PART SIX: Commandments I - III

The Book of Exodus, chapter 20, tells how God on Mt. Sinai revealed to Moses the Ten Commandments (also
called the Decalogue) giving them to him on two stone tablets. In Deuteronomy 5 Moses is pictured as telling
all the people the Ten Commandments. Exodus 32:15 describes how God Himself gave Moses the two stone
tablets which He had made. Moses broke them in anger when he saw the people had fallen into idolatry; in
chapter 34 Moses cuts two more tablets to replace the ones he had broken.
There is some difference in grouping the commandments, and hence in numbering, between the more usual
Protestant and the Catholic lists of the commandments. The sense is the same.
Some have doubted if these laws could have been transmitted orally so many centuries. We reply: We do not
know the date of the Exodus, and therefore, of the law; but the chief suggestions are about 1290 B.C. (under
Rameses II) or around 1450 B.C. (perhaps under Thutmose III). In either case, writing was known before that
time in Egypt and in Mesopotamia. We have the Law Code of Hammurabi his dates are uncertain, perhaps
about 1792-50 BC. His Code has 282 laws, some of them quite similar to those of the Ten Commandments,
though the first four commandments of the Decalogue seem to be unique to the Hebrews. Further, oral
transmission in ancient times was remarkable. Thus for long the name of King Tudiya, first king of Assyria, was
considered only a legend. But now tablets have been found at Ebla, showing a treaty between King Ebrum of
Ebla, and King Tudiya, dating from about 2350 B.C., about 13 centuries before the Assyrian King lists were
written down (Cf. G. Pettinato, The Archives of Ebla, Doubleday, N. Y. 1981, pp. 70, 73, 103-05). These ten
commandments are simply the code of basic morality. Our Lord accepted them and said He came not to destroy
but to fulfill. He also perfected them, making them broader in some things (Matthew 5:17-48). And He summed
them up in the two commandments of love of God and of neighbor. The Old Testament had the first, love of
God (Deuteronomy 5:4-5). It had the second, in a way (Leviticus 19:18), but the Jews understood neighbor to
mean only fellow countrymen. Our Lord extended the word neighbor, in the parable of the good Samaritan, to
mean all humans. (Let us recall here what we said in speaking of Moses in our opening sketch of salvation
history, and of the relation of the words of St. Paul to those of Jesus).
God cannot gain anything by our obedience. But He wants us to obey for two reasons:
1)

Moral
goodness
requires
that
creatures
obey
their
Creator.
He,
being
Holiness
itself,
loves
all
that
is
good;
2) He wants to give us good things; His commandments tell us how to be
open to receive
His gifts, and how to avoid the penalties built into the
nature of things (since sinful things
are contrary to our nature, and so are
harmful to us).
In accord with this, the Old Testament says that the law is wisdom. It is that. In Deuteronomy 4:6 Moses tells
the people that if they obey the law, other nations will say: "This great nation is really a wise and understanding
people." The Jews carried this idea to such lengths that the Palestinian Targum on Deuteronomy 32:4 asserts
that God Himself spends three hours a day studying the law!
The First commandment: "I am the Lord your God, you shall not have other gods before me"
The commandment most directly prohibits the worship of false gods, and, to follow up, prohibits images. The
Jews were very prone to such idolatry before the great exile. Afterwards they seem to have been largely healed.
The prohibition of images does not apply now, since the danger of idolatry has gone. Our images of Our Lord,
His Mother, and the Saints, are just helps to devotion. We do not adore them. We only venerate them, but even
the veneration goes not to the image but to the holy one for which the image stands.

We need to avoid also superstition, which is offering worship in an improper manner, probably based on false
revelations, e. g, prayers that if said for a set number of days will have an infallible result. Vain observance
would be magic or satanism. Sadly, there is explicit worship of satan today. The Ouija board is dangerous, and
we should avoid it, since part of its results come from automatic writing, but often enough satan intervenes.
We must also avoid sacrilege, which is scornful treatment of a person, place or thing dedicated to God. To
receive Holy Communion in the state of sin is sacrilege. We avoid also simony, which takes its name from
Simon Magus, who tried to buy with money the gift of working miracles . St. Peter rebuked him strongly (Acts
8:9-24). To give a stipend for a Mass etc. is not simony. It is not buying the Mass, it is an offering for the
support of the priest, or a means of sharing specially in the Mass.
In a loose sense, not a strict sense, some people today "worship" the false gods of secularism, which says this
world is the only one to be considered, or hedonism, which makes pleasure the goal of life, or Communism,
which denies the existence of God, seeks happiness in a so-called classless society in Russia the very opposite
has been true, great privilege and luxury for the ruling class.
On the positive side, we are to worship God, which means most essentially, adoration and obedience. Adoration
means recognizing who He is, and who I am in comparison. This is due in justice, but also, more importantly, in
love: we recognize that God is not only infinitely good to us, but also in Himself. As such we should respond by
pleasing Him by making ourselves open to receive His gifts for that pleases Him. that is what love for God
means. In no other way to we really give Him anything. The central virtue that gave all its value to the sacrifice
of Jesus was His obedience to the will of the Father. Without it, His death would have been a tragedy, not a
redemption.
Sacrifice for us (some pagan peoples had different ideas of sacrifice) has an external sign, which is there to
express and perhaps even promote the essential, which is the interior dispositions. God complained through
Isaiah (Is 29:13: "This people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me." The ancient Israelites at that time seemed to think their participation in their liturgy meant merely
making responses and singing these things were good, but the obedience was lacking. We must join our
obedience carried out in the recent past, or to come in the near future to the offering of Jesus, when,
through the human priest, He puts Himself on the altar under the appearance of separation of body and blood, to
express His continued attitude of obedience to the Father. So catechists say our role in the Mass is ACTS:
adoration,
contrition,
thanksgiving,
and
supplication.
We should do these things, but we must not let them cause us to forget the real center is obedience (Cf. Romans
519 and LG #3).
Outside the time of the sacrifice of the Mass, we should of course pray. Regular times are called for to insure we
do not forget prayer altogether.
To God we give adoration, it the sense just described; but to Our Lady and the Saints we give only veneration,
honor, something less than adoration. The sacrifice of Jesus is infinite, and so in a way we should need to do
nothing. Yet St. Paul insists that the whole Christian regime means we are saved and made holy if and to the
extent that we are not only members of Christ, but like Him. That includes being like Him in the work of
reparation for sin (cf. Rom 8:17-18; Col 1. 24).
Second Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."
1. Blasphemy and cursing

The chief thing prohibited by this commandment is taking the name of God in vain, i.e., using it in and empty
way. Ordinarily this will not be more than venial sin, but it should be avoided. The Jews in the last centuries
before Christ would not pronounce the word Yahweh even in prayer. Instead they said Lord.
Blasphemy means any speech, thought or action that shows contempt for God. It is very grave. The Old
Testament called for the death penalty (Leviticus 24:16).
When someone confesses cursing and swearing, it usually means neither thing. He means using damn or hell, or
vulgar four letter words dealing with the results of elimination. These things are very rude, and mark a person as
low class. But, unless someone really wishes evil to another, they are not sinful at all.
A vow is a promise made to God to do something better than what is obligatory. A vow imposes a real
obligation. Deuteronomy 23:22 warns us not to make a vow and then not keep it. Whether or not mortal sin is
involved depends on the importance of the thing vowed.
To take an oath is to call God to witness that what one says is true. It is lawful to do so, if there is sufficient
reason.
To make a false oath is perjury. It offends against God's truthfulness, since it calls Him to witness to a lie.
Proverbs 19:9 says one who does that will not go without punishment.
An adjuration is the solemn use of the name of God to strengthen a command. This is permissible if done with
the right intention, and in cases where such a thing is really called for.
Third Commandment: "Remember to keep holy the Lord's day."
1. Sundays and Holy Days: Mass Obligation
In Old Testament times, this commandment required keeping the Sabbath (Saturday), holy and a day of rest.
The day was moved to Sunday by the authority Christ gave to His Church, to commemorate the Resurrection of
Our Lord and Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles. The latest Code of Canon Law
restates this obligation for us: there are false reports there is no longer an obligation.
Our participation in the Mass must be most of all interior, joining our obedience to the Father to that of Jesus. At
the Last Supper He used the seeming separation of body and bloody (by bread and wine) to stand for death, and
He thereby said to the Father that He would obey His command to die. The Mass repeats hat He did through the
ministry of a human priest. The obedience of the Heart of Jesus on our altars is a continuation of the obedience
in which He died. One way to carry out our part would be to spend a few minutes before each Mass, to see what
one has done in obeying the Father since the last Mass. If well done, this can be presented along with the
obedience of Jesus at the double consecration. If some things are not well done, regrets are called for. One can
also look ahead to the time soon to come to see: is something coming soon in which I know the will of the
Father? Then: Do I mean to do it? This too can be joined to the obedience of Christ. The external things, making
responses, singing etc. are very good, but not the essentials of participation.
Of course, grave reason can excuse one from Sunday Mass, e.g., physical impossibility, sufficient sickness,
great difficulty of getting to Mass, or the need to care for the baby or sick relatives, when no one else can take
these duties over at the time.
Besides Sunday, we must take part in Mass on Holy Days of obligation. In the United States these are:

January
1
(Solemnity
of
Mary
the
Ascension
Thursday
(40
days
Assumption
(August
All
Saints
Day
Immaculate
Conception
(December
Christmas (December 25).

Mother
after
15)
(November
8),

of

God),
Easter),
,
1),
and

Sunday as a Day of Rest

In the New Code of Canon Law, the Church has revised this obligation, in Canon 1247: "They must also keep
from such work or business as would inhibit the worship to be given to God, the joy proper to the Lord's day,
and the due relaxation of mind and body."
There is much latitude given, but to merely do all day on Sunday the same job one does all week would surely
be wrong. Sunday ought to be a day that is special and different to a considerable extent.
PART SEVEN: Commandments IV and V.
Fourth Commandment: "Honor your father and your mother."
God commands us to honor parents because we owe them our very being. Jesus Himself gave us the example,
for He went down to Nazareth and was subject to them , even though He was God Himself. He also wanted to
shows us how God values a good family life, and fulfilling the duties of our state in life. To mould a new child
in the image of Christ is a greater work of sculpture than the highest art of Michaelangelo.
The word "honor" means especially financial support, though it also includes obedience. This obedience binds
only until the child is of legal age. After that he/she is still bound to respect them, and, if they fall into need in
their old age, to provide financial support. This is the divine social security system: when we were little they did
everything for us; at the other end, it is our turn. If they do not need finances, they surely need psychological
support. It is very wrong to put a parent into a nursing home and then seldom visit.
Obedience of course does not bind if a command would be contrary to God's law. Nor does it apply to one's
choice of a state of life. Especially sad and sinful is the conduct of some teenagers who come to have contempt
for their parents, thinking they do not know much of anything, and showing that attitude. The teenagers should
try to see that their judgment is seriously upset by the bodily changes taking place at that age (psychologists
would say the somatic resonance to their judgment is damaged by these changes). When they emerge from that
period, they will not have such a temptation.
After the death of parents, there remains, indefinitely, the obligation to pray for their souls. St. Augustine in his
Confessions, written 10 to 15 years after the death of his mother St. Monica, still asked for prayers for her soul.
Fifth Commandment: "You shall not kill"
1. Justice and charity
The Old Testament taught us to respect life by saying (Genesis 9:6): "He who sheds another's blood, his blood
shall be shed, for God made man in His own image." This penalty of course must not be private. The state has
been given that prerogative by God. Thus St. Paul wrote to the Romans (13:4):"If you do evil, be afraid. For not
without cause does he (the civil authority) carry the sword. He is the minister of God, to carry out wrath against
him who does wrong." In the Roman system, the ius gladii, the right of the sword, meant the right to inflict
capital punishment. So one who calls it unchristian contradicts Scripture. We may, however, argue whether or
not it is a useful deterrent.

Our Lord perfected the old law by warning even against anger, since it may lead in the direction of murder. In
itself, anger is a feeling, and is neither good nor bad: it depends on how we use it. If we keep it in proportion to
what the case calls for, there is no sin; but our human weakness commonly leads us to go beyond that measure.
Ordinarily, anger will be a venial sin. However if a desire for revenge is added, the sin easily becomes mortal.
Our Lord further perfected this law by calling for love of neighbor, that is, of everyone, and even of enemies.
Now of course we are not likely to have warm feelings towards all, especially enemies. But love is not a feeling,
it is the will, wish, desire for the well-being and happiness of another for the other's sake. We can will good,
especially eternal life, to all, even to enemies. At times we may have this love in our will, and still find
ourselves inclined to averse feelings towards the other. We need only avoid cultivating or dwelling on those
feelings. A silent prayer for the other insures there is no lack of love.
He also gave advice for greater happiness and perfection by the Beatitudes and other parts of the Sermon on the
Mount, which we shall see presently.
2. The Double Effect Principle
There are times when we perform one action, and it has two effects, both equally direct, i.e., both branching in a
Y pattern from the stem. If only the good effect is intended, and the evil effect is not intended, and if the good
and evil at least balance, such an action may be performed.
If the good comes only through the evil effect, the action will be immoral, since then one would automatically
will the evil action as the means to the good. If the evil came only through the good, if only the good is
intended, and there is at least a balance, the action will be moral.
This principle has many applications in the material that follows.
3. Ordinary and Extraordinary Means of Preserving Life
Since we are not our own, we are God's property, we must take ordinary care of our health with proper food,
sleep, clothing, and shelter, plus ordinary medical care.
Even on a single occasion, to take enough alcohol or drugs to seriously damage one's ability to think and make
judgments is mortally sinful. As to smoking, we consider whether the gravity of the evil risked (considering also
percentages of chances) is balanced by real benefits.
Not all means to cure illness are required. On May 5, 1980 the Vatican Doctrinal Congregation told us that to
decide what treatment is required we should consider: the type of treatment, its complexity or risk, its cost, both
in money and in physical suffering and compare these things with the result that can be hoped for,
considering the state of the sick person and his/her physical and moral resources. Risky experimental means
may be used with the patient's consent if there are no safer and sufficient remedies. In this way the patient may
benefit both himself and humanity.
Of course euthanasia in the sense of direct, intended killing is gravely wrong.
An organ transplant can be permitted if the loss of the organ does not kill the donor or cause a disproportionate
risk. In this respect, we note that some surgeons are in a great hurry to take an organ, and do not always check
with sufficient care to be sure the patient is truly dead.
Direct abortion is, as Vatican II said (Constitution on Church in the Modern World # 51) "an abominable crime."

Surgery to correct imminent danger to the mother's life from a pathological condition in an organ which will
also result in death to the fetus, can be permitted under the double effect principle, if there is no other way. A
condition that is merely the result of pregnancy would not justify this indirect abortion. However, with modern
medical skill, such a case is hardly to be seen in developed countries.
Direct sterilization is gravely wrong; if one repents and is able without excessive expense and/or risk, he/she
ought to have the sterilization reversed. Medical possibilities for that are improving today. Indirect sterilization,
done to correct a pathological condition, can be permitted.
Suicide is gravely sinful. However, some actions which may result in death, may be done under the double
effect principle. And taking great risks out of charity can be permitted, e.g., to enter a burning building with
grave risk to save another's life.
4. War and Peace
War can be permitted only under some conditions:
1)It
must
be
done
to
correct
a
grave
evil,
when
all
other
means
fail,
2) the good effects must at least balance the evil effects; this can hardly
happen
unless
there
is
a
well-founded
hope
of
winning.
3)It
must
be
carried
out
by
public
authority.
4)There
must
be
no
direct
killing
of
noncombatants
except
where
the
double
effect principle warrants it.
Some voices at Vatican II wanted the Council to say that in modern conditions, the good can never balance the
evil. The council refused to say this (cf. Constitution on the Church in the Modern World ## 77-82). In fact,
Pope John Paul II, in a message to a special session of the United Nations for Disarmament said that nuclear
deterrence based on balance, not as an end itself or as a permanent condition, could be morally justified
(LOsservatore Romano, June 21, 1982). This is to be understood thus: 1) The actual use of mass destruction
weapons, more than what the double effect principle can warrant, is surely wrong. 2) to have these in place, so
as to say in effect, "If you do this, I will do that" is permitted. It is not a lie, since all statements get much of
their meaning from the whole context in which they are spoken. But, a statement of a nation in the context of
war should be understood to have no definite meaning: it would be foolish to expect a nation to show its hand in
that context. Citizens have a duty to aid their country unless the cause is manifestly unjust. St. Augustine
(Epistle 189) told a soldier, Boniface: "Do not think that no one can please God who is a soldier.... Holy David
was among these.... So think first of this, when you arm yourself for battle, that even your bodily strength is a
gift of God." This can be even a heroic exercise of virtue in fulfilling duty. Of course, only one side can be just
in any war.
PART EIGHT: Commandments VI - X
Sixth and Ninth Commandments: "You shall not commit adultery. You shall not covet your neighbor's
wife."
1. Sins against Chastity
The sixth and ninth commandments forbid us to try to seek out sexual pleasure or to accept it when temptation
offers it, outside of marriage. St. Paul told the licentious Corinthians (1 Cor 6. 19-20: "Do you not know that
your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. For you have
been bought at a price [the price of redemption]."

Not only external acts which by nature are apt to arouse sexual pleasure themselves are forbidden outside of
marriage; also thoughts and desires deliberately aroused, or accepted when they come unbidden are sinful. But a
good person may have a long siege of such thoughts: as long as he/she tries to get rid of them each time he/she
notices them (there can be distractions), there will at least be no mortal sin. Sometimes when one is occupied
with something else, such a thought may slip into the brain and unroll itself like a movie. It may run some time
until a sort of wake-up point where the person says to self: I must not have this" and then gets busy against it.
Up to that point there is never mortal sin.
Masturbation turns one back into the shell of self in which one started life, and so makes real love difficult,
gives a poor forecast for success in marriage.
Homosexual acts are most gravely wrong, and the more so if the sinner asserts they are good. St. Paul painted a
sad picture of the vices of the gentiles in Romans chapter 1, and made homosexuality the centerpiece. He added
(1:32) that the lowest depth is to not only sin, but to call sin good.
It is not a sin to have homosexual temptations, provided one does not give into them.
Contraception is really only mutual masturbation. For the use of sex is divinely ordained first of all to propagate
the race. To deliberately rule that out is to fly directly into the face of God's plan. Experience shows that where
contraception is common, abortion tends to follow as a sort of backup.
The same is not to be said of Natural Family Planning: it makes legitimate use of the characteristics God
Himself has built into our nature. Its reliability is over 99%, as high as that of artificial methods. And there are
no bad side effects.
Experience shows that to use it strengthens marriage. The reason is this: any pleasure, even sex, can grow dull if
we take it very constantly. Some small abstention, as needed for NFP, helps to revive the pleasure of lawful sex.
Fornication is having sex outside marriage when both parties are unmarried. Adultery is the same except that
one or both are married to someone else. It is a violation not only of chastity but of justice towards the spouse.
2. True Conjugal Love
Vatican II has taught (Constitution on the Church in the Modern World #49): "The actions by which the spouses
are intimately and chastely united are honorable and worthy, and if done in true human fashion, signify and
promote the self-giving by which the couple gladly and gratefully enrich each other." They can even be
meritorious if done in accordance with God's plan. The same document added (#50): "Marriage and conjugal
love are by their nature ordained to the procreation and education of offspring." We notice there are two
purposes, procreation, and mutual love. Both are intended by God, yet in such a way that the procreation is
primary, since the promotion of love "is by nature ordained to" procreation, i.e., is secondary to it.
It is only in marriage that children can receive the formation, love and care that they need. This is why sex
outside of marriage is so wrong.
To separate the two functions, procreative and unitive is wrong, e.g., in test-tube babies.
Carried out according to Our Father's plan, marriage can lead to real growth in holiness, as we shall explain
later on.
3. The Means to Chastity

Much prayer, especially to the Blessed Mother (particularly her Rosary) is needed along with keeping watch
over what one sees, reads, dreams about. The thought of death and judgment helps greatly, and frequent use of
the Sacrament of Penance and the Holy Eucharist are important.
Mortification of the body, by giving up legitimate things is practically indispensable as a help. At a time when
temptation is strong, it helps to get into the company of others (unless it be the person of the opposite sex who is
the cause of temptation). If that is not possible, getting occupied with something that readily holds one's
interest, such as absorbing reading is important. The more we get our attention onto anything else, the less
power the temptation has. Many find it helpful to say to themselves: "I will keep pure just this one time." They
do not mean to fall the next time, but this is a way of lightening the psychological difficulty.
It is important to realize and to talk it through with a prospective mate, that since love is the desire for the wellbeing and happiness of another for the other's sake, to use the other for sensory gratification is not love. It is
closer to the opposite, for it puts both into such a state that if death should come, the person would never be
happy again, would be eternally wretched. That is the opposite of willing well-being to another. And real love is
rather unlikely to develop when two indulge in much premarital sex. It will feel like love, but will only be
chemistry.
Commandments VII, X and VIII
Seventh and Tenth Commandments: "You shall not steal. You shall not covet anything that belongs to
your neighbor."
1. Justice and Private Property
The seventh and tenth commandments imply the right to private property, by forbidding taking what belongs to
others or even desiring to do so.
The experience of "communist" countries shows that without this right, incentive to work hard enough to keep
the country operating well is lacking.
There is, however a social aspect to private property, of which we shall speak soon.
2. Stealing, Theft, Robbery, Dishonesty, Gambling
Theft is the secret taking of an object against the reasonable wishes of the owner. If it is taken openly instead of
secretly, it is called robbery; if something is stolen by the use of deception or fraud it is called cheating.
It is not only those who do these things that are guilty, but also those who advise or help them, those who buy,
sell or keep stolen goods knowing that they are such, those who do not return what they have found (when it is
possible) or borrowed, those who do not pay their just debts, and those who beg when they have no need, for in
that way they are defrauding those who really are in need.
Cheating is a form of fraud. To give false weights or measures or practice any other deceit is also cheating.
Those who take pay and do not give the proper measure of the work for which they have contracted are also
guilty of cheating or fraud. For we should not look down on honest work. Our Lord Himself worked as a
carpenter for most of His earthly life.
If an employee or servant disposes of the property of the employer without his/her approval he/she is guilty of
fraud. It is also fraud for them to waste time, equipment, or material.

All these forms of stealing, robbing, etc. can be mortally sinful if the amount or value taken is equal to the day's
wages of the person from whom it is taken. If it is taken from an extremely rich person even if it is not more
than what that person makes in a day, if extremely large, there can be grave sin. The same is to be said of
stealing etc. from a business firm.
Stealing etc. require restitution, for to retain the stolen goods is to continue the sin. It can never be forgiven until
the person either actually gives back or prepares to do so.
Gambling is sinful if one risks more than he/she can really afford, or money needed for the support of the
family. Gambling is also sinful if dishonest means are used by the gambler, or by the one who offers gambling.
Betting is similar: it is an agreement in which two or more agree to give a prize to whichever one makes the
right guess on some future thing. It would be wrong if not all parties understood the agreement in the same way,
or if one is not really uncertain about the outcome.
Gambling and betting can become an addiction.
3. Social justice
The right of private property is not without limits imposed by social justice, e.g. it would be wrong if an
employer were to offer an inadequate wage and say: "If you do not like it, go elsewhere" when actually there is
nowhere to go to get proper pay.
Outside of unusual conditions, an employer is bound to offer a family living wage for full time employment.
All have an obligation to help the poor. There is a sort of scale: in one column we list the various degrees of
need, from the desperate need which if not met at once means death, to minor degrees of want. In the other
column we list the various degrees of difficulty in meeting the needs of the other. If one would otherwise
actually starve, he may even take what food is strictly necessary without permission, and it would not be sinful.
At the other end of the scale, where there is merely ordinary need, we cannot normally specify that a particular
person must help, when there are others who could also help.
However what we have just said concerns the minimum that is demanded to avoid sin. For real Christian charity
and for real happiness in this life, Our Lord advises us to go much farther, as we shall see in treating the
Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount.
Greed is excessive desire to get material things; it leads to setting one's heart on material things. Instead, St.
Paul in First Corinthians 7:29-35 urges us to "hang loose", to be detached from material things, to not let them
get a hold on us. This is the way to true happiness even in this life. Our Lord Himself (Luke 18:25) said, "It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." Of course
there is some Semitic exaggeration here, yet the solid truth is evident: riches are a great danger spiritually,
unless there is true detachment which is possible, as we see in the example of King St. Louis of France
but very difficult. The Gospel explanation of the parable of the sower says that the thorns stand for the riches
and pleasures of this life, which can choke off the good seed (Matthew 13:22).
Eighth Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor"
1. Telling the Truth

Human society can hardly operate if people do not tell the truth, for we are social beings, and need to be able to
trust others. Truth telling is in a way a basis for love, for we cannot love what we do not know, or cannot trust.
The Book of Proverbs (12:19) says: "Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue does not last."
A lie is any action or statement, which when properly interpreted is known by the speaker to be false. The
underlined words help us to see that the real meaning of a sentence comes not only from the meaning of each
word taken alone, but from the whole context. For example, in Psalm 114:1, if we remove the context we find:
"There is no God." But the words ahead of it: "The fool says in his heart" change the sense greatly. So if the
mother sends the child to tell the salesman at the door that she is not home, the proper interpretation, which the
salesman should know is: "Maybe she is here, maybe not. But if she is here, she does not want to see you." A
statement issued by a nation at war should be understood to have no meaning. No one expects the government
to give away its plans and capabilities.
Some authors prefer to speak of broad or a strict mental reservation. In both, one mentally limits the meaning of
the words used. In strict reservation, no clue is given to what the speaker means; in broad reservation, such a
clue is given. The strict mental reservation would be a lie, not the broad.
These things however should be used sparingly and with great prudence. Otherwise mistrust will come.
A lie normally is a venial sin. But a lie under oath, or a denial of the faith would be serious sin.
Hypocrisy is acting out a lie. Flattery is insincere praise of another in the hope of gaining something. Boasting
is another form of deceit, in which the speaker claims to have fine qualities which he really lacks.
2. The Modern Media
They have great power of communication, and should be used honestly. If a news broadcast on TV shows
Senator A, and lets him present his reasons fully, but merely mentions the reasons given by Senator B, there is a
deceptive slanting. Unfortunately, this is not rare.
Advertising is normally exaggerated, and since we expect that a moderate exaggeration is not a lie. Yet it is
unfortunate, for it makes it hard to know what is really true. Advertising is harmful when it entices people to
spend beyond their means, or to be too attached to things of this world.
Some advertisers are ruthless, they employ commercials that create stress in the listener, to force attention to
their product. This is at least against charity, for there is enough stress in the world without adding to it in this
way.
3. Secrets
There are four levels of secrets, with the obligation increasing for each one:
1)Natural
secrets
are
things
which
by
nature
should
not
be
revealed;
they
deal with things someone would be reasonably unwilling to have known or
things that would be harmful to reputation. In this latter case, justice may
be
involved,
for
people
have
a
right
to
their
reputation.
2)
Promised
secrets
are
those
that
are
made
known
first,
and
afterwards
a
promise
of
secrecy
is
called
for
and
given,
3)Committed
(entrusted)
secrets
are
those
that
are
revealed
only
after
an
advance promise of secrecy. The promise may be explicit or implicit and
coming
from
the
nature
of
the
case,
as
in
professional
secrets.
The
common
good
requires
that
these
be
kept.

4)The
seal
of
Confession
whatsoever can justify revelation.

is

the

most

absolute

secret

of

all.

No

reason

With the first three kinds of secrets, a proportional reason can justify revelation for the public good, that of the
civil society or the Church, or even the individual whose secret is revealed. As was said, each of the first three
grow in strictness of obligation.
4. "Uncharitable speech"
This term covers three very different things:
1)Slander means attributing a fault to another when it is not true. This is a violation of justice as well as truth,
and demands that it be retracted. It is seriously sinful.
2)Detraction consists in making known the true fault of another without proportionate reason. Here we need to
consider both the reason, and how much damage is done and we add that most people tend to underestimate
the seriousness of this fault. We consider other factors too, for example if someone said he saw a sailor drunk, it
would be much less than saying he say the Archbishop drunk. Then too, if the truth is soon to be made known
anyway in the same place, little or no reason may be needed to speak of it.
3)Uncharitable speech happens when two persons talk about the faults of another but no new information is
given: both already know.
Then we ask: is there some respectable reason for the talk? Rash judgment may be involved in any of the above
things. The words of Christ "Judge not" (Matthew 7:1) do not prohibit reporting the objective fault of another, if
there is sufficient reason, according to the rules just given. The command tells us to avoid saying we know the
interior dispositions of the other person which normally we cannot know. So to say someone has robbed a
bank is not wrong, if true, and if there is sufficient reason for telling. For to rob a bank is objectively gravely
wrong, no matter what the interior dispositions of the robber. But to say we would know the interior of the
robbers that would be wrong. Some false teachers confuse the two things, and even say, for example: "I
cannot say that a homosexual act is wrong unless I know the dispositions of the one who indulges". We can and
should say the homosexual act is gravely wrong; we should not claim to know the interior of the sinner.
PART NINE: The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes
Jesus said He had come not to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17). It is chiefly in Matthew chapters 5-7, the
Sermon on the Mount, that He does this.
1. The Beatitudes: In these Jesus reverses many of the currently held opinions, and promises happiness even
here to those who would have been thought not very fortunate at best.
The First Beatitude: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Poverty was often thought of as merely misfortune. Jesus does not call mere physical poverty blessed. He
speaks of a poverty in spirit, that is, in detachment from the things of this world, so one does not allow them to
get a hold with their pulls.
The Second Beatitude: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land"

The meek are those who are unassuming, considerate, and far from the spirit of revenge, which desires evil to
another so it may be evil to him: the very opposite of love. The land in God's ancient promises meant the land of
Israel; it had been reinterpreted by this time to mean Heaven. Even in this life, meekness often brings returns.
The Third Beatitude: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted".
Jesus opens a new perspective on sorrow and pain: if accepted as part of following after Him, it is not only not a
punishment for sin, as many Jews thought (cf. John 9:2), but a means of greater likeness to Christ, and brings
even here divine consolation, of which St. Paul spoke in 2 Corinthians 2:4-5.
The Fourth Beatitude: "Happy are those who hunger and thirst for the right; they will get their fill."
God's supreme Holiness loves everything that is right; in this beatitude a soul imitates Him in this. Hence
Matthew 6:33 adds: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and the rightness He loves, and all these things will be
added to you."
The Fifth Beatitude: "Happy are the merciful; they will have mercy shown to them."
The merciful here mean those who help in all sorts of need, and forgive those who offend against them. God
who loves all that is right, will do the same for them. But if one does not forgive, he would be asking, in the Our
Father, that God not forgive him! Matthew 7:2 adds:" Whatever measure you use [in treating others], the same
measure will be used on you."
The Sixth Beatitude: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
The purity spoken of here is complete moral purity not merely purity in sexual matters. Psalm 24. 3-4 asks
who may stand in His holy place and answers: "The clean in hands, and pure in heart." Just as much sin dims
one's perception of spiritual things, so constant adherence to what is morally right makes spiritual eyesight grow
clearer.
The Seventh Beatitude: "Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called children of God."
Hebrew shalom means not only peace, but well-being in general. The angels at the birth of Christ announced
peace. After His resurrection He told the Apostles: "Peace be with you." This includes our right relation with
God, and with one another. Those who work for this, cooperate in the work of Christ, and so are His brothers,
children of the Father.
The Eighth Beatitude: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of what is right: theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven."
St. Paul told the Romans (8:17): "We are heirs together with Christ, provided we suffer with Him, so we may
also be glorified with Him." The Church from the beginning has seen the special application of this verse to the
martyrs. Many in the first centuries thought only martyrs would reach the vision of God at once, others would
wait until the end of time. We know others need not wait till then, if they have been purified and paid their
debts. But the beatitude applies not only to martyrs, but to all who suffer for Christ, for what is right.
2. Special ideals in the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus gives many striking ideals in this sermon, e.g., in 5:25-26, 39-42 He urges us to settle peacefully with an
opponent, to give no resistance to injury, to even turn the other cheek, to give even one's coat in addition to the
shirt, to go two miles when asked for one. It is important to notice that these are not outright commands, but

ideals, such that we should be inclined in these directions. But at times it is best to do otherwise, e.g., Jesus
Himself in the Jewish court, when struck on the face, did not turn the other cheek, but rebuked the servant (John
18:22-23). St. Augustine, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas (II-II. 40. 1 ad 1) explains: "These things are always
to be observed in readiness of soul. But at other times, one must act otherwise for the sake of the common
good", or to restrain evildoers.
PART SIXTEEN Prayer In general and the Our Father
1. Prayer in General
In prayer, we lift minds and hearts to God, to adore Him, that is, to acknowledge that all we are and have comes
from Him, to express sorrow for our sins, to thank Him for everything He has given us which is everything
we are and have and do and to beg His help for many things, especially for help to obey His will. Obedience
is the most essential disposition, for to really love God is, in practice, to obey Him, since our obedience gives
Him the pleasure of being able to give to us (cf. John 14:21). Prayer may be either vocal, or silent. An important
kind of silent prayer is meditation, of which there are several kinds, and several methods.
Not all of our prayers should be prayers of petition, asking for something. We need to remember the other
purposes outlined above. But when we do make prayers of petition, we think at once of the remarkable promises
Our Lord made, such as: "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to
you" (Matthew 7:7-8); and: "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do" (John 14:13).
These promises seem absolute, seem to promise an infallible result. That will come true, if the proper conditions
are met. St. Thomas Aquinas enumerates four conditions (II-II, 83, 15, ad 2):
1) One must pray for him/herself.
At first sight this might seem to be selfish, for we should pray for others, really, for all human beings. But the
reason for the qualification is that if I pray for myself, I am not likely to be closed to receiving; if I pray for
another, the other may not be open to receive.
To be infallible, a prayer must be for something needed for salvation, for in comparison to that, other things are
of small account. In that spirit St. Paul wrote: "The things that were gain to me [the privileges he once prized of
being a Jew] these I consider loss, for the sake of Christ. Further, I consider everything [not just Jewish
privileges] loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have taken the
loss of all things, and consider them as rubbish, so that I may gain Christ " (Philippians 3:7-8).
And yet, God often does grant other things other than what is needed for salvation. It is just that we do not have
the infallible guarantee about them. Here there is room for confidence, which greatly helps the chances of
obtaining things.
2) One must pray devoutly, that is, with humility, confidence, attention, and in the name of Jesus.
The First Epistle of St. Peter says (5:5): "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble". Humility is not
the greatest virtue that is love but it is indispensable to such an extent that if we do not have it, we cannot
have love, nor can we have a high degree of love unless we have a corresponding degree of humility. Humble
prayer includes a respectful posture of body. Yes, it is true, we can pray in any position; but a slouchy or
careless position neither expresses nor promotes interior reverence.
In regard to prayer with confidence we distinguish two kinds of confidence: ordinary faith, and charismatic
faith. When Jesus said: "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain: Move
from here to there and it would move" (Matthew 17:20). He was speaking of a charismatic faith, not of

ordinary faith. Charismatic faith is a special gift in which God as it were infuses the confidence into someone
that if he asks, he will get a miracle. Of course, if God infuses that special confidence, the miracle will come.
Some who have not understood this have erred greatly, have tried to work themselves into an emotional state of
confidence, thinking that will bring a miracle. It will not work unless it is God, not ourselves, who works up that
confidence. In noncharismatic or ordinary confidence, we do believe God will keep His promise, if only we
fulfill the needed conditions. But we need to notice the first condition just mentioned: He has not promised an
infallible result to prayers for just everything. Thus if two teams in a sports event both pray for victory, clearly,
both cannot have it.
Can we say that if a person has confidence he will never worry, e.g., while awaiting the result of a test for
cancer? Confidence, which grows with holiness and resultant experiences of help, can go a long ways. But it
cannot cover all cases. For Jesus has made no promise that He will preserve a particular person from cancer.
Further, even Jesus Himself suffered long-running anxiety, since by means of the vision of God which His
human soul had from the first moment of conception, He knew, in merciless detail and with absolute certainty,
all He would suffer. He let us see this stress when He said: "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I
straitened until it be accomplished". This means: "I must be plunged into deep suffering, and I cannot be
comfortable until I get it over with" (Luke 12:50 cf. also another similar text in John 12:27). So if one who is
not deficient in confidence still suffers anxiety, he/she can accept even the anxiety as a means of likeness to
Christ, for it may really be the will of the Father to send or permit a given suffering.
May we, even without the charismatic faith, pray for a miracle? Yes we may, especially with persevering,
strong, intense prayer, but we have not the absolute assurance of getting it. We need to be resigned to the will of
God, saying with Jesus Himself in Gethsemani: "Not my will but yours be done."
We know too that if we were to ask for something that would be harmful to us, then God would not give it.
As to praying with attention, we distinguish voluntary from involuntary distractions. The latter are inevitable. If
only we try to dismiss them as soon as we notice them, they do not spoil, but enrich a prayer, because of the
added effort needed in trying to please God.
3)We must pray with perseverance.
We think of the words of Our Lord Himself: "There was a judge in a certain city who did not fear God, nor
respected people. There was a widow in that city who kept coming to him saying: 'Vindicate me from my
opponent. ' And the judge was unwilling for a long time. But after some time he said to himself: Even though I
do not fear God, nor respect people, yet because this widow is a nuisance to me, I will vindicate her, or she will
wear me out by her continuous coming" (Luke 18:2-5; cf. 11:5-8).
An objection is sometimes made to prayer: God knows in advance what I will pray for, so there is no need to
pray, and His decrees are eternal. But we reply: In making up His decrees, He does take into account our
prayers. Further, prayer helps to dispose us to receive what He so much wants to give.
2. The Our Father:
This of course is the greatest prayer, since it was composed by Jesus Himself.
We notice that in the Gospels He carefully distinguishes: He often says "Your Father" or "My Father". But He
never includes Himself in the same group. But in this prayer He teaches His followers to say our Father. He
wants to say that we should not pray selfishly, but should pray for all people.
The expression, "Our Father who art in heaven" is found often enough in rabbinic texts. But the Jews had a
scant if any perception that God was the Father of all people. They tended to think of Him as only their Father.

One introduction to prayer sometimes used in ancient times was Avinu malkenu: "Our Father, Our King". This
was very good to bring out the two great aspects of our relationship to Him: love and closeness on the one hand,
and a sense of majesty, infinite greatness on the other.
"Hallowed be thy name". Of course the verse does not mean that we want God to be made holy: He is the very
source of Holiness, is Holiness itself. The key is found in such texts as Isaiah 5:15-16: "Man is bowed down,
and men are brought low, but the Lord of Hosts will be exalted in right judgment [mishpat], and the God, the
Holy One, will show himself holy [niqdesh] by moral rightness [i.e. by doing what moral rightness calls for:
sedaqah]". Similarly in Ezekiel 28:22: "They shall know that I am the Lord when I inflict punishments on her
[Sidon], and I shall show myself holy in her [niqdashti]." Of course this righteousness/holiness is exercised not
only in punishing, but in giving benefits: the covenant provides for both as Moses told the people in
Deuteronomy 11:26: "Behold, today I am putting before you a blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you obey...
and the curse if you do not... ." (on blessings cf. Isaiah 52:1; 61:10; and Psalm 24:5. He owes it to Himself to
confer benefits if the people fulfill what is asked of them in the covenant).
So this petition asks that the rightness of God may be recognized by all. Romans 3. 24-26 says that God has
actually shown Himself righteous by fully rebalancing the scale of the objective order through the death of
Jesus. In this prayer we ask that all may come to see his rightness (explained in our comments on the fourth
article of the Creed).
"Thy kingdom come". The phrase "kingdom of God" in the Gospels often means the Church. And so the
petition can ask for the expansion of His Church, the kingdom of the Messiah. It also at times means His rule:
then the petition would ask that His rule be obeyed everywhere. Both senses seem to be intended here.
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In heaven all wills are perfectly in accord with His. Not always so
on this earth. So this petition asks that all may obey His will even here. In praying that His will be done here,
we implicitly confess that we need His grace in order to obey His will (cf. Philippians 2:13: "It is God who
works [produces] in you both the will and the doing").
The first part of the Our Father has asked for things for God's glory. Next we ask for our own needs.
"Give us this day our daily bread". Bread in Hebrew means not just bread in the narrow sense, but all the means
of sustenance. We know we depend on our Father in heaven for everything.
The Greek word usually translated "daily" is epiousion. It has several possible meanings and it is hard to be
sure which one is intended for the word never occurs in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old
Testament, and in the New Testament, only in this prayer. It is hardly found in other Greek writings. Hence the
uncertainty. Some proposals are these: "necessary for existence, for the current day, for the following day, for
the future." The usual translation, "daily" is most likely the correct one. Some Fathers, such as Tertullian, St.
Cyprian, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine made the daily bread refer to the Eucharist. But this is only an extended
or accommodated sense. Jesus surely would not have expected the crowds who heard Him to think of the
Eucharist when He had not yet foretold it. Nor would they think of it as daily reception. On the other hand,
since His human soul had the vision of God, He would have foreseen that in the liturgy this prayer would come
shortly before the reception of Holy Communion.
"And forgives us our trespasses." The Greek of St. Matthew here is opheilemata, which means debt. The
concept that sin is a debt that needs to be paid is found abundantly in the Old Testament, in the Intertestamental
Literature (where Hebrew and Aramaic hobah meaning debt is sometimes used to mean sin), and in the
Rabbinic and Patristic writings. Pope Paul VI endorsed this concept in the doctrinal introduction to his
Indulgentiarum doctrina of Jan 9, 1966 cited and explained in our comments on the fourth article of the
Creed). "As we forgive those who trespass against us." If we will not forgive others what they owe us, when
they repent, neither will the Father forgive us. It is frightening to think we here ask not to be forgiven if we do

not forgive others. In Luke 17:4 we read: "And if seven times in a day he turns to you saying: I repent, you shall
forgive him" (Cf. Mt. 18. 22 which speaks of 70 times 7 times, i. e, as often as the other repents).
"And lead us not into temptation." Of course, God Himself does not lead us into temptation. This is a Hebrew
way of speaking in which they said God directly does things which He really only permits. Cf. 1 Samuel 4:3 (in
literal translation from the Hebrew): "Why did God strike us today before the face of the Philistines?" But God
does permit us to be tempted, for that leads to merit and spiritual strength. As St. Paul wrote in Second
Corinthians 12:9, God told him when he was hard pressed: "My grace is sufficient for you; for power is made
perfect in weakness." Cf. First Corinthians 10:13.
"But deliver us from evil." The Greek here could equally mean evil in general or the evil one.
The final "Amen" of the Latin Vulgate is not in the Greek manuscripts. It comes from the liturgy.
"For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever." It is certain these words were not originally part
of the Our Father, as even Protestant scholars admit today. It is probably based on First Chronicles 29:11. It
probably was first written on the margin of some manuscripts, and then crept into the text of Matthew, and then
into the liturgy of some Eastern churches. It appears in the early work called the Didache (8:2) dated usually
100-150 AD. So it is far older than Protestantism. Today a form of it is found in the Roman rite Mass, but not
immediately at the end of the Our Father.
3. The Hail Mary
Next to the Our Father itself, this is the greatest prayer. The first half comes entirely from the words of the
Gospel; the second is a beautiful petition composed by the Church. The thought is so easily grasped we do not
need to explain it, except that we should recall what was said about the translation "full of grace" in our
comments on the third article of the Creed. (More about the Rosary in the chapter on sacramentals).
Pope Benedict XV (Decessorem nostrum, April 19, 1915) called her: "Suppliant Omnipotence." That is,
everything God can do by His own inherent power, she can obtain by her intercession. Naturally, for she shared
at such immense cost, as we saw, in earning every grace.
First Timothy 2:5 says there is one Mediator between God and humans. But it speaks of one who is by very
nature Mediator, having both divine and human natures, and one whose work is indispensable and depends on
no other. Her power, her very ability to do anything comes from her Divine Son.
Pope Leo XIII taught: "Every grace that is communicated to this world has a threefold course. For by excellent
order, it is dispensed from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, from the Virgin to us." (Encyclical Iucunda
semper, Sept 8, 1884, citing St. Bernardine of Siena). St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII and John
XXIII have all said substantially the same thing in varied language.
We notice that Leo XIII spoke of "excellent order". St. Thomas Aquinas explains (Summa I. 19. 5. c) that in His
love of good order, God wills that one thing be in place to serve as a title or reason for giving the next thing,
even though these things do not really move Him. So The Father needed Mary only if He willed an Incarnation,
in the sense that some Mother was needed. But for all her additional prerogatives she was not needed at all. Yet
He freely, in view of this principle, and to make all as rich as possible for us, chose to put her everywhere in His
approach to us, as Vatican II taught (LG chapter 8: explained in our comments on the third article of the Creed).
Similarly, the Father would not have needed the other Saints, but yet, in His love of good order, and wanting to
make all things as rich as possible for us, chose to add their intercession as well.