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A. The fourth Commandment is: Honor thy father and thy mother.
A. The word "honor" in this commandment includes the doing of everything
necessary for our parents' spiritual and temporal welfare, the showing of
proper respect, and the fulfillment of all our duties to them.
A. We are commanded by the fourth Commandment to honor, love and obey our
parents in all that is not sin.
A. We should refuse to obey parents or superiors who command us to sin because
they are not then acting with God's authority, but contrary to it and in
violation of His laws.
A. We are also bound to honor and obey our bishops, pastors, magistrates,
teachers, and other lawful superiors.
A. By magistrates are meant all officials of whatever rank who have a lawful
right to rule over us and our temporal possessions or affairs.
A. By lawful superiors are meant all persons to whom we are in any way subject,
such as employers or others under whose authority we live or work.
A. The duty of servants or workmen to their employers is to serve them
faithfully and honestly, according to their agreement, and to guard against
injuring their property or reputation.
A. It is the duty of parents and superiors to take good care of all under their
charge and give them proper direction and example.
A. If parents or superiors neglect their duty or abuse their authority in any
particular we should not follow their direction or example in that particular,
but follow the dictates of our conscience in the performance of our duty.
A. The duty of employers to their servants or workmen is to see that they are
kindly and fairly treated and provided for, according to their agreement, and
that they are justly paid their wages at the proper time.
A. The fourth Commandment forbids all disobedience, contempt, and stubbornness
towards our parents or lawful superiors.
A. By contempt is meant willful disrespect for lawful authority, and by
stubbornness is meant willful determination not to yield to lawful authority.
A. The fifth Commandment is: Thou shalt not kill.
A. This commandment forbids the killing only of human beings.
A. We know that this commandment forbids the killing only of human beings
because, after giving this commandment, God commanded that animals be killed
for sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, and God never contradicts Himself.
A. We are commanded by the fifth Commandment to live in peace and union with
our neighbor, to respect his rights, to seek his spiritual and bodily welfare,
and to take proper care of our own life and health.
A. It is a mortal sin to destroy one's own life or commit suicide, as this act
is called, and persons who willfully and knowingly commit such an act die in a
state of mortal sin and are deprived of Christian burial. It is also wrong to
expose one's self unnecessarily to the danger of death by rash or foolhardy
feats of daring.
A. It is never lawful for any cause to deliberately and intentionally take away
the life of an innocent person. Such deeds are always murder, and can never be
excused for any reason, however important or necessary.
A. Human life may be lawfully taken:
- (1) In self-defense, when we are unjustly attacked and have no other means
of saving our own lives;
- (2) In a just war, when the safety or rights of the nation require it;
- (3) By the lawful execution of a criminal, fairly tried and found guilty of
a crime punishable by death when the preservation of law and order and the good
of the community require such execution.
A. The fifth Commandment forbids all willful murder, fighting, anger, hatred,
revenge, and bad example.
A. The fifth commandment can be broken by giving scandal or bad example and
inducing others to sin, because such acts may destroy the life of the soul by
leading it into mortal sin.
A. Scandal is any sinful word, deed or omission that disposes others to sin, or
lessens their respect for God and holy religion.
A. Fighting, anger, hatred and revenge are forbidden by the fifth commandment
because they are sinful in themselves and may lead to murder. The commandments
forbid not only whatever violates them, but also whatever may lead to their
violation.
A. The sixth Commandment is: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
A. We are commanded by the sixth Commandment to be pure in thought and modest
in all our looks, words, and actions.
A. It is a sin to listen to immodest conversation, songs or jokes when we can
avoid it, or to show in any way that we take pleasure in such things.
A. The sixth Commandment forbids all unchaste freedom with another's wife or
husband; also all immodesty with ourselves or others in looks, dress, words,
and actions.
A. Sins of impurity are the most dangerous:
- (1) Because they have the most numerous temptations;
- (2) Because, if deliberate, they are always mortal, and
- (3) Because, more than other sins, they lead to the loss of faith.
A. The sixth Commandment does forbid the reading of bad and immodest books and
newspapers.
A. Immodest books and newspapers should be destroyed as soon as possible, and
if we cannot destroy them ourselves we should induce their owners to do so.
A. The Church considers bad all books containing teaching contrary to faith or
morals, or that willfully misrepresent Catholic doctrine and practice.
A. Indecent theaters and similar places of amusement are dangerous to the
virtue of purity, because their entertainments are frequently intended to
suggest immodest things.
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