:
your holiness,” continues Saint Paul (1 Thessalonians 4: 3). God desires,
with infinite will, for us to be holy; He wishes this because He Himself is
holy (Leviticus 11: 44; 1 Peter 1: 16); because by our sanctification He is
glorified (John 15:8) and we will find our fill of the joy He wants us to
have (John 16:22).” 37

But what is it to be holy? We must remember that we are mere creatures, so

our sanctity exists only as a participation in God’s own sanctity. We must,
therefore, go back to God since only He is in essence holy, or rather is
holiness itself. As the Psalm says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its
builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127: 1)

Sanctity is divine perfection. “Holiness,” Saint Teresa de Lisieux used to say

– consists in a disposition of the heart which makes us humble and small in
God’s arms, and trusting – even with our body – in His paternal goodness.”
Instead of losing heart, I’ve told myself: God cannot inspire unreachable
hops; therefore, despite my smallness, I can aspire towards holiness.”

“Holiness is not about one practice or another. It consists in a disposition of

heart which makes us humble and small in God’s arms, aware of our
weakness and trusting to the point of audacity in the Father’s goodness.” 38

John Paul II stated: “The Christian’s calling is to holiness, at every moment

of his life. In the Springtime of youth, in the fullness of the Summer of
maturity, and later in the Fall and Winter of old age, and finally, at the time
of death.” (Reference not given)

Paul VI declared, “Every Christian must be a true Christian, a perfect

Christian. What is the life of a perfect Christian called? It is called holiness.
That is why every Christian must be holy.” (Reference not given)

The Second Vatican Council also affirmed: “For charity, as the bond of
perfection and the fullness of the law, rules over all the means of attaining
holiness and gives life to these same means. It is charity which guides us to

36 JOHN PAUL II: Ángelus, Sunday, March 29, 1987

37 [Link] Portal Católico. DOM COLUMBA MARMION: Jesucristo modelo único de toda
perfección. [Jesus Christ, Unique Model for All Perfection] Monday, July 7, 2008.
Consulted July 21, 2010 at
[Link]
38 Cf. UC, II, Attachments, p. 251. [Reference unknown]
 130

our final end. It is the love of God and the love of one's neighbor which points
out the true disciple of Christ.” 39

John Paul II also exhorted us to link holiness with mission 40. Then, Benedict
XVI called out to the youth of the world: “In order to achieve this goal, my
dear friends, you must be holy and you must be missionaries since we can
never separate holiness from mission (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 90). […] Be
prepared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the
truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to
proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth.” 41

The faithful person’s dearest hope is to be able to arrive at the end of the
journey and say to God, like the faithful administrator of the Gospel:
“Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.” (Cf. Mt 25, 14-
30). And so, the first step in becoming saintly is wanting to be saintly. If you
have no wish to be so and prefer to bury your talent out of fear or thinking
you can’t be a saint and prefer a peaceful, worry-free life, then you will never
become saintly.

We must be determined to become saints. Evidently, people who have a weak

will and remain in wishful thinking, but make no effort will never be able to
reach saintliness: they will not acquire that willpower which is necessary for
doing great things.

Holiness is not improvised, nor is it something you can grasp from one day to
another. It is an uphill grind that requires effort and personal labor. It is
only for those who don’t give up, for those who have will power and know
how to persevere and don’t drop down and give up half-way along the path at
the first difficulty.

It is important to not become disheartened at the obstacles and difficulties,

and remember the words of John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter, Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 31, “ [T]his ideal of perfection must not be
misunderstood as if it involved some kind of extraordinary existence, possible
only for a few "uncommon heroes" of holiness. The ways of holiness are many,
according to the vocation of each individual.”

Total trust in God is the indispensable condition in becoming saints and

growing in God’s love. Trusting in Him, without conditions. Mother Theresa
of Calcutta used to say: “Lord, I accept what you give me and I surrender to
you what you would like of me. Lord, I am yours, and if you break me to
pieces, each piece will be for You.”

III. The Cross and Sacrifice in the Life of the Christian

39 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium n. 42

40 Redemptoris missio: “The universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to
mission.” (n. 90)
41 Benedict XVI: Message for the XXIII World Youth Day, 2008.
 131

The Catechism reminds us, # 2015: “The way of perfection passes by way of
the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle (Cf.
2 Tim 4). Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that
gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through

beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already
knows.”

Christ gives us the greatest show of love by dying for our sins with the
sacrifice on the Cross: “So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live
in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial
offering to God for a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5: 1-2)

The love with which Jesus loved us is humble and is characterized by

service:
“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life
as a ransom for many." (Mark 10: 45). At the Last Supper we see Jesus wash
the feet of His Apostles saying: “I have given you a model to follow, so that as
I have done for you, you should also do.” (John 13: 15). At another point, He
says, “But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great
among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be
the slave of all.” (Mark 10: 43-44)

Saint John expresses it the following way: “The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our
brothers.” (1 John 3: 16). Christ’s love, which was made manifest definitively
with His sacrifice on the Cross, is the definitive model for any authentic
human love.

Christ’s sacrifice was the Price and ransom paid to free mankind from the
“slavery of sin” (Cf. Romans 6: 5-17). So, having loved us “to the end” (Cf.
John 13: 1), Christ offered His life on the Cross as a “sacrifice for sin” (Cf.
Isaiah 53: 12). At the same time, He gave new meaning to the sufferings of
all human beings.

Suffering is an unavoidable reality in the life of all men; it is the fruit of sin
and the limited condition of being human. Christ Himself said: “Whoever
does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke
14: 27). This is the sign of a Christian, the following of Christ in suffering
and in love. The only way to follow Christ is by the way of the Cross.

Suffering, sooner or later, enters our lives. The difference between human
beings is their attitude of acceptance, forbearance or carrying it with love.

Suffering continues today to be a mystery for most people, but for Christians,
it has a soteriological value, which means, it is ordered to eternal salvation,
which changes it into a main point in the moral Christian life, as a means to
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express love for God and for others. The Christian offers his suffering to God
and obtains saving graces for himself and for others, he completes and unites
himself with Christ’s infinite love and suffering.

Pain, suffering in union with Christ, purifies the world of sins, draws man
closer to Eternal Life, opens the door to hope, and identifies him with Christ.

Christ did not come to take pain and suffering away from man’s life, but he
came to give meaning, to change that pain and suffering into a vehicle for
salvation, love and trust in God:

“Pain, pain: you should not be in me

Naught but a vain word.
For what have you, oh pain,
When you from God come?” (Reference not given)

IV. Supernatural Life

If being moral means acting or living n accordance with God’s plan, the
supernatural life is being according to God. Supernatural life is a deep
attitude wherein our life is centered on God and oriented towards Him.
Consequently, one must seek to mesh one’s will with God’s will. At heart,
this is an exercise in the freedom to tend towards the greatest ideal that
exists, it means leading one’s whole being, one’s entire personality, without
interruption towards Christ. This is the true way towards saintliness.

Holiness, says the Catechism, is fulfilling with joy God’s will in our own lives.
It means identifying ourselves with Christ, in the sincere desire for and
search for God, translated into actions which correspond to His love. It is our
joyful and generous response to God’s will, to his plan for man. (Cf. nn. 2012-
2016).

Holiness comes from God because God alone is holy (Cf. Mark 10: 18),
nevertheless, it is not obtained without our free collaboration in
corresponding to grace, since God respects our freedom absolutely.

With His grace, God offers us the possibility of living holiness in our lives,
but we must correspond. There are four fundamental steps which we must
consider:

 Clearness of Purpose: To reflect on what we want to obtain and on

our real desire to reach it. Then, decide to go for it. This is not as easy
as it looks; it is not enough to want it. It means responding to God and
responding with love.

 Opting for holiness: The purpose must be tinged with faith and love.
The free opting for holiness consists in making a decision to
appropriate it for oneself, in knowing what and how this holiness God
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asks of us. Then we must throw ourselves into obtaining it with

concrete actions in our life.
 Constance: We need to work hard on putting this option into practice
in our daily lives. It must become a reality every day: at work, at
home, in the decisions we make.

“This is about sanctifying ordinary work, sanctifying ourselves in each

task, and sanctifying others with the exercise of our profession, each
from one’s own state of life.” 42

“As of now, then, brothers, let us sing, not so that our rest is more
pleasant, but instead to bolster our labors, as we walk along the road:
‘He sings but he walks: maintain the task while singing, don’t get
carried away by laziness, sing n walk.” What does ‘walk’ mean? Make
progresses, progress in doing good […], make progress in the true
faith, make progress in holiness. Sing and walk. “43

So, it is not about setting aside an hour to be a saint, but instead it is

about converting each day’s life into the work which will make us holy.
The humblest task, the most hidden, the most sacrifice or the most
noticeable, the best paid can serve God to build saintliness in you if
you help Him.

The key is in living the small details with intensity, in growing in love.

 Trust: Never doubt. This is not to say you can’t have doubts, but
rather it means escape from them. It means coming out with the help
of God’s grace, bolstered by faith, in hope and in love, in the face of
temptations which may arise, particularly when the difficulties seem
larger than one’s own capabilities. For the person who trusts in God,
for the one who loves and truly believes in God, difficulties are
challenges which demonstrate our love for Christ.

42 J. ESCRIVÁ DE BALAGUER. Es Cristo que pasa [Christ Is Passing By], 122 (Reference
incomplete)
43 SAN AGUSTÍN. Sermón 256 [Sermon 256] (Reference incomplete)