455. What does the fourth commandment require? (part 2 continuation)

455. What does the fourth commandment require?  (part 2 continuation) 

(Comp 455 repetition) It commands us to honor and respect our parents and those whom God, for our good, has vested with his authority.

“In brief”

(CCC 2247) "Honor your father and your mother" (Deut 5:16; Mk 7:10).   

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2199) The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal. It likewise concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family. It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it. This commandment includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons.   

Reflection

(CCC 2200) Observing the fourth commandment brings its reward: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you" (Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16). Respecting this commandment provides, along with spiritual fruits, temporal fruits of peace and prosperity. Conversely, failure to observe it brings great harm to communities and to individuals. [END]

(Next question: What is the nature of the family in the plan of God?)