RBWords

FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013  STS. JOACHIM AND ANNE [parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary]

 

     God delivered all these commandments......

  

     The Ten Commandments are a fundamental basis for life in society that we share with our Jewish brothers and sisters.  In the form that we Catholics are accustomed to, the first three demand a sense of unity in faith and respect for the sacredness of God and the worship that is due.  The remaining seven speak to life in society and would be common sense to anyone, even if one did not believe in God! 

 

     Sadly, the Ten Commandments have become a kind of political football in the continual lawsuits filed by various groups to prevent a display of those Ten Commandments.  [I would object, too, if the display shows tablets with ROMAN numerals on them!]  Those who object to the displays are rejecting their own moral heritage, no matter what their theological [or lack thereof] beliefs are.  Those commandments are at the foundation of our daily lives.  They are etched in our cultural psyche almost like DeMille shows them being etched on the stone tablets in his epic movie, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

 

     Christ did not come to abolish these commandments!  He came to give us a way to observe them out of love instead of fear.  His New Law [as St. Thomas Aquinas points out] gives the inspiration to the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through faith.  The commandments make even greater sense to me because of this.  AMEN