Fundamentals of Christian Morality

Love the Lord Your God

Ric A. Cervera

St. Paul University Iloilo

Common difficulties concerning Ten Commandments today:

• not focusing on love, personal character and values

• the Commandments as Bible stories” for children

• no longer relevant in present-day “liberation-thrust” Philippines

Basic Functions of the Ten Commandments

They set out systematically what the love of God and love of neighbor demand on us.

The first three Commandments concern our duties towards God, the last seven our duties toward our neighbor.

They are “signposts toward authentic freedom.”

The First Commandment

Preamble: “I am the Lord your God who brought you

out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.”

Importance of the First Commandment

• liberates us from idolatry and superstitious practices

• reconciles us with one another under the one God, our loving Father.

• manifests our duty to worship

Statues and images and the First Commandment

Statues and images of Christ, Mary and the Saints are helps for authentic Christian prayer of worship of God, Christ himself, and of veneration of God’s Blessed.

They have no power in themselves, but only help us to relate to Christ, Mary and Saints.

Prohibitions of the First Commandment

idolatry

superstition and irreligion

sacrilege

simony

tempting God

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

The Second Commandment

• enjoins reverence for God’s “NAME” which reveals who God is

• rejects all speech against God Himself – blasphemy, cursing, false oaths.

• refuses ill use of God’s name to harm others (sorcery)

“Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.”

The Third Commandment

As members of the Church, Catholics fulfill this commandment by coming together on Sundays to actively participate in celebrating the Eucharist.

Sunday rest means a rest in God’s presence, involving a freeing of the self from heightened anxiety, from hyperactivism, and from preoccupation with competition and success.