Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother

Honoring your father and your mother is a most important commandment. It has been said that the fourth commandment is pivotal, for it is between the commandments teaching us to love our Creator, and those admonishing us to love our fellow man.

A Commandment With  Promises:

"Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee," Exodus 20:12.

"Honor thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee," Deuteronomy 5:16.

"Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged," Colossians 3:20-21.

 "Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers," and, "A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him," Proverbs 17:6,25.

 +++

In the new Catechism of the Catholic Church the paragraph numbers 2197-2233 deal with the relationship between parents and children and include the following:

2197 The fourth commandment opens the second table of the Decalogue. It shows us the order of charity. God has willed that, after him, we should honor our parents to whom we owe life and who have handed on to us the knowledge of God. We are obliged to honor and respect all those whom God, for our good, has vested with his authority.

2198 This commandment is expressed in positive terms of duties to be fulfilled. It introduces the subsequent commandments which are concerned with particular respect for life, marriage, earthly goods, and speech. It constitutes one of the foundations of the social doctrine of the Church.

2202 A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference point by which the different forms of family relationship are to be evaluated.

2207 The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.

2208 The family should live in such a way that its members learn to care and take responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped, and the poor. There are many families who are at times incapable of providing this help. It devolves then on other persons, other families, and, in a subsidiary way, society to provide for their needs: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

2211 The political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially:

- the freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping with the family's own moral and religious convictions;

- the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family;

- the freedom to profess one's faith, to hand it on, and raise one's children in it, with the necessary means and institutions;

2218 The fourth commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus recalls this duty of gratitude.

+++

THE FAMILY: THE DOMESTIC CHURCH 

The family forms the basic societal unit from which cultures and societies develop. From New Testament days, the Church holds the Christian family as the most basic unit of church life, too. It "constitutes a specific revelation of and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic church" (FC 21; LG 11; CCC 2204). In other words, the Christian family—in all its myriad forms—is the church at home.

The Christian family (the domestic church) is an "intimate community of persons, bound together by blood, marriage or adoption for the whole of life" (FAM 19). The Second Vatican Council expressed the sacramental nature of the family with the words, "the Christian family . . . will manifest to all persons the Savior’s living presence in the world, and the genuine nature of the Church" (GS 48).

As "a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit" (CCC 2205) the Christian family has numerous rights, responsibilities and duties for the common good of society.

MISSION:

The Christian family has a specific vocation and mission for evangelization of the world through Christian discipleship. As the domestic church, Christian families realize their vocation and mission by embracing and living the seven essential elements of Church life.

 

(I will be going out of state today to be with my mother who has been battling cancer.  We four out-of-state siblings have been taking turns monthly in our visits and two siblings live close by; this is my second trip this year. The visits are bittersweet as we do not know how much time is left to be able to do this.  I have been fortunate in that my parents have been married for over 50 years and before them, my grandparents saw their 70th Anniversary; I have grown up in a stable family atmosphere that fewer and fewer people will know and experience.  May we pray for the needs of marriages and families which are under so much strain in these days)