Prayer

“Lord fortify us with the grace of Your

Holy Spirit and give Your peace to our
soul that we may be free from all
unnecessary anxiety, solicitude and
worry.  Help us to desire always what is
pleasing and acceptable to You so that
Your will may be our will.  Amen”
Explaining the 10 Commandments:
Introduction
 Overview
This chapter discusses the meaning
of the Ten Commandments for the
lives of the Israelites, God’s People
in the Old Testament, and its
relevance to our Christian living at
 Christian Message
Doctrine: God revealed Himself to the Israelites as the Lord of history and
as a Savior who gives His people true freedom and a better life through the
Ten Commandments which are signposts to authentic responsible freedom.
(CFC 873)
Morals: The Ten Commandments provide us with basic moral norms for
discerning good acts from evil acts. Obeying God’s laws means respecting
the moral rights of every human. Ultimately, God’s laws teach us how we
should live as individuals and as members of a community.
Worship: Israel learned that a life of worship was central to being God’s
people. However, God willed that their worship goes beyond burnt
offerings. Obedience to His will, which was expressed in the covenant laws,
was the true worship.
 Objectives
 Understand the Ten Commandments;
 Determine the importance of the Ten
Commandment in our daily living;
 Express deep faith in God as we learn the
do’s and don’ts of the Ten
Commandments; and
 Pray that God give us strength and
Explaining the 10 Commandments:
Introduction
What are the Ten
Commandments?
 10 Commandments/Decalogue

An essential part of our daily Christian life.

They comprise the classic structure for Christian moral teaching.

They contain foundational principles that help us know and

choose the right actions and thoughts over wrong behavior and
mindsets.
They express God’s will for us.
The Decalogue may have been expressed
in negative form, but we cannot deny that
each commandment implies the values
expected of humans because they give
the direction to a happy and orderly
living both in the personal and societal
levels.
The Ten Commandments are
not just spiritual laws, they
are also practical norms for
daily living that protect our
true freedom.
The commandments are not dictatorial decrees
from an authoritarian God who demands blind
obedience. Rather, the commandments remind
us of God’s continuing love, guidance, and
instruction. They are expressions of divine
providence.
“You are my friends if you do what I command you”
-John 15:14
“Do not think that I have come to
abolish the law or the prophets. I
have come not to abolish but to
fulfill” -Matthew 5:17-19
 -law of love-

the love of God the love of neighbor

 Here is a traditional version of the Ten Commandments based
on the two versions found in Scripture. This Catholic tradition
uses the version established by St. Augustine.

1 I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other god
besides Me.
2
You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
3 Remember to keep holy the LORD’s Day.
4 Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
5
 6 You shall not commit adultery.
7 You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your
8
neighbor.
9
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10 You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
 Where are the 10 Commandments
found in the Bible?

The 10 Commandments are given in the Old

Testament, twice. They are found in Exodus 20:2-
17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The wording is
slightly different, but the meaning is the same.
 What does the word Decalogue mean?

Decalogue means “ten words”.

God revealed these “ten words” to
his people on the holy mountain
Sinai.
 Who wrote the Ten Commandments?
The original Ten Commandments were
written with the “finger of God” on two
stone tablets. Moses destroyed them in
his anger against the Israelites who had
fallen into sin while he was up on Mount
Sinai for 40 days receiving them. The
 What do the Ten Commandments
oblige us to do?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 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 in the
human heart.”
 In other words, the Ten Commandments:

Are the original, most basic and

fundamental of God’s expectations for us.
Are serious commands of God. They are
not suggestions or guidelines; they are
commands.
They will never change.
They bind all people, always and
everywhere, whether or not they are
Catholic, whether or not they believe in
God.
God “programs” all human beings with
an inborn knowledge of the Ten
Explaining the 10 Commandments:
First Commandment
 What are the 10
Commandments?
 First Commandment

I, the Lord, am your God.

shall not have other gods besides M
 First Commandment

“The First Commandment is the first

commandment, because it is the
FIRST commandment.”
 First Commandment
The First Commandment ranks first among
all the commandments, because it is the most
important commandment. Why? Because it
commands REVERENCE and LOVE for
God. All other commandments are based on
reverence and love for God.
How did the Israelites keep
the first commandment?

*read page 91-92 of the book*

How Christians should understand and
live the first commandment?

*read page92 of the book*

 The First Commandment commands:

To offer to God alone the

supreme worship that is
due Him by acts of faith,
hope and love (charity).
 Faith obliges us to make efforts to
find out what God has revealed, to
believe firmly what God has
revealed and to profess our faith
openly whenever necessary.
 Three distinct actions of worship:
 Latria – An act of adoration or worship due to
God (Holy Trinity) alone (This is what
Catholics do during the Holy Mass). Exodus
20:1-5
 Hyperdulia – An act of respect towards the
Blessed Virgin Mary (Luke 1:48)
 Dulia – An act of respect towards the saints
(Romans 13:7)
 Hope obliges us to trust firmly that God will
give us eternal life and the means to obtain it.
 Love (charity) obliges us to love God above all
things because He is infinitely good, and to
love our neighbor as ourselves for the love of
God.
 The First Commandment forbids:

1) Sins which detract from the honor and worship of God, such as:
 Neglect of prayer. [Not talking to God on a daily basis.]
 Superstitious practices: divination, consulting fortune-tellers,
attaching undue importance to dreams and omens. [Seeking help
from spirits that are not God.]
 The First Commandment forbids:

Tempting God by exposing oneself to danger of soul, life

or health without grave cause. [Expecting or demanding a
miracle from God.]
Sacrilege – Profane or superstitious use of blessed objects
[Irreverent use of a crucifix, rosary or statue of Jesus,
Mary or the Saints.]
 The First Commandment forbids:

Profanation of places or things consecrated to God.

[Chewing gum, wearing inappropriate clothes,
unnecessary talking or silliness in Church.]
Simony. Buying or selling of something spiritual or
closely connected with the spiritual.
Receiving the sacraments in a state of mortal sin.
 The First Commandment forbids:

2) Sins against Faith, such as:

 Incredulity. Willful doubt of any article of Faith. [Rejecting belief in
angels, rejecting parts of the Bible, existence of the Devil, etc.]
 Heresy. The “willful and persistent adherence to an error in matters
of faith" on the part of a baptized member of the Catholic Church.
 The First Commandment forbids:

Schism. When a single religious body divides and

becomes two separate religious bodies. [ Believes
in two different religions]
Reading or circulating books or writings against
Catholic belief or practice.
 The First Commandment forbids:

Joining in schismatic or heretical worship [Taking

part in worship that divides the Church or is based
on false teachings, such as a service with a priest
that is a woman. Taking part in satanic worship.]
Apostasy. Denying one’s religion. [Denying that
you are Catholic in word or action.]
 The First Commandment forbids:

Neglecting means of religious

instruction. [Not taking part in
opportunities to learn more about the
Catholic faith.]
 
 The First Commandment forbids:

3) Sins against Hope, such as:

Despair of God’s mercy. [Think that
God cannot forgive your sin.]
 The First Commandment forbids:

 Lack of confidence in the power of His Grace to support us in

trouble or temptation. [Saying that our troubles are more than we
can handle, even with God’s help. Making excuse for sin by
saying that the temptation is too strong for us.]
 Murmuring against God’s providence. [Complaining about God’s
way of caring for us.]
 The First Commandment forbids:

Presuming on God’s mercy, or on the

supposed efficacy of certain pious practices in
order to continue in sin. [Thinking that I can
continue sinning if I give generously to the
poor, for example.]
 The First Commandment forbids:

Two kinds of presumption:

 Man presumes upon his own capacities (hoping to be
able to save himself without help from on high)
 Man presumes upon God’s almighty power or his
mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without
conversion, and glory without merit)
 The First Commandment forbids:

4) Sins against Love or Charity, such as:

Willfully rebellious thoughts against God. [“If
God is good, how could he let this happen?” “I
know what you want me to do, Lord, but I won’t
do it (as in the story of Jonah.)]
 The First Commandment forbids:

Boasting of sin. [Bragging about stealing, cheating on

income tax, hurting or humiliating someone.]
Violating God’s Law or omitting good works, through
human respect. [Missing Mass on Sunday so as not to
inconvenience others; not helping someone because this is
not a “politically correct” person to help.]
JOURNAL MAKING:
(Title: First Commandment)
Direction: Make a reflection based on the
question: How do you live your life
following the first commandment?
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