Don't even get mad...

Thou shall not kill seems easy and obvious to avoid. Matthew's Gospel finds Jesus taking this commandment to even our thought life. Do not even be angry as you will find the same judgment as murder. Murder or killing is born in the heart and Jesus asks us to control our thought life so hate and anger will not progress to a sin that no sane person wants to deal with. It is in this fifth chapter of Matthew that we find we are culpable for our thought life. Even though the vast majority of people will never find themselves in a situation where murder is an option, it is a select few who will never have angry or murderous thoughts come across their minds. A simple fight in school which begins out of anger can lead to a blow to the head, or a person hitting the ground that can be fatal. One never knows the consequences of anger that is expressed. That is why Jesus asks us to be accountable to even our thought life.

One of societies most contentious political debates comes from abortion. The Church decries this action, along with embryonic stem cell research, and even capital punishment. While these debates seem to be linked to politics, this is in no way true as they erode the very foundation of what it is to be human and the value God puts on a human life. As we approach Advent, the Incarnation or the birth of Jesus reminds us of what it means to be human. As Jesus was an embryo, fetus, and pre-born, it is only logical that there must be a value to these stages of life for every human being and God values them as human beings also.

There are many sins that can be discussed under this commandment. Suicide, war and the injustices associated with it, euthanasia, and the death penalty are but a few. We are created in the image of God and Jesus became a human being should be considered first and foremost when forming an opinion as to how we see life from the perspective of this commandment.

Honor your father and mother. I know parents use this to help keep order in the house and it should be so as it is the intention of God that children learn obedience through their upbringing. In ancient Israel, it was the parents in their old age who were neglected and often abandoned. The intent of the Law was for adult children to make sure their parents who could no longer take care of themselves were provided for. Besides the respect due our parents when we are young, God does not relieve us of responsibility when we have grown to adulthood. The family is still a living witness to the love of God. It is the responsibility of children to care for their parents until death. The nursing home is a very lonely place as many elderly do not have regular visits from their children. The time demands of people these days are extreme, but they are often of our choosing and priorities need to be made.

As the Catechism teaches us, our first vocation is to follow Jesus. Parents are to nurture this by educating their children so the children can fulfill their duties before God by honoring all authority...not just the authority in the home. We have civil leaders also that God expects us to honor as all authority is "from above." The Church teaches us that we respect this authority which is meant for the common good of all people. We respect this authority to the point that it does not contradict God's Law however. Authority is placed over us for the duration of our lives and just because we become autonomous adults, does not mean we are relieved of the burdens of obedience in many aspects of life. We can be children and parents at the same time and as God's living witness to the strength of the family, we keep the family a priority at all cost.

Can ya spare an hour??

At Gethsemane, Jesus was heartbroken when He asked His disciple's could you not keep watch with me for an hour? Jesus gave of Himself, then gave more, and even more. The one time He needed support, He found His disciple's asleep. I imagine there are quite a few mom's and dad's, spouse's and friends that have felt the same way. I give and give and when I need some support from you, there's none.

It is God who gives and sustains life. It is God who blesses our life and pulls us through the hardest of times. It is God who asked Israel to keep holy the Sabbath. The Catechism recalls the Scriptures reflection of the Sabbath as a "day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money." (2172) God asks us to remember the Lord your God and to honor and worship Him just one day a week. Even we as Christians have brought this time to just an hour a week at Mass, (and if we're honest, we may even judge the success of our Sunday worship as getting out of Mass in less than that hour) only to continue our busy life schedule. Do we stop to "smell the roses" anymore or is relaxing and enjoying a day out of the question.

Attendance at Christmas and Easter Masses swell to overflowing, which is not a bad thing but is far from what God asks. In heaven, we will worship God early and often. If one cannot enjoy the worship of God on earth, how will we be happy in heaven? God asked Israel and asks us to remember the blessings God has given and the hope stored up for us in Jesus Christ. God is not going to coerce worship. True worship is from the heart and it happens because it is a priority and actually what on truly wants to do. The Catechism quotes Thomas Aquinas as to the importance of Sunday worship. We render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship "as a sign of his universal beneficence to all." (2176)

Jesus commanded us to share in the Eucharist not for His benefit, but for ours. God commands that we worship Him not for God's benefit, but for our benefit. It is not God who needs us, but we who need God. God becomes the priority of our life when we remember what God gives and continues to give, and just how much we have been forgiven. Our response should be nothing but gratitude and the desire to share and spend time with God...it is our eternal destiny and quest to forever worship God...in our thoughts and in public.

HOLY...!?

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." (Exodus 20:7) One of the true and unfortunate consequences of living in this technological world, with the advent of television, movies, and internet is the use of God's name in vain without even realizing it at times. If you have not noticed, cable TV and sometimes network TV are not even willing to "bleep" the profane use of God's name. How far we have come in the name of progress. How easily as Christians we have been rolled over by secularism and separation of Church and State that we could never imagine ourselves to stand up for God.
As Christians, we are called to a higher standard of behavior. This includes our mouths and to not voice our displeasure or anger by blaming something on God by taking His name. As with every sin we commit, it is not God who suffers, but our dignity as a Christian human being that suffers when we drive a wedge into our relationship with our creator. We can also fool ourselves by using softer words, such as "gosh darn-it" or "Jeez" which happen to have amazingly similar sounds to a profane vocabulary. Do we use these words to perhaps voice our anger at God while thinking we have not profaned? Our conscience can tell us.
The name of God is so carelessly used in society, that our conscience may have been blinded to the offense. If that is the case, we must become resolute to fix this problem. It is our call to not sink to the way of the world, but to rise and stay above it. We will be responsible to God and there will not be an excuse of "everyone else does it" while hanging our responsibility off on society.
"Swear to God" is another phrase used in abundance. If we place our honor and word on the shoulders of God loosely, we had better make sure we comply. It is God's honor at stake when one does this and God does not take His honor lightly. In fact, except in a court of law it should not be done. (See Matthew 5:34) It is God's throne we mock when we break oaths to God. This is such a dangerous commandment for us because God's name has been subtly taken so many times, it has become a norm of society to do so. It is up to us to take back God's name for only the Holy.